"Ever since we found out that older homes in Hawaii have fireplaces primarily to keep the house dry, rather than warm, well, it's been raining pretty often. Things are damp. And when environments are warm and damp, your whole house becomes a prospective petri dish.

"Mold!" said cleaning expert Mark Johnson of Aloha Restoration. "When things get wet, you have three to five days before mold starts to grow. Some types of mold are dangerous, particularly to children and elders." From the Honolulu Star Advertiser.