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Mould
Removal and Mould Remediation Advice
[November
15, 2002]
Q.
I came across your website this morning, very interesting. We are
currently undergoing a mould remediation issue with our insurance company
and their testers and sub-contractor. Here's a brief history. We had a
leaking water pipe in the upstairs bath for most of a week, while we were
away. The leak flooded the master bath and bedroom, the other bath,
brought down the ceiling in the kitchen, and flooded the (unfinished )
basement. The water removal company brought in fans and dehumidifiers and
got rid of most of the water and dampness in about two weeks. A mould
testing company came in and found a few "trace" spores of Stachybotrys, plus trace spores of Nigrospora, Penicillium and Aspergillus
in their Tape Life samples. Because of this, the insurance company brought
in a mould remediation company, which completely took out all the wetted
drywall, carpets, hardwood flooring, and, removed everything from the
house for subsequent cleaning. They sanded down and treated all locations
found to have visible mould (mostly some plywood floorboards, some studs
and joists). I then had them paint over these areas with a mould-fungicide
paint. Meanwhile, the mould testing contractor came back in and collected
Air Trap sample from inside and outside the house. The outside samples
found total counts of >55,000 (various species and types), and the
inside house samples found 6,000 - 10,000 counts (of the same types). They
claimed that the remediation was successful based on this and ordered that
reconstruction should begin. We then hired a private environmental firm to
come in and perform their own sampling (a second opinion). This company
has come twice and performed the four-plate agar culturing protocol from
their air sampling device (Andersen sampler). This second opinion found
about the same both times (both after the "remediation' was
finished), of approximately 7,000 mould counts, consisting of Penicillium, Paecilomyces, Aspergillus, etc., in two locations in the house. The counts
of 7,000 or so from our second opinions and similar in numbers and
relatively similar to the types found by the insurance people in their air
sampling (6,000 - 10,000). No Stachybotrys spores were found by either
company, since the initial tape life samples of about 3 months ago. We
have been living in a hotel for over 3 months now as this work has
progressed. My question is, are the above types and numbers of mould spores
found (by both companies), after the remediation work had been completed,
common to inside house air quality? Should we be concerned about counts of
6,000 - 10,000 spores and structures inside the house?
A.
Thank you for your in depth summary of the mould problems and your
experience with mould testing and mould remediation. First, the best mould
remediation procedure for water damaged and mould damaged wood is to
replace it with new mould-free timbers and other building materials, not
to just to sand it. Often, sanding is ineffective at getting out mould
spores that grown beneath the wood surface. Better than sanding is to use
a power planer to cut off one thin veneer layer of wood after another
until there is no visual evidence of mould contamination. Once there is no
visual contamination, physical wood samples need to be cut out of a
representative number of wood timbers and plywood sections so that these
samples can be inserted into the malt agar extract contained in mould
culture plates, and have the mould testing laboratory observe these
samples for 7 days to see if there is any significant mould growth from
the physical wood samples. Second, the levels of mould AFTER your mould
remediation may still be unhealthy to your family. Remember that the major
problem of living inside a mould contaminated home is the continual
exposure to mould and the buildup of mould spores inside a home over a
period of time. If outside your home, there are 50 rats resident
just outside of your home structure, but only 7 rats are living INSIDE
your home, would you conclude that the number of rats inside your home was
too small in number to be a health threat to your family? Third, be
sure that an extremely strong and effective fungicide
has been used repeatedly during the mould remediation process. For more
information on mould removal, please read
Mould Removal.
Do-It-Best-Yourself Mold Solutions Phil can help you fix your own property’s mold problems at low-cost, more safely, and better-in- results than what is done by many mold inspectors and mold contractors. How can Phil help you?
1. Read Phil’s five plain-English, mold advice books to master mold inspection, testing, removal, remediation, and prevention for your house, condo, apartment, office, or workplace.
2. Buy do-it-yourself, affordable mold test kits, mold lab analysis, video inspection scope, mold cleaner, and mold killer, for the successful toxic and household mold inspection, mold testing, mold species identification and quantification, mold cleaning, mold removal, and mold remediation to find mold, kill mold, clean mold, and remove mold from your residence or commercial building.
3. Get FREE mold advice, mold help, and/or answers to your mold questions, by emailing mold expert Phillip Fry at envirodangers@yahoo.com. You can also email pictures of your mold problems in jpeg file format as email attachments.
Mould contaminated home needs mould inspection, mould testing, mould
identification, mould sampling and mould remediation to get rid of toxic
mould which can cause severe health effects and diseases to man, animals and
plants and can also cause material decay. More mould information on mould
testing, mould remediation, and mould products on the following pages:
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