Homeowners, business property owners, renters, and employers and employees in the U.S.A., Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia/New Zealand, Central and South America, and Africa can protect their health by not making the following, top ten toxic black mold mistakes frequently made in toxic mold inspection, testing, and remediation.
1. Disregard possible toxic black mold health symptoms that are happening to one or more building occupants or co-workers. Worry about a possible mold infestation problem if one or more residents or employees suffer health problems such as ongoing itchy eyes, bloody nose, sinus problems, headaches, nose congestion, runny nose, skin rashes, skin sores, coughing, breathing difficulties, memory or mind function problems, feeling disconnected, chronic fatigue, and other of the top 100 mold health symptoms listed on the home page of Mold Inspector http://www.moldinspector.com.
2. Not realizing that it is possible that only one or a few occupants may experience toxic mold health symptoms, while others may have none, with all living or working in the same mold-infested area. People differ significantly in their mold sensitivity and bodies’ sensitivity to mold exposure.
3. Failure to inspect for visible signs and clues of toxic mold infestation. Check out your house and place of employment regularly for roof leaks, plumbing leaks, water damage, mold smells, visible mold growth, high humidity (above 50 to 60%), and a wet or damp basement, crawl space, or attic.
4. Concluding that there is no toxic mold problem just because there is no visible mold growth. The worst mold infestation problems are often the ones you cannot see--- those mold problems hidden inside floors, ceilings, walls, basement, attic, crawl space, and the heating/cooling equipment and ducts. In addition, airborne mold spores are invisible to the eye.
5. Not realizing that new houses and other buildings often have built-in toxic mold growth from moldy building materials; no builder mold inspection during construction; storage of building materials on the ground or during construction with no protection against rain, high humidity and ground moisture; and no application of a fungicidal coating to wood or other cellulose-based building materials.
6. Assuming that simply drying wet building surfaces or areas is sufficient to avoid mold problems. If toxic mold spores and mold colony growths run out of moisture, they do not die. Instead, mold becomes dormant, patiently waiting for high humidity or a future water leak to resume mold growth. Even dormant mold and its smell can make some mold-sensitive persons sick. In addition, it is difficult to impossible to quickly dry out (within 24 hours required to start mold growth) inside wet walls, ceilings, and floors.
7. Not knowing that bleach is ineffective to kill toxic mold on and in porous surfaces like building materials. In addition, bleach is not an EPA-registered fungicide. Find out much more about why bleach is inappropriate for killing mold at http://www.bleach-mold-myth.com.
8. Utilizing other mold-useless products to kill toxic mold---such as paint primers that hide water stains but are inappropriate to kill mold and do proper mold remediation, regular paint (which mold eats as a snack food), paint containing a mildicide (if used as the main mold remediation treatment), ammonia, and most other household cleaners and disinfectants.
9. Just spraying something on the toxic mold is not adequate and effective for mold remediation. A property owner or manager needs to both kill all visible toxic mold growth and invisible mold spores encountered in mold remediation, and remove and discard the mold-damaged building materials. In addition the mold remediation area needs to be protected with a mold-protective fungicidal coating.
10. Not knowing that many allegedly-professional mold remediation contractors’ efforts don’t solve the property’s mold problems because of: (a) failure to find and fix all of the hidden toxic mold infestation locations in a home or workplace due to incomplete and unprofessional mold inspection and mold testing; (b) inadequate mold worker training and job supervision; (c) not using effective mold containment procedures during the mold removal and mold abatement processes; (d) taking shortcuts; and (e) sometimes fraud and dishonesty on the part of the contractor and/or its employees.
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Phillip Fry has sinced written about articles on various topics from Environment. Phillip Fry is a Certified Environmental Inspector, Certified Home Inspector, Certified Environmental Hygienist, Certified Mold Inspector, and Certified Mold Remediator. He is author of four books on mold, including books that explain do it yourself mold. Phillip Fry's top article generates over 8100 views. Bookmark Phillip Fry to your Favourites.
