The EPA states that molds have the potential to cause health problems, and that they produce allergens, irritants and in some cases potentially toxic substances. It describes allergic responses as hay fever type symptoms such as sneezing, runny nose, red eyes and skin rash, says that molds can cause asthma attacks in people with asthma who are allergic to mold, and notes that mold exposure can irritate the eyes, skin, nose, throat and lungs of both mold allergic and non allergic people. For anything beyond that, its advice is to consult a health professional.
That paragraph is the ceiling on what a restoration company should say about health. Nobody here can tell you what is causing a symptom. The building question is a separate one and it does have answers: whether a room is wet, where the water is coming from, and what removal changes.
The pattern that points at the building
Symptoms tied to a building usually follow the building rather than the calendar.
- They start or worsen in one room, most often a basement, a bathroom or a bedroom over a garage or a crawl space.
- They ease within hours of leaving the house and return the evening you come back.
- They arrived after a water event, a leak, a flooded basement or a roof problem, and not with the turn of a season.
- They coincide with a musty smell, or with a room that feels humid when the rest of the house does not.
- More than one person in the household notices something, including anyone who visits and stays.
A pattern that follows pollen counts, or that is the same in every room of every building you spend time in, is pointing somewhere other than the house. That distinction is the one to settle before spending money on the building.
The two readings that make it a building question
Humidity and moisture. The EPA advises keeping indoor humidity below 60 percent relative humidity, ideally between 30 and 50 percent, and a hygrometer that reads above that line for a week is a finding whether or not anything is visible. Moisture meters then read the materials rather than the air, which is what turns a suspicion into a location.
Where the air in a house comes from
The air in an upstairs bedroom is not sealed off from the basement. Air moves upward through a building as warm air rises and is replaced, and a heating and cooling system moves it faster and further. A system that draws from or passes near affected material carries that room's air into every room it serves, which is why a smell or a symptom can seem to have no source.
Where the inspection finds affected material in or near the return, or growth on a coil, the duct work is dealt with alongside the remediation and not left for later. Not every mold job needs the ducts cleaned, and the inspection is what decides.
What remediation changes, and what it does not
It removes the material that is holding growth, cleans the surfaces where spores and fragments have settled, and dries the assembly so the conditions that supported it are gone. Under ANSI/IICRC S520 the target is condition 1, a normal fungal ecology, which is what post remediation verification is checked against.
What it does not do is sterilize a house. Mold spores exist in ordinary indoor and outdoor air everywhere, and no contractor should be selling their absence. The claim that can be checked is narrower: the affected material is gone, the surfaces are cleaned, the assembly is dry and there is a written record of it.
The bleach and fogging trap
The EPA does not recommend a chemical or biocide that kills organisms, chlorine bleach for example, as a routine practice during mold cleanup, and it warns never to mix a chlorine bleach solution with cleaners containing ammonia because toxic fumes can be produced. On the odor side, nothing is ozoned in an occupied home here, because ozone is a lung irritant and a musty smell is a signal, and nothing is gained by overpowering it.
If somebody in the household is being treated for a respiratory condition, ask their doctor before anything is disturbed, because removal moves material that has been sitting still.
What to do this week
- Put a hygrometer in the room that is worst and read it morning and evening for a week.
- Write down when symptoms are better and worse, and where you were. A week of notes beats a memory of the month.
- Look for the water: under sinks, behind the vanity, at the base of exterior walls, in the attic and around the roof line.
- Run a dehumidifier if the readings sit above 60 percent, and see whether the room and the readings change together.
- Take the pattern to a doctor for the health question, and take the readings to a contractor for the building question.
The EPA guide also gives the size line for what a homeowner can handle: less than about 10 square feet, roughly a 3 foot by 3 foot patch, in most cases. Above that, or where the growth is in or near the heating and cooling system, or where the water was sewage or floodwater, it is contractor work.
Where this sits with DHL
The inspection finds the water, the remediation runs to S520 with containment and HEPA filtration, the drying is read with meters, and the job closes with a written verification you keep. EPA registered products are used and described as safe around pets and children. The method is on Mold Remediation, the water side is on Water Damage Restoration, and the same team covers Passaic County and the five other counties.
This article is about Mold Remediation.