Environmental Affairs' FAQ

The answer is maybe. If you or a child has an acute mold allergy meaning that exposure to mold will likely put you in the hospital with respiratory complications I recommend that you don’t stick around. However, when we do mold remediation we install what’s called critical barriers at the entrance to the rooms where we work. In these containments, constructed of 6-mil polyethylene sheeting, we install high efficiency particulate air (HEPA)-filtered air filtration devices (AFDs) to create negative air in the containment. That means all the dust and mold spores generated in that room or rooms will be vacuumed outside through a flexible duct. You can see the poly on the door will be vacuumed inside the room because it will be tight to the doorway, flexed inside. If the air can’t leave the room you should be OK. Or, take a mini vacation.

If the drywall is black then the studs behind the drywall are likely black with mold as well. If we just treat the drywall and the studs in the wall cavity are black with mold it will return. The drywall I treat with fungicides can’t support fungal growth but the untreated other side of the wall can, so here it comes. We remove it and treat the underlying building materials so it won’t return. Hopefully ever.

Bleach will clean the visible fungal growth you can see. What you can’t see are the hyphae or roots of the mold that are in the drywall paper feeding the black mold you see on the wall. Bleach evaporates very quickly since it doesn’t have wetting agents in it to keep it wet. Bleach only kills germs (and mold) while it is wet. Our hydrogen peroxide-based fungicide has wetting agents in it so it stays wet for at least 5 minutes and kills the mold. The final step, the encapsulant, seals the hyphae behind a layer of fungicide so the mold can’t return.

Attic mold is harmless unless you are trying to sell your house or you store Christmas decorations up there. Any good home inspector will note the mold in the attic and the buyer will likely want that remediated before they provide an offer on the house. Then at the last minute you are calling me in a panic because the closing will be delayed until the mold is treated. It can be done as long as we have time to do it. If you go into the attic several times a year for this or that the mold spores will find their way into the living areas of your home and affect those who are allergic to it.

Mold is an allergen like poison ivy, bee stings, and Penicillin. Some people are deathly allergic to these things and some people aren’t. Therefore, unless you know the allergies of every person in your home or who visits your home you don’t know if the mold will create problems. Visiting grandchildren, your children, guests, etc. may have mold allergies that you don’t know about and the mold spores will create a respiratory problem that takes a while to fix. Mold spores under the microscope look like burrs that stick on our clothes with tiny barbs on the end of stalks. The barbs hook themselves into the alveoli of the lungs and they stay there until white blood cells can destroy them. Fixing a mold problem in the human body takes time.

Since 2008 no one has called me to come back and re-treat a room or attic because the mold has returned. If you call me we will come back and perform an inspection to see if a water intrusion has occurred since we left. If we see water damaged drywall from a roof leak, for example, then common sense will prevail and we can fix the problem but not under our warranty. We use the best fungicides on the market for this very reason. When we leave your home or business we don’t want to come back because the mold returned. I don’t buy anything at Home Depot or Lowes because those fungicides are designed for homeowners who don’t have mold remediation certifications. My supplier would not sell you what I use because you need to know what personal protective equipment must be worn to protect the person applying the fungicides. Some of the products on the market are very dangerous if you don’t know how to use them. Concentrated hydrogen peroxide is a very strong oxidizer you don’t want to breathe or get on your skin.

Of all the types of mold out there, literally thousands of types of mold, there are just a few black molds. One type is Stachybotrys chartarum. That’s the Genus-species name of a specific type of mold. There are approximately 25 species of the mold Genus Stachybotrys. All “black molds” create what are called mycotoxins as they digest whatever they are growing on. Mold only grows on what it can eat, or digest. You will never see mold growing on a stainless steel sink. Maybe it’s growing on food particles left on the sink but it’s not growing on the sink. These mycotoxins are very allergenic to more people than most so they get the term “black mold”. These types of mold are just more dangerous than most because it affects more people. A costly 2-week test will determine if you have black mold in your home or business.

Like any home improvement project it will usually cost more than you anticipated. I’m sure you have gone into a home improvement store and been shocked at the cost of the few items you have in your cart. Mold remediation is just like that. I have 3 certifications I have to renew each year, I use the best fungicides on the market, and I have a $1,000,000 general liability insurance policy with 2 environmental riders. If you want a cheap fix I recommend you just do it yourself and live with whatever happens. If you hire Environmental Affairs, LLC you get a warranty, your home’s occupants are protected while we work, and you get clearance air and/or surface samples collected to prove the mold is gone. Do it right. Do it once.