Problems With Common Industry Procedure: Mold Testing, Water Disaster Recovery and Mold Removal or Remediation
Several opinions are prominent in the disaster recovery industries, as to the best course of action when a problem arises. Testing for mold seems to be the best option at the apparent onset of a problem. If you have a moisture problem, you want to know if you have mold, right?
The answer to the simple question is yes, but it can usually be answered without the mold testing and associated expense and waiting time for results. Careful mold inspection is profoundly important. The facts are that you can obtain positive mold results from just about any test environment. Mold exists and the spores travel to the indoor environments we have built for ourselves. Indoor air quality tests will show conditions as to amount of particulate matter and comparisons to outdoor conditions will show the disparity between the two environments. This type of test will not, however, result in conclusive results as to the presence of mold spore generating infestations. Read: Why Mold Testing is Often a Waste of Time and Money, for more information and links to experts that agree.
A subjective best guess or opinion is all that will result in this type of testing. Experts agree that testing for mold is usually not necessary. Mold inspection is always necessary as a key component for finding the proper course of action. Careful mold inspection and educated response are very important so as to not make a bad situation worse.
"All too often a flooded basement is dried out only to spread mold spores like wildfire everywhere within a structure. "
For the real answers, you have to inspect to find water infiltration or vapor condensation problems that cause conditions to become favorable to feed the aquatic organism we know as mold. The species of the fungus should not be important unless a lawyer or a doctor are pursuing certain cause for related health conditions. Real estate transactions may require all the information to be in black and white and on paper. Even so, any analysis can be labeled subjective by an astute questioner. For the pragmatist, which should be anyone involved with mold, be these the inhabitants of a mold infested building, or the people that are charged with mold's eradication, getting rid of it in a proper approach should be the first priority. Preventing its return should also rank very high on the list of priorities.
"Often is the case where a water disaster recovery mission causes unknown damage to the health of inhabitants of the mold infested environment."
In the industry that answers the calls for water damage, different takes on a given situation may be voiced by various ?experts? in the field. For water damage, a quick response is important. Drying up a flooded basement within 72 hrs. is a very important part of preventing the onset of new mold infestations. The problem however, is in dealing with a reoccurring mold problem where mold has set up shop before and has been waiting for the water needed for it to flourish. Mold lies dormant and waits for the onset of moisture. Then when water is available mold multiplies. The company that enters such an environment and institutes a drying procedure, without first checking for the mold that has just been energized, will spread mold spores everywhere in the indoor environment. A bigger disservice is hard to imagine! This situation is an often occurrence and when the mold remediation company is called, a bigger job has been created by the uneducated disaster team that has caused untold damage.
Often is the case where a water disaster recovery mission causes unknown damage to the health of inhabitants of the mold infested environment. Moving quickly to dry out the basement is mandatory, but the elements of containment and mold remediation must be put into place alongside the drying measures. All too often a flooded basement is dried with powerful fans, only to spread mold spores like wildfire everywhere within a structure.
Mold in the wet state cannot spread as affluently as it can in its dry state. When a disaster recovery ?expert? enters and turns on the fans, the mold is dried and shaken up to spread its millions of spores around the indoor environment. Do not make the mistake of contracting with unknowing or uncaring companies that do not know what they are doing! Call an expert in that can diagnose and recommend a comprehensive approach to contain and kill the mold and stop the moisture problem that feeds the mold.
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