Mold…our modern day asbestos

modern day asbestos - MOLD

Everyone dreads to hear that they have black mold in their home. It seems to be the asbestos of our day. It is omnipresent and though no one wants to be exposed to mold, for most people it is not an issue. Those with compromised lung health are most susceptible to being affected by it. We’ve had clients who thought there was black mold in their space and exhibited symptoms of mold exposure, but the air test showed no mold. The anxiety around possible mold exacerbates the problem.

The Facts

Mold needs 3 things to thrive – food, moisture, and air. Food for mold is wood or dirt or anything organic. Moisture comes in two forms vapor or bulk. Vapor is a subtle source like moisture in the ground or humidity in the air. Bulk sources are more obvious like rain water or a leak in your plumbing.

mold hiding in the insulation

When our company encounters mold problems, most prevalently in basements and crawl spaces, we treat the house as a system. The sources and causes of these 3 elements must be identified and cut off. If you just cut one off, mold cannot exist.

The rule of mold is the stingy man pays the most. You need a plan by a neutral 3rd party (not the contractor proposing or doing the work) and then exacting execution of that plan. The plan must be an environmental science based plan that is tested at the beginning and the end.

Case Study

We were recently urgently called to a home in which the homeowner suffered from COPD and had confirmed black mold in her crawl space. She had “friends” remove the black mold laden batted insulation and wipe down the space with a bleach solution. She then had insulation professionals replace the batted insulation.

mold returns when food, water, and air are not remediated

Here are the problems with this:

1) A bleach solution is not the proper chemical to use to remediate black mold

2) Nobody sanitized the inside of her house. Since there is no air barrier between her crawl space and living space, the black mold spores are inside her home.

3) Nobody addressed any the 3 key ingredients to mold – food, water and air.

4) As a side note: batted insulation alone in your crawl space does little to keep your floors warm and mostly acts as a moisture trap or home for vermits

Naturally, the mold returned because the environment was not changed and it had everything it needed to thrive. Now, we are back to square one with thousands of dollars already wasted on the initial failed attempt. We will employ an environmental scientist to propose and oversee a plan that we can execute precisely to permanently and completely remove mold.

#mold #blackmold #airquality #moisture #houseasasystem #crawlspace #insulation #battedinsulation #airbarrier #airsealing

Happy Clients

Responsible House worked tirelessly to bring back to life my family’s 100-year old farmhouse with a major energy retrofit and extensive structural restoration. I cannot say enough good things about this local, family owned business. They meticulously pursued perfection at… Read more “We are immensely grateful”

Joyce C.

William came to study the problem. He was incredibly thorough weighing in all possible causes and solutions to my Attic blues. He then put together a plan and executed it to perfection. If you do not go to Responsible house… Read more “Attic Blues”

Charles C.

They caulked all the places on the interior of my log home where I was losing heat. I am saving 20% on my heating bill now. The team also fixed minor issues with the house which they found during the… Read more “Very Happy With The Work”

Donna S.

The experience I had from Responsible House installing my new insulation it was quick and effortless. Their team came in and within two days I was able to return to a much warmer house. My air-conditioning would run almost constantly… Read more “Quick And Effortless”

Jason W.

The upstairs level of our home used to get extremely hot in the summertime, using a lot of wasted electricity to try to cool things down. Responsible house was able to insulate our home which ended up zeroing out our… Read more “Extremely Hot Upstairs Insulation Google Review”

Rachel B.

The most amazing contractors I have ever worked with – William saved us! You will not find anyone as professional and competent – not only in the valley but honestly anywhere. I have had so many bad experiences – Responsible… Read more “Dahlia N./Houzz.com Review”

Our project consisted of a kitchen/bath/bedroom remodel – a roughly 5 month project. William and his team were the consummate professionals throughout–skilled, knowledgeable, straightforward and direct. They provided advice and recommendations when needed and dealt promptly with any problems that… Read more “Kay B./Houzz.com Review”

Not only do they provide high quality services, they also are extremely easy to work with and they have a strong sense of design. -Michael Brown/Houzz.com… Read more “Michael Brown/Houzz.com Review”

“We highly recommend him and his team, and especially for a custom plan containing elements which are not standard construction.” –Custom Home… Read more “Custom Home Client/Houzz.com”

They have a very thorough attention to detail, and always rendered results that were exactly what the clients and I were after. –Annie M./Houzz.com… Read more “Annie M./Houzz.com Review”

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