05/10/2021
Carl Grimes/Healthy Habitats
The use of mold “killers” and other chemicals – whether by wiping, spraying, gassing, coating, or fogging – is NOT mold remediation.
Mold remediation has two necessary requirement:
- Stop the moisture that grew the mold. If you leave the dampness the always present spores in the air can settle on the damp spot, germinate, sprout, grow, and reproduce by making new spores. This means that all the mold can be killed or even removed but new mold can grow in the same spot.
- Physically remove the visible mold growth plus water staining and damage. If the mold growth is left on the surface, even if dead, it can actually increase exposure. Dead mold colonies dry out and begin to break apart, much like how tree leaves in autumn fall to the ground and slowly begin to fragment into hundreds of tiny pieces until nothing visible is left. Which means they are easily blown around by the wind. Dead mold and spores can also fragment and become easily airborne. Academic research has actually measured fragments in the air of homes as much as a thousand times higher than viable spores.
Also, the addition of sprays, coatings, fogs, effusions, wiping, soaking, and other chemicals into the home can increase the risk of asthma, headaches, and other chemical exposure reactions. Occasionally, new sensitizations can occur. Solving a mold growth problem should not create a new type of exposure problem.
Pay for actual remediation, not something that is called “remediation.”
Now you know!