Mold- Professionals scam or useful? (to rent, hotels, houses)

[FueledByBlueBell]

We've had several people check out house as my husband seems to believe we have mold. I don't doubt the a/c units could use a cleaning and the filters replaced, but I'm not sure we really have any. There is a smell from one of the bathrooms that I think is improper drainage but no one has addressed that. Have any of you engaged someone to look for mold or know anything about cleaning out musty smells from houses?

[Trainwreck20]

If you look for mold, you will find it. Is it an issue? Most likely not.

If you have strong allergic reactions to pollen, etc. a good duct cleaning will help nicely, but it is unlikely that there is mold in the actual ducts. You can check your drip pan yourself around your AC unit (presumably in the attic) and clean with mild bleach if there is any mold. If there is, that means that there is standing water in the drip pan and it may need to have the drain line cleaned and/or the pan leveled correctly.

Mold in the wall-space behind the shower is the next most likely location. If your walls were constructed to code and your tile it in good shape, then it is highly unlikely that you have behind the wall mold. Surface mold, quite possibly, but again, bring on the bleach or similar cleaner. Even if you do have some mold, the high profile 'black mold' is not always (or even usually) present.

[dallasdean]

All mold has the potential to be harmful. A quick and simple test is to get a mold air sample. One sample on the outside (exterior) and one sample on the inside (possibly in the room outside of smelly bathroom).

If the indoor spore count is lower than the outdoor spore count, you most likely don't have a problem.

If the indoor spore count is higher and/or different spores than what you are finding outside, you may have a problem. I test with the AC/Heat in the off setting.

Find an inspector that is a Mold Assessment Technician (MAT). If not, then find a MAC (Mold Assessment Consultant). Do not use the "free" inspections offered by remediation companies.

[Trainwreck20]

All mold has the potential to be harmful.

Potential, yes, but most is not harmful in normal amounts unless you are allergic to it.

[dallasdean]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

Potential, yes, but most is not harmful in normal amounts unless you are allergic to it.

If by "normal amounts", you mean what you find outdoors, then I semi-agree.

While I don't believe in scare tactics, a healthy respect for mold is not a weakness. On the light side ... 2 people can be in the same room with higher than normal amounts and one will feel no effect, while the other starts having problems. On the heavier side, the recent black mold meningitis problems show that a healthy respect should be taken IMHO.

There are thousands of different molds. One of them, Aspergillus (genus), which is commonly found indoors with homes that have mold problems, has around 150 different species. All species can be allergenic, but it doesn't mean that all folks will have problems. Some species can produce mycotoxins. Some are considered carcinogens. Some can give you pulmonary emphysema. Some can give you infections in the ears or eyes.

"If" there is a high mold spore count, the OP may not feel anything. The husband could feel minor problems. A visitor could be really sickened.

[GRNDHOG]

Unless you actually see visible mold, or a source (e.g. roof leak) there shouldn't be much of a concern.

I'm going to guess that you open your windows on occasion. Heck, I'm going to guess you open your front door from time to time. Every time you do that, you're allowing these spores to fly around.

NO ONE has ever said at which point a certain number of spores is too many for a human.

Even if you did the air testing, and it comes out that the indoor is lower than the outdoor, what does that tell you? All you know is that it's lower. It's not possible to determine what level is "bad."



As for the odor. It's a guest bathroom. Does it ever get used? If a P-trap gets dried out (from not being used) it'll allow sewer gases to enter the room. It's easy to solve. Flush the toilet, run the sink and tub at least once a week and the p-trap will be kept full.

Does that bathroom have a studor vent? It's possible that it went bad. A plumber can change it.

You can also contact a mold/water remediation company and ask to rent an ozone machine for a half day or whatever. Ozone machines are the same thing they use in hotels/cars/etc to get rid of cigarette smoke smell and the like.

You can run it for a little bit (30-60 minutes) and then air out the house. Keep in mind, you can't be in the house while it runs.