Fungus Is Still Among Us!

Just a few years ago many homeowners were in panic about mold, and its mere appearance caused many to vacate their homes and demand that their insurance companies undertake often very expensive and elaborate remediation efforts. Today, although mold claims still occur, the panic has subsided, and the necessary remediation efforts now take a more commonsense approach.

What happened? Has mold been cured? Have homeowners developed immunity to its effects? Of course nothing of the sort has occurred, and in fact, mold is just as much of a problem as it was in the years before the panic began.

The mold panic began as the result of lawsuit in Texas that pitted a homeowner against his insurance carrier. The homeowner claimed that mold left in his house's wall cavities after his insurance company repaired a laundry room leak had caused him and his family to suffer from numerous health disorders. Eventually, a jury awarded the homeowner $30 million in damages, and the seeds of panic were sown.

Figure 1

The award was appealed, but fearing similar lawsuits and awards, insurance companies began requesting more and more investigations including extensive sampling efforts. These investigations then prompted remediation efforts to eliminate the mold that was invariably discovered.

Unfortunately, there had never been established any protocols for mold removal or, more importantly, human health exposure limits. At the same time, many entrepreneurs saw the opportunity that had opened up and quickly designated themselves as "mold experts" as quickly as they could print business cards. Their efforts were hugely enhanced by the simultaneous explosion of the internet into the hands of the general public.

Hundreds and eventually thousands of overnight experts filled the web with sensational stories and dire warnings about mold. Soon cable channels and others in the media joined in, and the panic got into full swing.

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Without established exposure limits or well-defined cleanup protocols, the newly minted mold experts could diagnose a mold problem and then implement a remediation program that was nothing short of a nuclear cleanup and which was almost as expensive.

Eventually, the Texas lawsuit award was overturned on appeal, and perhaps more importantly, insurance carriers began limiting the amounts they would pay for mold cleanups. The pot of gold quickly dried up for the mold experts since most homeowners were unwilling to spend their own money for these outlandish mold remediation efforts.

Today, mold is no longer in the limelight and has returned to its former role as a symptom of an underlying moisture problem. Our advice now is the same as it was before. First find and eliminate the source or sources of the moisture. Once the moisture is eliminated, clean the mold growth from hard surfaces with a commercial biocide, replace the affected porous surfaces such as drywall, and discard any mold-damaged textiles.

Lead, asbestos, radon, and then mold - I wonder what's next. Have you heard about the threat from dihydrogen monoxide? It kills more people each year than all these other combined and it is found in every home! Look it up on the internet to learn more about this killer.