Cover Story Identifying Mold Many things can look like mold, such as water stains or rust on wood. You don’t have to be a scientist to distin-guish between the look-alikes and real mold. Usually, mold will appear to be fuzzy and have depth. Colonies are generally circular with intri-cate patterns. Often, the larger the circles are, the older the growth. Mold can be white, black, grey, green, red or nearly any color depending on its food source. Just because it’s black doesn’t mean it is toxigenic. Touch it with something (a latex-gloved hand, perhaps). If some of it transfers to your finger, it is probably mold. not to have it looked at by a professional. From a liability standpoint, there are lots of things that can go wrong if you donʼt know what you are doing ... especially when you peel some paneling back and find a lot more contamination than you first thought. If you do decide to tackle the job, there are four very important steps you need to remember. Stop the source of the moisture. Mold needs water to grow. Repair all slow leaks, drips and condensate overflows or burst pipes, and if you donʼt see visible mold, thoroughly dry the area. Contain the area to avoid cross con-tamination and wear protective gear such as respirators, suits, gloves, etc. Once you disturb the mold in any way, millions of spores are released into the air. Seal off the area with poly sheeting, cover HVAC registers and set up exhaust air from this space to the outdoors. Remove non-structural contaminated organic materials, such as drywall, carpeting, cardboard and cabinetry. Use a HEPA vacuum to tend to the affected area both before and after removing contaminated materi-als. Work slowly and carefully, captur-ing debris in a heavy poly bag right at the source. Clean the remaining framing well by scrubbing with detergent and hot water and dry it thoroughly. Coatings and disinfectants can be applied prior to reconstruction to help inhibit future growth, but often are not nec-essary. During the work, airborne mold spores will amplify dramatically. You must protect yourself, your co-work-ers and other occupants from exposure and avoid needless contamination of unaf-fected areas. Things To Not Do There are some things that you shouldnʼt attempt or practice when dealing with mold. For instance, end users should not “spray” something on it. The air pressure “front” will fill the room with spores. Also, do not use bleach on it. Bleach is the last product some experts, including myself, would choose for mold; its use can be dangerous. Here are some other things you should not do: Try to paint over it without complete removal. It will just come right through the paint Blow air on or around the mold growth Use anything other than a HEPA-fil-tered vacuum cleaner to clean it up Attempt clean up without personal protective equipment. It Is Simple … Get Rid Of The Moisture Keep a sharp eye out for damp areas. Leaky pipes and drain pans or toilet over-flows are obvious culprits, but even bever-age spills on the carpeting can cause mold to grow. When checking for leaks and wet materi-als, an inexpensive pin probe or penetrat-ing moisture detector is a handy tool to have around. Additionally, the internet is a fairly good place to start if you stick to the government sites. For accurate and comprehensive infor-mation, the ANSI/IICRC S520 is now the gold standard for professional mold reme-diation. If you know how to prevent, identify and take care of mold, youʼll be able to negoti-ate for proper procedures without being overcharged when you do have to call in the pros. CM Understanding Sampling An air sample is a snapshot of the amount and types of mold spores in the air at the time of sampling. Since there is always some mold present everywhere, taking outdoor air samples and com-paring them to the results from the indoor samples may disqualify many of the indoor molds from suspicion. Tape lift, swab or bulk samples may also be collected to identify mold. Some government organizations discourage sampling in the presence of visible mold saying it is not necessary. While just seeing mold is reason enough to remove it, there are times when sampling is jus-tified. The initial inspection samples: Can identify concealed mold and substantiate the need for remediation Can limit liability exposure; if there is a potential for litigation, the information will help sup-port decisions and justify procedures taken Should always be done to identify toxic or infectious molds when there are immune-com-promised occupants involved Will provide baseline levels for comparison if post-remediation verification sampling is expected. Because more information results in a better remediation job, most professionals want to sample as part of their initial inspection. However, clients are often reluctant to spend the money and will forego pre-remediation sam-pling. 18 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® • May 2009
CMM – Archives May 2009: 18
