A man couldn't live in his three-year-old house, because he knew mold was present. His sensitivities told him that mold was there. He hired the most qualified industrial mold inspection firm in his area of Pennsylvania-PA that he could find and paid thousands of dollars for a thorough assessment, from top to bottom.

Spore trap tests were performed, along with culture plate and surface samples. Lab fees were through the roof, but the results were negative. No significant levels of mold were found anywhere. No Aspergillus was found. No Stachybotrys was found. He was at a dead end, paying the mortgage on his dream house and having to live elsewhere.

A friend of his referred him to me, but he was very resistant to me coming to the house. Who wouldn't be, after hiring "the best in the business" and spending all that money? It took several phone conversations over a period of a few months before he finally said, "Well, come ahead, because I have to do something. I can't live in the house this way."

I set up the microscope on the picnic table, so that we could spend as much time outdoors as possible. He was so sensitive that he had to wear a respirator indoors, though I experienced no symptoms.

I worked all day, gathering tape samples from any place that conceivably could have mold growth, room by room, and looking at them under the microscope. Over 100 surfaces were sampled, and six sources of mold were found, including the whole basement ceiling and pressed wood shelving, both of which were full of Aspergillus, and several floor areas where plants had been over-watered. Aspergillus- Penicillium mold was present at the floor areas, along with Stachybotrys.

At the end of the day, he shook my hand and said that he felt he got his money's worth.

To me, missing the Aspergillus on the basement ceiling was Mold 101. If the firm he had hired first had worked with a microscope on-site, they would learn where mold grows and would never have missed such a common area of Aspergillus growth.

I told this story during my CRMI (Certified Residential Mold Inspector) class, and the instructor responded, "'That's a good story."

He then explained to the class, "What you are doing is a screening inspection, and if you run into a situation like this at a house, then you bring in someone like May for an in-depth evaluation." I think "the class" felt lost. I think they had assumed they learning to do a "real" inspection, not just a screening inspection.

The course almost made it seem as if the students were being trained to collect samples for the labs. At some point during the 3-day training class, the man sitting next to me leaned over and whispered, "I'd rather own the lab."

The lesson of the Pennsylvania story is, "Who would you want to hire, the pricey firm with their thousands of dollars worth of lab fees or the inspector for a fraction of that amount with a microscope? I would have liked the client to send the previous inspector a copy of my report, with hopes he could learn from it. The client was uninterested in doing that.

Katrina

This reminds me of a comment told me by a Pennsylvania mold inspector who answered an ad and went to work for a mold removal firm in Louisiana after Katrina. He said that when he saw what was going on there, he started asking questions, and two days later, he was on a plane shipped back to Pennsylvania. They apparently had enough of him and his questions.

I had a chance to speak with someone who went down to New Orleans to help rebuild a house that had been wet for weeks. He told me that the mold was thick on the drywall, so they removed the drywall and floors and then reconstructed.

I asked how they treated the studs, sill plates and support beams. He replied that they looked clean so nothing was done to them.

Argghhh. Of course there would be mold on the studs and sill plates and support beams. Why wouldn't there be? So now, after an incomplete mold remediation job, the owners have moved back in.

Although levels of Stachybotrys might have been low to nonexistent on the framing lumber (in my experience, this is one mold that typically is visible to the naked eye if present), my guess is that levels of Aspergillus and Penicillium were extremely high. When new drywall is put up, the paper backing of the drywall is typically unprotected. The mold from the framing lumber could spread to the back of the drywall.

Even though mold spores may remain in wall cavities and not penetrate into room air, the gases from growing mold would penetrate. These gases could be allergenic, neurotoxic, and immunosuppressant.

To me, it is tragic that at a time when proper work could have been done to protect the family, workers simplistically depended on what they could see with the naked eye to determine their next step. At the minimum, two coats of Caliwel should have been put on every square inch of remaining wood. Plus, installation of mold-resistant drywall, such as Georgia Pacific's Dens Armor or cement backer board, would have reduced the risk for future mold growth.

For further information on the EnviroHealth mold inspection, please call May at 1-888-735-9649 or write to may@createyourhealthyhome.com.

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