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BATTLING
MOLD INSIDE OFFICES AND HOMES IS A GROWING NEW BUSINESS.
By William Poe
To be sure, talk of mold inside the places we live and work is a
new phenomenon. But the harmful effects of molds and other fungi
have been known in France for decades.
Caves
in the Vézère Valley near the Dordogne River in the southwest of
France (collectively known as the Grottes de Lascaux) contain the
world’s finest collection of prehistoric art, but they have been
generally closed to the public in recent years because of the growth
of molds on the wall paintings.
Tourists introduced moisture into the caves by way of their clothing
and respiration, and the drawings of bison, deer, horses and hunters
were soon under microbial attack. So, the caves were shuttered,
and the tourists were eventually shunted off to a virtual facsimile,
Lascaux II, where modern artists recreated the cave paintings using
techniques and materials similar to those favored by their Stone
Age originators.
The genuine cave paintings survived virtually intact for 16,000
years before the introduction of moisture over fewer than 25 years
threatened their very existence.
As archeologists learned the hard way in France, mold control is
one of the major challenges being faced today by owners of commercial
and residential buildings. Issues related to mold include legal
liability and the specter of litigation, difficulties obtaining
insurance, costs associated with mold abatement, and, perhaps the
most important factor of all, a potentially dangerous environment
for workers, residents and visitors who can suffer a host of allergic
reactions including acute asthma.
“There are lots of reports of the adverse health impact of mold,
and it potentially can be harmful to your health,” says Karl E.
Ruhmann, an engineer and director of environmental services for
SCI Engineering Inc. “A problem can begin when the concentration
of mold inside a building is greater than that of the outside air.”
When that occurs, a consultant such as Ruhmann may call for the
mold to be cleaned up, or remediated as the process is called in
the growing mold inspection and remediation industry.
Enter a company such as Professional Abatement & Remediation Technologies
(PART), a Fenton-based outfit that has workers specifically trained
in mold and fungus elimination. Turning them loose inside a mold-contaminated
commercial structure can cost the building owner anywhere from $2,500
to a quarter million dollars, says Barry Harris, a biochemist and
general manager of PART.
For serious mold problems inside homes, remediation costs can “run
from a low of a couple thousand dollars to absurd scenarios where
someone gets his entire home replaced,” Ruhmann says.
"ALL OF THE MECHANISMS
FOR MOLD HAVE BEEN IN PLACE ALL ALONG BUT THERE IS
MUCH GREATER AWARENESS DRIVEN LARGELY BY THE MEDIA.
NOW, THE RESIDENTIAL CONSUMER AND THE COMMERCIAL LESSEE
ARE BECOMING MUCH MORE INVOLVED IN DETECTION OF PROBLEMS."
Karl E. Ruhmann
engineer & director of
environmental services,
SCI Engineering Inc.
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Nic Neumann, president of NPN Environmental Engineers Inc., which
conducts mold inspections, says that a typical inspection might
cost $500 to $1,000 with remediation costs not infrequently approaching
$20,000 to $30,000. Costs may or may not be covered by building
insurance, Neumann says.
There is no doubt that mold is becoming big business. NPN Environmental
Engineers, Neumann says, has grown to 25 employees and $3 million
in sales in the 10 years since its founding. PART is just beginning
its third year of business and now has 10 full-time workers, plus
part-time employees, Harris says. SCI, Ruhmann adds, did not consult
on its first mold project until 1997. Now the environmental engineering
firm handles three or four mold projects each week and has a staff
of three dedicated to mold consulting.
That the mold business has been booming in recent years is the result,
experts say, of greater media attention to the problem and perhaps
to buildings that have become tighter and tighter. The result is
that moisture that is introduced into a building tends to stay there.
“All of the mechanisms for mold have been in place all along,” Ruhmann
says. “But there is much greater awareness driven largely by the
media. Now, the residential consumer and the commercial lessee are
becoming much more involved in detection of problems.”
Offices, apartment buildings, churches, hospitals, and other structures
frequented by lots of people are the most common customers of NPN,
Neumann says. “There has been an increasing focus on the indoor
environment in buildings such as these.”
The typical mold inspection and remediation process, Neumann says,
involves four steps: 1. testing, sampling and analysis of building
conditions; 2. development of a remediation plan, if required; 3.
remediation, and 4. verification.
Harris, who oversees remediation, describes a demolition and cleanup
process that seemingly falls just short of NASA clean room procedures.
Mold workers may wear protective “moon suits,” use stringent sterilization
procedures and biocides, and work in what Harris calls “d-con (decontamination)
rooms.”
NIC NEUMANN
president,
NPN Environmental Engineers Inc. |
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Excess mold can be found in both new and old construction, experts
say, and is frequently the result of moisture from high humidity
levels, water leaks or flooding, and new buildings left open to
the rain. In many cases, a slow water leak over an extended period
of time is the culprit.
“A common scenario is water and HVAC systems above dropped ceilings,”
Harris says. “A water leak or elevated moisture level interacts
with the cellulose of the ceiling—the filet mignon for mold—and
before long you start to see a rainbow, or different mold species,
on the ceiling.”
Cold rooms, food preparation areas and other locations that mark
a significant temperature difference from other areas in a building
are also prime mold growth environments, Harris says.
Despite the presence of mold, Ruhmann says the building owner “has
no reason to panic. Mold is usually relatively easy to correct when
it is discovered and can be prevented by drying out a wet area within
48 hours. The threat is not nearly as great as many people think.”
William V. Poe is principal of Poe Communications, a St. Louis
advertising and marketing communications firm. |
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