More About Mold Load

The term “mold load” has been an effective way of describing the mold burden that is in our homes. Not entirely different from high or low blood pressure, high or low cholesterol, or high or low electromagnetic radiation. It is safe to assume, and in my mind, very obvious, that some homes have a very high mold load, and some homes have a very average mold load.

Have you ever asked yourself why some homes can have a leak, and the mold growth is very very minimal, and others, the mold thrives. These same homes in which the mold thrives, also seem to grow mold in the tub and shower area often, and the food on the counter or in the refrigerator gets moldy quickly. Its a variable that is not often discussed.

The reason for the variability is the ever growing mold load in the home. It is safe to say that all homes have some mold, just as all air that we breathe indoors or outdoors has mold. However, the term mold load is beyond the scope of simply the number of spores that are in the air. Mold load includes spores in the air, growing mold on surfaces, dormant mold on surfaces and in the air, hyphae or hyphal fragments on surfaces or in the air, and the associated mycotoxins Keep in mind, you need at least one million spores within a square inch to be able to see any mold with the naked eye. So lets not assume that if we had an issue, we would see it. Additionally, mold does not die off like bacteria. It can change from sporing to growing, to dormancy etc etc, but it does not generally die-off. It is for this reason, the mold load of every home increases day by day, and year by year. It’s a concept that the traditional remediation world refuses to recognize, and for good reason. They simply do not have an answer for the mold load that is throughout the home. In fact, they double down on NOT recognizing this by “containing” with plastic, the area to be addressed.

I understand that their reasoning is that they need to “contain the mold” so that it doesn't get into the rest of the home. This is a great thought, if for even a split second, anyone thought the rest of the home was sterile. Or, at very minimum, void of mold load. I'm guessing the only way to assign logic to the containment idea is to suggest that all mold, in the entire home, heard about the leak and decided, as a group, “lets go to the party” Of course, this is beyond ridiculous. I personally look at the containment protocol differently, and I believe it is their way of suggesting, “we are not responsible for anything in the home, relative to mold, except what is in this small contained area. I took a week long mold contractor class a few years ago, and we spent a day learning the ins and outs of 6 mil plastic, and duct tape, and double bagging, and twisty ties. I did not feel as though I was learning anything that would be considered “state of art”. Yes, it was a long day. In an attempt to break up the day, I asked the group, “hey, after we are done, we take down the plastic, and then test the home?” An almost thunderous amount of voices all said, almost in unison, “NO”! I went along, played dumb, and said, “why”? The vocal ones were very adamant in telling me, “you will never be able to pass that house, on a mold quality test, unless you leave the containment up, and test within containment after you have run air scrubbers within the containment for a few days. I pushed further, “so, are we not worried about the rest of the house”? The return statement was, “it's not within our scope of work”. I get that, and thats a safe way to keep themselves free of liability.

I can draw a comparison to the car world. Lets say you are involved in a car accident. The reason for the accident is the brake system on the car failed. The accident caused significant damage to the front end of the car.

What needs to go be corrected for this car to be working correctly again? Anybody with even a tiny amount of common sense would say, make sure you get the brakes fixed. But what if you just took the car to a body shop. And they just fixed the front of the car? In other words, they just fix the visible problem, and they ignore the root of the problem. This seems insane, however, in my mind, this is precisely what the containment/remediation world is doing to a home. Just as the brakes need to be fixed for the car to be safe, the mold load needs to be corrected to make the home healthy. In the majority of the homes that I have been involved with, the overall mold load was elevated long before the flood or leak occurred. Do some things possibly still need to be removed? Of course. However the point here is the whole home needs to be corrected.

I once was involved in a very spirited conversation with a lab technician that told me the water caused the mold. And it does, sort of. However, In her mind, the water brought in the mold and the wet sheetrock simply begins to grow mold. I countered with, “please explain how a mold spore or cell will ride on the back of H2O, work its way through the foundation, and eventually into the studs and ultimately the paper on the sheetrock. THAT IS NOT WHAT IS HAPPENING. In fact, there are primitive water filters that almost work the same way. They first filter through a layer of soil, then through rocks, then through wood chips, and eventually you end up with relatively clean water. I point this out, as reasoning that the mold is not coming with the water. I was trying to point out that the mold spores are part of the already, pre existing mold load in the home. The water simply helped the mold load manifest itself.

It is critical that people dealing with mold toxicity understand that the visible mold, wherever it is, is not the bulk of the problem. Just as the damaged front bumper is not the bulk of the problem with the car.

When a home has a flood or a leak, the tendency is to look at the area of the water intrusion, which depending on the mold load of the home immediately before the leak or flood, will begin to grow mold in 24 hours. Pure Maintenance is the only Company that understands this concept, and has a way to address the entire home.