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I was recently consulted for an article on mold problems that appeared in the Midland Daily News. The following is a copy of that article, written by reporter Cheryl Wade.
When it comes to mold and getting rid of it, an old house with a few air leaks might be better than a new one that’s buttoned up tight, an inspector says.
Kurt Deming, whose 18-year-old business is Priority One Home Inspections Inc., said new houses and the materials from which they’re made can hold moisture that can become a perfect home for mold. Deming, who’s a licensed builder, certified home inspector and mold inspector, also has studied chemistry and chemical engineering. He wants builders and home buyers to become more aware of how moisture can end up inside the walls of an expensive, brand-new home.
“There’s very little knowledge of the science and the engineering that’s taking place on a microscopic level, and it’s eating our homes,” he said.
Mold needs three things to thrive: food, water and heat. Wood for construction comes from the factory with 25 percent of its weight as water and, if the builder doesn’t allow enough drying time, mold can grow inside the walls. And as for food, mold can eat just about anything organic: plastics, carpet, furniture, papers, wood.
Mold also can creep in if a builder has insulated and drywalled a house in the rain, then put on the siding, Deming said.
Molds have been around forever and there are 1.5 million types of them, Deming said. Every house has mold, because it even grows outdoors. Many are not harmful, but some cause allergies or other illnesses. The black stachybotrus mold kills humans.
It’s especially important for new houses to be dry because modern materials such as oriented strand board, often used for sheeting and flooring, are fast meals for mold, he said. Old-fashioned wood is much harder for it to digest.
Insulation that becomes wet absorbs a large amount of water. In older homes that often do not have insulation, the water dries more quickly, Deming said. Modern materials that button a house up tight trap moisture.
Another concern is the ‘ice dams’ that form in the winter as ice melts and then freezes on the eaves where the roof juts out past the exterior walls. If water builds up behind the ice and finds its way through shingles to interior walls, it creates more moisture.
Deming uses three methods to detect and type mold in houses. He can collect bulk samples from drywall, carpet or wallpaper. Another method uses a sticky slide, the kind that goes under a microscope, which picks up traces of the mold. The most sophisticated uses a filter that collects samples of mold from indoor and outdoor air. Comparing mold levels indoors and outdoors helps determine how significant a mold problem a house has.
The solution depends on the extent of the problem. The worst fix is tearing down the house.
“In the past year, I’ve been in three homes that needed to be torn down,” Deming said. They were in Bay City and Flint. “That doesn’t happen all that often.”
Some solutions are structural fix-its.
“If you have a plumbing leak, fix it.” he said. “If you have water setting up against your foundation…fix it.”
Make sure the attic is well ventilated, he suggested. Use furnace filters that collect mold spores.
“That doesn’t stop the problem, it just helps keep the air clean,” he said.
Some cleaning supplies can be bought at a hardware store. Trisodium phosphate is a good all-purpose fungicide, and some molds are killed with bleach and water. But for those who need high-power industrial chemicals, Deming suggests letting a professional do the job.
