Guest guest Posted December 20, 2004 Report Share Posted December 20, 2004 I wish now to support the restriction on its use for anything except restoring the appearance of wood framing members, so that new mold growth will be obvious. I find it is easier to get paid when the sufaces I have cleaned look clean, which includes reversing cellulosic browning. Lee R RameyMold and Mildew Solutions LLC716 9th St. NoBirmingham Al 35203Fax email: lrramey@...For free consumer reports reply to this e-mail. Subjects include Water Damage, Mold Remediation, Allergy Relief, and others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 20, 2004 Report Share Posted December 20, 2004 Dear Fellow List Members: Since the use of bleach to mitigate mold seems to be a widely practiced response, I thought I'd quote from the EPA's pamphlet, A Brief Guide to MOLD, MOISTURE, and YOUR HOME ( www.epa.gov/iaq/molds ): The following can be found on page 15: " Biocides are substances that can destroy living organisms. The use of a chemical or biocide that kills organisms such as mold (chlorine bleach, for example) is not recommended as a routine practice during mold cleanup. " " In most cases, it is not possible or desirable to sterilize an area; a background level of mold spores will remain " " Please note: Dead mold may still cause allergic reactions in some people, so it is not enough to simply kill the mold, it must also be removed. " Sincerely, W. Bearg, PE, CIH Consultant in IEQ Concord, MA Hello everyone. Certain temperature and humidity ranges are written as very condusive to mold, but from a recent experience it seems like mold needs a physically saturated food source to get started. My experience is from the effects of a hurricane. My home, a two story town house, was flooded by storm surge however only 4 inches made it inside and the ground floor has all concrete walls. It was a couple days after the storm before we could get back into our home and we had to bleach the baseboard trim to kill visible mold, and rather than take chances we bleached all the trim. I was without power for a month, and it typically averaged inside close to 86F at 85% RH for three weeks, then when I managed to get a small window AC unit running from my generator, it was a week of 83F @ 68% RH. I did not get an explosion of mold in the upper levels with all that sheet rock. My office is in an industrial 'butler' building and the high sea water mark was 46 " . My ceiling is under a mezzanine and some roof panels were lost in the storm and rain water was getting on the mezzanine. My walls quickly 'molded' up to the high water mark, and a couple days later the ceiling was showing mold as well. Both the walls and the ceilings were wet. I was forced to gut this office. I will never buy particle board book cases again either as they all collapsed. In both of these situations, with no power, there was no AC operating and therefore there was nothing cooler than the ambient dewpoint which howvers around 80F from June to the end of Novemeber. I was reading ASHRAE's Humidity COntrol Design Guide, Chapter 7, http://www.masongrant.com/pdf/design_guide/ASHRAE_HCDG_C7_Mold.pdf and it comments how spore cases seem to have enzymes on them. Moisture in the food source dissolves these enzymes, and through osmosis the spores receive food that the enzymes have broken down to liquid form. It just seems to me that the high indoor RH levels are condusive to mold, but they don't really seem to cause food source to be wet enough to 'germinate' spores. I can see humid air getting trapped in drawers, closets, behind furniture and then when the air conditioning runs, it creates localized condensation in these out of the way places and starts the mold. I realize there are spores everywhere, but it does not seem like the spores 'spontaneously germinate' from high relative humidities. From what happend to me it looks like it needs a wet spot to get established. I am good at designing to maintain conditions that prevent the humidity levels condusive to mold, I am just looking for some comments on all the experts in here on what makes the mold grow. Does mold need a wet saturated food source to start growing? FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 20, 2004 Report Share Posted December 20, 2004 Dear List Members Since I was one of the first to popularize the use of bleach, by householders, not restoration contractors, I wish now to support the restriction on its use for anything except restoring the appearance of wood framing members, so that new mold growth will be obvious. As originally promoted it was for visible surfaces and did serve a function in making it easier to see if mold came back again (in which case consumers were referred to professionals). In practice householders did not rinse the dead mold off and treated bleach as if it were harmless (which it certainly is NOT), so it is no longer recommended even for that purpose. There are very, very few cases where a biocide is needed or recommended. Clean well or remove/replace and keep materials dry enough. If you cannot keep materials dry enough, make some building changes until you can. That is the way to prevent ongoing mold problems, not through routine use of biocides. Jim H. White SSAL Re: Getting Mold Stopped > Dear Fellow List Members: > > Since the use of bleach to mitigate mold seems to be a widely practiced > response, I thought I'd quote from the EPA's pamphlet, A Brief Guide to > MOLD, MOISTURE, and YOUR HOME ( www.epa.gov/iaq/molds ): > > The following can be found on page 15: > > " Biocides are substances that can destroy living organisms. The use of a > chemical or biocide that kills organisms such as mold (chlorine bleach, > for example) is not recommended as a routine practice during mold > cleanup. " > > " In most cases, it is not possible or desirable to sterilize an area; a > background level of mold spores will remain " > > " Please note: Dead mold may still cause allergic reactions in some > people, so it is not enough to simply kill the mold, it must also be > removed. " > > > > Sincerely, > > W. Bearg, PE, CIH > Consultant in IEQ > Concord, MA > > > > > > > > > > > > FAIR USE NOTICE: > > This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always > been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such > material available in our efforts to advance understanding of > environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, > and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' > of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US > Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the > material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have > expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for > research and educational purposes. For more information go to: > http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use > copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go > beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 20, 2004 Report Share Posted December 20, 2004 I also will recommend bleach for removing microbial staining (never for killing mold) because the appearance of the stain raises questions about the remediation procedure. It also provides a "photo op" for anyone attempting to criticize the remediation procedure. I have come to learn that a photo of a mold stain can easily be used against a contractor, especially when the people looking at the photo have not been to the site. Steve Temes I wish now to support the restriction on its use for anything except restoring the appearance of wood framing members, so that new mold growth will be obvious. I find it is easier to get paid when the sufaces I have cleaned look clean, which includes reversing cellulosic browning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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