May 15, 2003

WESLACO -- He's seen it too many times: contractors who do a poor job of removing mold from homes. Instead of properly removing it, some even paint over the mold to mask it.

Dr. Mani Skaria, a mold expert and plant pathologist at the Texas A&M-Kingsville Citrus Center at Weslaco, said he was surprised at the number of homes in the area that have a recurrence of mold problems.

"The problem is that there are too many mold cases and not enough qualified contractors to remove, or remediate these mold problems," he said. "It's like not having enough doctors in an area to treat all the sick people -- the patients end up going to somebody less qualified."

Skaria is convinced many of these recurring mold problems could be eliminated with improved clearance inspections, tests done after contractors have completed their work to determine the quality of the mold removal.

"Unfortunately, there are no government regulations on how best to remove mold," he said. "The end goal of any mold remediation project is to remove all the affected material from a home. And the success of the removal work usually depends on the quality of the contractor hired."

Skaria said part of the problem is technical -- contractors do not understand the biology of mold.

"For example," he said, "it's almost ridiculous to determine the level of mold in a house by comparing the mold level indoors with mold level outdoors. Mold found outdoors is totally different from indoor mold caused by water damage. They are two different animals."

Some contractor techniques, like painting over mold, actually aggravate the problem by spreading the mold. Another problem, Skaria said, is that many mold remediation contractors are also asbestos removal contractors.

"The proper techniques for removing mold and for removing asbestos are not the same. These are two totally different projects.

"For one thing," Skaria said, "asbestos doesn't grow; mold does. Mold will multiply as days go by, asbestos won't. With asbestos you can encapsulate the material and haul it off. Or you can encapsulate asbestos and leave it in place. You can't simply encapsulate mold, or paint over it and hope it won't spread. It will."

To avoid mold recurrence problems, Skaria said, the homeowner must be involved in the process, from beginning to end.

"Check the credentials and references of the contractor before the project begins," Skaria said. "After the work is completed, check to see if the contractor left behind any dust or debris. If they left dust or debris, they probably also left mold behind. All work areas should be left as clean as possible."

Skaria also recommends that a clearance test be done by someone other than the contractor and before any areas are painted. A clearance test, consisting of visual inspection, sampling, lab analysis and the professional opinion of the tester, must be completed before an area can be certified as having been successfully remediated.

"And by all means, he added "make sure they fixed the water leaks that created the problem in the first place."

Skaria is currently working through the Texas Department of Health and the Texas A&M University System to disseminate proper mold remediation techniques to the general public.

He can be contacted at (956) 968-2132, or via email at m-skaria@tamu.edu