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 INTERIOR
WATER INTRUSION
In this prestigious Coronado Bay
home, an upstairs toilet malfunctioned
while the homeowners were vacationing in
Europe. The faulty toilet plumbing cause
water to flow out of the tank. Within
hours the water had saturated through
the upper bathroom walls, into the
second story bedrooms and down through
the dining room ceiling and walls below.
 Because
the homeowners were out of town when the
leak occurred, several days had passed
before a neighbor noticed water running
down the driveway. Almost every square
foot of drywall in the home had to be
removed. In addition to the drywall
damage, all of the carpet, padding,
hardwood floors and kitchen cabinets
were destroyed. Even the furniture
absorbed water and became contaminated
with mold.
Because of the extremely high
humidity levels inside the home, mold
growth was found even in places that did
not come into direct contact with water,
such as in the closets where
linens and clothing were destroyed.
Obviously this is an extreme case of
water intrusion. If this were your home
you would at least be fully aware of the
problem and the full extent of the
damage. You would have the advantage of
watching over the remediation work and
making sure that the repairs were
performed by qualified contractors and
have a reasonable assurance that the job
was done right.
But what if this wasn't your home?
What if you were considering
buying this property and the seller
failed to disclose this problem to you?
Or what if the seller did disclose it
but the remediation work was not done
properly?
If mold remediation work is not
performed correctly by qualified experts,
sooner or later the mold will return.
It could take six months to a year, but
it will return. That's why it is
important to have a certified mold
inspection done on a property before you
buy. By law, a seller of real estate is
required to disclose all water intrusion
and mold issues to prospective buyers.
But disclosure alone is no guarantee
that the problem was resolved.
Prior to remediation work, the
property should be inspected and tested
by a certified mold inspector who will provide the
client with a
report consisting of a visual inspection
supported by analytical data (test
samples) to confirm or rule out the
probability that mold is originating
indoors. As a safeguard against fraud,
the mold inspector should not be in the
mold remediation business or connected
with a repair contractor in such a way
that the inspector would benefit from
the mold problems he or she discovers.
After the problem has been
identified, a certified mold remediator should be hired to perform the work and
provide the property owner with proper
documentation that the work was done
according to IICRC standards**. After the
remediation work is completed, and
before and re-construction begins, the
inspector should be called back on to
the job for re-inspection and perform
post-remediation air tests of the work
areas. The inspector's final report is
the only assurance any potential buyer
has that the remediation was successful.
Post-remediation inspection and testing
should never be performed by the
remediation contractor. (see
Mold Scams)
 LESS
OBVIOUS MOLD DAMAGE
Not all water intrusion and mold
problems are as obvious as the example
above. Some of the most troublesome
problems are not visible at all to the
untrained eye. This kitchen sink is a
classic example.
At first glance this cabinet showed
no visible signs of mold or water
intrusion; only a slight "musty" odor
that most people would dismiss as
 a
typical sink smell. However, using
state-of-the-art testing equipment, a
certified mold inspector was able to
detect elevated spore levels that
confirmed a problem did in fact exist.
Further investigation revealed that
the pull-out spray nozzle on top of the
sink leaked at the connection. The water
ran behind and under the sink cabinet
through a hole in back
wall of the cabinet. All of the cabinet
 framework
was water damaged and infested
with mold growth. The mold growth spread
onto the drywall behind the cabinet and
up inside the wall, contaminating the
exterior insulation.
The cost to repair a job like this is
considerably less than the job shown
above because an AMI inspector was able
to detect the problem at an early stage.
Had this problem gone unnoticed, the remediation cost
alone could have been tens of thousands
of dollars. (see
more on Hidden Mold)
BE
PRO-ACTIVE
The key to limiting mold damage is
being pro-active. If you suspect you
have a mold problem, don't ignore it,
address it immediately. A common mistake people make is to
assume that only visible mold is a
problem. In vain, they attempt to wash
moldy areas with bleach*** or cover mold up
with new paint, wallpaper, carpet or
tile. None of which solves the problem.
Unless
all mold contaminated materials are
removed or properly remediated, mold
will keep coming back. The only way to
correct indoor mold problems is to
eliminate the cause, remove all mold
growth and control moisture.
FORGET
TRYING TO KILL MOLD
The only way to ensure that mold is
eliminated is to eliminate it - remove
it. Don't bother trying to kill it. Killing mold is a futile "band-aid"
approach to mold problems. Mold must be
removed or it will come back, no matter
how dead you kill it. Don't be suckered
into the so-called "high-tech" methods
for killing mold, such as ozone
generators, heat treatments, and
spray-on encapsulants. It's all "snake
oil". (see Mold
Scams)
AMI is not in the remediation
business. We only perform inspections
and testing, including post-remediation
testing. And the remediation jobs that
fail most often are the jobs where ozone
and/or high heat-treatment is used to
"kill" mold. Neither method is a viable
remediation protocol. The only way to
get rid of mold is to physically remove
it.
Reputable remediation contractors use
sand and grind methods for removing
mold. On large jobs some contractors use
a technology called "dry-ice blasting",
which is virtually the same thing as
sand-blasting but with dry ice instead
of sand. Dry ice is clean, odorless, and
dissipates immediately so no addition
moisture is accrued.
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EXTERIOR
WATER INTRUSION
