What is Black Mold?
First of all, most people are not aware that the term “black mold” is actually a misnomer. Mold can come in a large array of colors including black, white, gray, green, blue, yellow, rust, brown and even clear! The most dangerous mold is the invisible mold that floats around in the air currents in your home. The only way for mold to affect your health is for you to breathe it, so when the invisible spores floating in the air gets into your lungs, you can get very ill.
While certain types of mold tend to be black, other types are other colors and complicate matters even more, many substances that look like black mold are not mold at all! So to summarize, you cannot visibly identify a substance you see as being mold or not, and if is black, it may or may not be anything harmful, yet other substances that are white, blue, brown or other colors may be very harmful. The only way to find out is to hire a licensed mold assessor such as Certified Inspections, Inc. and have the substances sampled and analyzed in a laboratory.
Can Mold Make You Sick?
Yes, mold can make you very sick. It can cause headaches, breathing problems and diseases such as asthma, emphysema, flulike symptoms, rashes, memory loss and cancer. Some people are more susceptible to the effects of mold than others, but some types can be dangerous to anyone. There are numerous documented cases of people getting very sick, losing their jobs and being disabled for life from the effects of mold. Mold can even grow in your lungs and there is no way of getting it out!
Can I Clean the Mold Myself?
If you have very small amounts of mold on a hard, non-porous surface such as a refrigerator or tile, you can clean it off. But in most cases, after you’ve had an inspection from a licensed mold assessor, he will recommend having a professional licensed remediation company do the cleaning. There are several reasons for this:
1. If you don’t wear the right protective clothing, you can get sick handling the mold.
2. You can make the problem worse by cross-contaminating the house. Mold remediation should be done under a negative vacuum with specially designed air scrubbers and negative air machines inside an established containment area.
3. There are certain chemicals that are used to properly clean mold that are not available to unlicensed people or companies. Over the counter products generally do not work and can make the problem worse.
4. Since airborne mold spores are invisible, you can’t tell where the problem actually is. You are just shooting in the dark.
5. Some objects and surfaces can be cleaned as some, such as sheetrock, cannot. A non-professional will not know how to treat the various wall, ceiling and floor surfaces or the house contents. Each has its own specific properties.
6. Once a remediation has been completed, you won’t know if the problem has been sufficiently eradicated unless a post-abatement clearance test has been performed by a licensed mold assessor. It would be like taking an exam in school without a teacher to grade your test. You could think you have solved the problem while still breathing in dangerous spores.
Summary
It is always better to call a professional licensed mold assessor if you suspect you have mold. If your power goes out, you call an electrician. If your sink drain is leaking water all over your kitchen, you call a plumber. If your air conditioner stops working, you call an HVAC technician. There’s a reason for these tradesmen doing what they do. They are trained, passed licensing exams, and have real life experience, and you don’t.
A licensed mold assessor can identify whether you have a problem or not and if you do, he will tell you why, how to remediate it, how to keep it from coming back, and in many cases, refer a qualified licensed remediation professional to perform the work. You will be far better off in the long run and the chances are in your favor that if you comply with this modality, you will never have the problem again and will have spent less money and aggravation than if you tried to “do it yourself.”
