FAQ's - Environmental Indoor Air Quality & Mold

Is mold that big of a problem?
YES! Mold is a naturally occurring biological fact of nature; we don’t want mold to pose an unnecessary health risk nor do we want mold to damage building materials.

What considerations need to be made with mold in an environment?
Mold can and will have adverse effects of damaging building materials, human internal and external tissues, crops, animals, and any other host sources.

There are many ways to resolve, mitigate, control or even prevent mold issues. In order to determine if you are a candidate for mold or that you have mold, an investigation should be conducted to quantify the environment/s.

Determining mold possibilities or probabilities, in your surroundings through an inspection should take into consideration all contributors of the environment when testing.

What types of disease and damage can mold cause?
Mold can cause many dermatological ailments that may exemplify itself from "Ring Worm," Candidiasis, Fungal Nail, Eczema and aggravation of allergies.

Persons who have asthma, and immune deficiencies, can be more susceptible to mold exposures; mold may complicate treatment and other disease manifestations.

Damage extent and type can be determined through an investigation. Initial testing should determine if mold has colonized, or in some cases completely infested an area. The depth of the damage can be wide and various to the environments host material.

How do I know that I have mold?
Consider that mold will not always reveal itself to an immediate visible sign. In many cases mold will grow within the walls, behind wallpaper, behind pictureframes, underneath a structure, in attics, in cellars or in any place that can support mold growth.

Why has mold become an issue now?
Since the advancements of research from screening, testing and tabulation of mold issues we now have a clearer understanding of the impact of persons and property. With this knowledge a determinable scale of financial burden has become a real argument to support the needs of mold management.

Do I need to comply with any laws?
Recently the State of California has recognized the need to increase the concern for public health by signing into law this January 1st of 2003 Senate Bill 732 (Toxic Mold Protection Act of 2001). With this new law in effect, there will be many changes to property/dwelling ownership and management as we see it.

Is that all I need to know?
NO! Your need of information should not stop here. Mold is only one of a number of issues that impact and effect indoor environments. Serious considerations should be given to other factors that work in tandem with mold and additional indoor environmental contaminants.

Additional areas of consideration should be given to:

		Indoor Air Quality (I.A.Q.)
		Exterior Ambient Air Quality
		Water Quality
		Sick Building Syndrome (S.B.S.)
		Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (H.V.A.C.)
		Building Envelope Tightness
		Relative Humidity (R.H.)
		Temperature Stressors
		Radon or Soil Gases
		Indoor Volatile Organic Compounds (V.O.C.’s)