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Mold..Mold...Mold. It can be the biggest hype, or the biggest threat. Say mold, and it can bring a chill, and heart palpitations to anyone who has a financial investment in real estate. This includes, bankers, sellers, buyers, landlords, and home owners. Why is there more hype now than 30 years ago? Because along with better insulation, and sealing of the home, it is harder for any area that gets wet to dry out. This is especially crucial in areas of the world with high humidity.

Some types of mold can be serious. After the death of her father, an acquaintance of mine went to Florida to clean out his home, that had been shut tight, and had molds growing. Two days after returning to her home, she passed away. It was deemed that it was a mold related death. Often mold will not cause death, but will cause, or aggravate a respiratory problem, such as asthma.

Why don't we just get rid of mold? Mold is always in the air. It only becomes a problem when it has a moist environment, food, and the proper temperature to grow.
This is why air mold measurement tests can be a hoax.

Often there is fraud, when mold is feared. Because of a homeowners' lack of knowledge, and vulnerability, it is easy to be taken by someone using scare tactics. Some companies representing themselves as "mold remediators" may charge 10's of thousands of dollars for remediation. Possibly it could have been done by bleach and water.

A couple years ago, a tenant of mine who was hoping for a big chunk of money tried to exploit me by saying there was mold in the bathroom. It was black mildew. They had repainted the walls around the shower with flat paint, didn't use the ventilation fan, and tried to present it as the reason he didn't pay rent. It was cleaned up easily with bleach and water, and the surface repainted with a washable sheen. Well he still didn't pay rent, so bye, bye tenant.

Before entering into any contract to remove mold in a home, be sure you have educated yourself. The EPA has put out a free online course on mold. There are 9 chapters, with it being divided into lessons in each chapter. Educate yourself, take the time to take this online course. If you are faced with mold in the future, don't get hysterical, review the different types of mold, and if you call in someone to remedy the problem, or to test, check their credentials, and get more than one opinion.

Here is the URL: http://www.epa.gov/mold/moldco urse/chapter1/home.html
There are also several others to check out.
www.eeba.org/technology/an drews/PBConstruct0204.pdf -
www.smspa.com/pdfs/tc_0906.pd f

Learn more about this author, Kathleen Couch.
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