Mold

[Jesse Zirillo]

I just bought a SFR rental in Southwest PA with some visible mold in the basement. A "mold remediation company" quoted me $4,500 to handle the situation. However, my contractor said he has a guy that can take care of it for a fraction of the price. He went on to explain that all the remediation company will do is wipe it down with Dawn dish detergent and repaint the surface.

I would love to save on the rehab costs but do not want to set myself up for issues down the road. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Jesse

[David Krulac]

@Jesse Zirillo

Mold is a serious issue, and can have repercussions for future tenants or owners of the property.  Any work you do either yourself or by contractor would need to be disclosed.  A $4,500 job sounds to me like a pretty big deal.

Mold is a living organism and reacts to certain chemicals like bleach and ammonia by release air borne spores as a means of self protection and survival.  So sometimes by trying to destroy it you are actually increasing the number of spores and the spreading of the mold.

When professionals remove mold they use Teflon suits (costs about $8) to cover themselves from head to toes, booties, suit and bonnet.  They also wear respirators.  The Teflon suits are disposable and after use they double bag and trash them.  The purpose of the suits are to prevent mold spores from attaching them selves to the people's clothes and then they take it home to contaminate their home and family.

People with respiratory ailments are particularly susceptible to mold.

Scrubbing and cleaning the surface does not always remove the mold as there can be mold on the back side of drywall ion the wall cavities.  Mold attaches itself to "organic" material like wood, paper (on the surface of drywall) etc.  Other materials like steel studs not so much and there is drywall made without paper that is mold resistant.

Mold is everywhere and is often in a dormant state but will need moisture, darkness, and certain conditions to grow.

You need to look for the conditions that prompted the mold growth and correct those conditions also.