Inspectors start to catch up from post-'cane backlog

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Mold busters

Inspectors start to catch up from post-'cane backlog

By THOMAS S. BROWN

Business Writer

http://www.news-

journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Business/RealEstate/03BusinessRE0

1BIZ090405.htm

Last update: September 04, 2005

Just a few days after a hurricane stripped off part of Ken

McMurray's roof last fall, black pockmarks started appearing on his

white ceilings and walls.

" The house was a mess, " said McMurray, a Seabreeze High School

teacher who lives in a five-room cottage in Ormond-by-the-Sea. " Some

of it was patches and some of it was a lot of little spotted black

things. "

McMurray took refuge at a neighbor's house while a work crew moved

in to replace the roof and tackle the mold invasion.

" What Ken saw was bad, but what was on the other side of his drywall

was 10 times worse, " said Pat Fanning, operator of Environmental

Cleaning Services, a mold inspection and remediation firm. " It's

always that way when you have water seeping into warm, closed-in

spaces that can't dry out. "

The $11,000 cleanup project involved replacing ceilings and walls in

three rooms and spraying the framing twice with a mold-killing agent

based on industrial-strength hydrogen peroxide. A month later, the

teacher was able to move back in to a house that looked and smelled

brand-new.

McMurray's home was just one of hundreds in the Volusia-Flagler area

that suffered a major mold attack after last year's hurricanes.

Nearly two dozen mold-remediation contractors have been working

overtime for the past year to clean up the mess. They say they're

just starting to catch up.

Mold is a velvety or fuzzy fungus that can be black, green, gray,

orange or other colors. It thrives on wet wood and paper products as

well as drywall, carpeting and ceiling tile.

Research by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over the past

decade has linked high concentrations of mold spores to breathing

problems, headaches, rashes and other problems, especially in people

with severe allergies, asthma and other respiratory problems

With last year's storms raising local fears about the potential for

mold growth, mold inspectors say many more homebuyers are hiring

them to examine properties before they close on purchases.

" Before the hurricanes, I was doing maybe three to five inspections

a week, " Fanning said. " Now I'm doing about 15 a week. "

Magliavez, an indoor air inspector for the Volusia County

Health Department, examines only those homes where residents have

experienced medical problems and suspect mold is to blame.

" Requests for home inspections went up a hundred-fold after the

hurricanes but I have time for only about four homes a month because

I spend most of my time working on government buildings, " he

said. " There are dozens and dozens of other requests where we can't

respond. "

He refers those people to private inspectors, but cautions them to

check closely on the inspector's qualifications and experience since

the occupation remains unregulated in Florida.

" We probably have 30 or 40 inspectors floating around out there, and

some of them are three-day wonders, " he said. " They go to a class or

two and call themselves certified. You don't want someone who was a

pesticide applicator yesterday and is a mold inspector today. "

A credential from the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and

Restoration Certification in Vancouver, Wash., is one sign of

reliability, Magliavez said. Another is familiarity with the mold

guidelines of the New York City Department of Health, a widely

followed set of standards.

Prices among private inspectors vary widely but all are much steeper

than the $50 inspection fee charged by Volusia County.

A few inspectors quoted prices in the $150 range for small homes,

but most said they typically collect $300 to $600, depending on the

size of the dwelling and whether mold samples have to be sent to a

laboratory for analysis.

Some buyers depend on general home inspectors to alert them to mold

problems, but few area inspectors in the " home " category claim to

have the expertise to deal with mold.

" A home inspector can look at your roof and gutters and windows and

find evidence of water intrusion, which creates the potential for

mold, " said Battoe, a Sanford inspector who is president of

the Central Florida chapter of the American Society of Home

Inspectors. " But mold can grow behind a cabinet or some other hidden

place, and a home inspector may not be able to detect it. If I see

danger signs like that, I recommend the client hire a mold sampler. "

Barbara Miles, an inspector who operates First Responders in Holly

Hill, said she starts with a thorough visual inspection to find

where leaks have occurred. Then sterile swabs are used to collect

surface material in dusty and mildewed trouble spots, such as

closets, doorsills near the kitchen, air conditioners, air ducts and

foundations. The swabs are sent to a lab to determine whether mold

spores are present. In some cases, air samples are collected as well

" You don't often see mold in a home that's for sale because usually

it has been freshly painted, " she said. " You have to do testing to

find it. "

In some cases, an inspector will drill tiny holes in a wall and

insert a tubular instrument to find mold hidden behind the wallboard

or plaster.

Most homeowners can get rid of mold themselves with detergent or

disinfectant if the fungal growth is limited to less than 10 square

feet of surface, according to the EPA publication, " A Brief Guide to

Mold, Moisture and Your Home. "

If mold covers a bigger area or is found in several spots, Miles

tells a client remediation work is needed. According to the

Insurance Information Institute in New York, mold cleanup projects

often cost $10,000 to $30,000 if the contamination has spread to

several rooms.

" We can break a real estate deal real quickly if a clearance test

finds a problem, " Miles said.

DISCLOSURE

Real estate agents find themselves caught in the middle. Whether

they represent the seller or the buyer, they still have a legal duty

to tell a buyer about a mold problem or any other flaw that affects

the property's value -- if they know about it themselves, said Bob

Fritze, operator of the Fritze School of Real Estate.

That raises the issue of just how much the owner has told the agent

about the home being marketed.

" I tell my classes to have the homeowner fill out the property

disclosure forms in his own handwriting, and to tape those forms in

a visible place, like a kitchen counter, " Fritze said.

While 30 other states have set licensing requirements for various

types of home inspectors, including mold inspectors, Florida

officials have held off, spending the past three years debating what

standards to set.

A bill passed by the Legislature last spring would have required

home inspectors to complete 80 class hours of instruction by next

Jan. 1. And, to head off potential conflicts of interest, it would

have forbidden inspectors to do any remediation work.

However, Gov. Jeb Bush vetoed the bill June 22, saying the education

requirement threatened to put many experienced mold inspectors out

of business.

At his direction, the state Department of Business and Professional

Regulation is holding informal hearings this summer on a possible

compromise that would set training standards for mold inspectors but

give grandfather rights to many inspectors already in practice.

Jeff Rothberg, a Delray Beach contractor who heads the Florida

Association of Building Inspectors, said he's optimistic a consensus

will be reached in the next session.

" We've been debating this for three years but this is the first year

the governor has said he wants a bill, " Rothberg

said. " Grandfathering is going to be a part of it. "

tom.brown@...

Mold Tips

Here are suggestions from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

on how to curb mold growth:

· If you have a water leak or storm damage, clean and dry out soaked

areas of a home within 24 to 48 hours.

· Reduce indoor humidity to the 30 to 60 percent range by using

dehumidifiers, air conditioners and exhaust fans.

· Keep closet doors open and move furniture out of corners to

promote air circulation.

· Check the air conditioning system for signs of mold, especially on

cooling coils. Change filters frequently.

· For more technical details, check the EPA Web site at

epa.gov/mold/mold_remedia-

tion.html or call the EPA Indoor Air Quality hot line at (800) 438-

4318.