Hurricane season damage totaled over $29 billion. Three hurricanes in 2008 cost the Texas insurance industry nearly $1.4 billion. For every dollar the state’s insurance industry took in in 2008, it paid out $1.65. In fact, the state has put up a page explaining how to file mold claims.

One of its first “rules” is to “make sure you understand what losses are covered under your policy. If you’re not sure, ask your agent or an insurance company representative for an explanation.”

Have you heard about the state supreme court jury deliberating over a woman who claims toxic mold exposure caused her infant daughter’s hospitalization nine years ago? The question was whether the mom or the mold had abused the baby. She was convicted of a misdemeanor count of child endangering. (The baby’s clothing had been washed in a mold-infested basement.) One reason she didn’t win the case because there are a lot of instances where mold is not taken seriously.

WE take mold seriously.

On another note…

I want to be a firefighter.

Firefighters can get a a state-of-the-art decontamination system that disinfects all surfaces wherever free air flows. The system breaks down their disinfectants into smaller than one micron particulates and gets everywhere and pretty much kills everything. Pretty handy. It’s supposed to even get mold.

Maybe we could go back in time and get one of those miracle machines to clean up that convicted mom’s moldy basement.

LETTER:
In the past 7 years, Our company has probably collected more mold samplesfor laboratory analysis than any other company in the U.S. Our reports are based on the assessment and laboratory results report. WE ARE IN THE MOLD ASSESSMENT & TESTING BUSINESS and I have always felt that if we did mold remediation it would be a cross-over to an absolute conflict of interest.

We are even careful about recommending remediation companies because we feel that even that is borderline. To get around that we send client a list of companies that includes companies we’ve had experience with and some that are straight out of the Yellow Pages and we do this without distinguishing which is which.

I have always been critical of Termite Inspectors because you are at the mercy of the inspector who will get a job if he finds an issue. No pun intended to the industry. What I’m saying is that these inspectors are licensed but not restricted to do both. I see that the bill being introduced will preclude the cross over, that’s good.

Finally, I feel the same way about laboratories across the country that do the laboratory analysis and also the mold assessments and collecting of mold samples.

George Hatcher
President
Bye Bye Mold, Inc.
www.byebyemold.com

Original article: Madison sees need to license mold pros BY BILL BOWDEN Posted on Saturday, March 14, 200

State Sen. Sue Madison, DFayetteville, filed a bill in the Arkansas Senate on March 5 that would require mold investigators to be licensed by the state and won’t allow mold investigators also to perform mold remediation.

News that a Loudoun County judge has reduced a mold award from $4.75 million to $1.4 may not be a bad thing in this economy. The decision was based on the lack of permanent injury to Paul and Wendy Meng after leaky basement windows caused mold to grow inside their $900,000 house.

There is no medical proof that mold cause health effects, a possible exception in Aspergillus type cases. Without the medical evidence, $1.4 million is never going to be enough for a family that first heard $4.75, however, it’s a whole lot more than what other juries and/or judges are handing out in mold cases. Experienced attorneys are very cautious about taking on a mold case because they realize they have no medical science to help them regarding personal injury. Most write-ups that I have read are cases that settle out of court, the very prudent attorney would take on a mold case on a contingency fee, unless there was clear evidence of property damage. Property Damage awards are not uncommon in big numbers.

Maybe a few more home owners will send in their trusty mold inspectors like Bye Bye Mold™ to see what exactly they’re dealing with–

It’s not over though–the decision will stand at least untill the appeal.

Is your home suffering from Sick Building Syndrome?

Are YOU suffering from Sick Building Syndrome?

• Poor air quality that has been caused by the presence of toxic mold and other contaminants
• Physical symptoms rarely fit a pattern of any particular illness
• Airborne mycotoxins infuse the environment, including the air you breathe, hence causing allergic reactions which may be taken to be a flu or virus
• Symptoms can include headache, chronic fatigue, persistent flu and allergy symptoms, nose and throat irritation, memory loss, difficulty concentrating, dizziness, nausea, and shortness of breath.
• The very young, the very old, the immune compromised, and individuals suffering from asthma are frighteningly vulnerable to the effects of chronic mold exposure.
• Infants subjected to the sick building environment may experience pulmonary hemorrhage.
• Mold may grow in moist, dark, high humidity areas, but in times of no moisture, the spores are designed to wait out dry spells. These spores–whether dead, alive, or in suspended animation– are the source of allergic reactions.

Musty odor? For a professional mold assessment, call Bye Bye Mold™ at 1 (800) 686-1991; http://byebyemold.com

Ever opened the door to a house that’s been unoccupied for a while? It’s got that characteristic musty smell. That’s because being closed up and stagnant is a perfect breeding ground for mold, bacteria, mycotoxins and endotoxins. That’s what you get in foreclosed homes too. Because when the people move out, these other nasty little occupants move in. In fact, if there’s a bit of a leak somewhere, or humidity (especially in locations like Florida or Louisiana), mold can take over in a very short time.

That’s bad news, with all the foreclosures out there, which are already selling for less than they’re worth. Once they’re infested with mold, these moldy foreclosed homes can sell for a fraction of their alleged value. And it might cost a fortune to get rid of established mold, bacteria, mycotoxins and endotoxins.

So if you’re one of those brave souls buying foreclosed homes, make sure you bring your mold inspector along when doing that house inspection. If your inspector does find mold, you might as well see if you can get the remediation warranted into your contract. (A bank probably won’t do that; they tend to be pretty immobile where contracts are concerned–but a seller just might take care of the remediation–or drop the house price accordingly.) In any case, if you’re buying a mold infested house, you need to be doing it with your eyes and wallet wide open, knowing exactly what you’re going to be dealing with. Fixing it is likely to get really expensive. That bargain may not be such a bargain after all.

According to a study by the Department of Microbiology of Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute at Sri Ramachandra University, there is an urgent need to “undertake study of indoor air, to generate baseline data and explore the link to nosocomial infections.”

The study postulates a relationship between mold and sick building syndrome (SBS) and building related illnesses, citing “fungal contamination within wall, ceiling, and floor cavities by movement of cells, spores, and cell fragments via wall openings and gaps at structural joints” as well the building providing a perfect mold breeding ground with: “lack of fresh…poor ventilation, poorly regulated temperature…relative humidity levels contributing to the presence and multiplication of bio-aerosols.

So, like we’ve said a hundred times before, eliminate the water leaks and humidity. Control the environment, and you control the mold.

Srikanth P, Sudharsanam S, Steinberg R. Bio-aerosols in indoor environment: Composition, health effects and analysis. Indian J Med Microbiol [serial online] 2008 [cited 2009 Mar 9];26:302-12. Available from: http://www.ijmm.org/text.asp?2008/26/4/302/43555

Look, if you think there’s mold in the school your child attends, mold at the nursing home your elderly relatives inhabit, mold in the public rec room basement, whatever, you should have that mold inspected by a certified inspector. Institutions, public or commercial, that cater to the public, should adhere to public standards, which–although there are not official published standards for mold–exist nevertheless.