Now Mr. Barr is a mold inspector and remediator who charges about $125
    to test mold in people's homes. He took a $1,000 home-study course he found
    on the Internet and passed a multiple-choice exam, plus a quiz over the phone.
   He even has a mold-inspector badge, issued by a group called the Certified
   Mold Inspectors & Contractors Institute. "We did a lot of research and study,"
   during the course, says Mr. Barr, who feels he is qualified to do mold cleanup.

As individual homeowners try to get a grip on their mold problems,
   state attorneys general and consumer groups say they are seeing a stream
   of complaints about botched cleanup jobs done by inexperienced workers.
   The problem has gotten serious enough that several states are working on
   regulations and licensing requirements for mold-inspection and
   remediation companies.

Currently, there are no federal or state regulations, and mold
   companies aren't required to be licensed or certified.

"My nail technician is more regulated" than mold cleaners, says
   Melinda Ballard, head of Policyholders of America, a nonprofit group in Austin,
   Texas. "There's something wrong with that." Ms. Ballard started the
   organization, which helps people file insurance claims, after winning a
   mold-related lawsuit against an insurer.

Such suits helped give rise to a flood of mold claims and to so-called
   mold remediation -- an industry that was virtually nonexistent a few years ago.
   Lured by the promise of fatter paychecks, workers with minimal training soon
   started billing themselves as mold remediators. There are now between 10,000
   and 20,000 mold-removal companies in the country, according to the Indoor
   Air Quality Association, which offers a mold-cleanup training program.

Mold remediation can cost anywhere from several hundred dollars to
   more than $100,000 depending on the scope of the problem. And since almost
   every major insurer now excludes mold from standard policies, many consumers
   must pay out of their own pockets.

The proliferation of new companies has led to a number of horror
   stories. When Kase Velasco's kitchen sink started leaking, his insurer dispatched
   a company to clean up the water and black mold that had spread on the wall
   behind the sink. Mr. Velasco, his wife, and two children packed up and moved
   out of their Houston home and into a nearby apartment while the mold
   cleanup company took apart their house to eradicate the fungus.

Seven months, and about $22,000 in insurance money later, the
   family moved back. So did the mold. A round of testing showed mold levels
   were actually higher than when they left. He learned that the company hired to get
   rid of the mold had been in the roofing business just six months before.

"All they were was glorified demolition guys," says Mr. Velasco,
   a commercial-real-estate developer, who declined to name the company.

Mold Relief Inc., a nonprofit organization in Norman, Okla., that
   offers assistance to families affected by indoor mold, has received dozens
   of complaints from California to Oklahoma to Virginia about improper inspections
   or cleanup jobs. "I get calls from everywhere," says Elisa Larkin, executive director
   of Mold Relief. Companies come in to people's homes, she says, "and a week
   later there's mushrooms growing in the carpet."

     Mold Restoration

Last month, Mold Restoration Inc., a mold-remediation company, agreed
    to pay upward of $800,000 for restitution to consumers in a settlement of a
    lawsuit brought two years go by then Texas Attorney General John Cornyn on
    behalf of half a dozen consumers. The suit alleged that the company left
    homeowners with unfinished restoration work meant to correct severe mold.
    An attorney for Mold Restoration says the company didn't admit any
    wrongdoing. Since June of 2002 the Attorney General's office has received nearly
    200 other complaints against various mold-remediation companies.

At least two states -- Louisiana and Texas -- have enacted legislation
    that would require some form of licensing or registration for anyone involved
    with mold inspection, analysis or cleanup, though much of the details are still
    being worked out.

Several other states, and at least one federal lawmaker, have introduced
   bills that seek to research and establish standards regarding mold identification
   and remediation.

Part of the problem with trying to establish regulatory practices around
   mold is there are no standards for acceptable levels of mold inside a home.
   Molds are part of the natural environment and can be found practically
   everywhere. Different people have different sensitivities to molds. When testing
   is done, it usually just compares the levels and types of mold spores found inside
   the home with those on the outside.