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Forget Plastics.
The Future Is In Mold
Complaints Rise as Newcomers
Flock Into Fungus-Removal Work;
How to Get Rid of It Yourself
By MICHELLE HIGGINS
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Seven months ago, David Barr was repairing heating and
air-conditioning units in New York City. But he decided a better future lay in
mold. "I
think there's a good growth opportunity," he says.
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.
If the moldy area is less than 10 square feet, you can usually clean it up yourself.
If
the moldy area is larger, or if you smell mold but can't see it, you should hire someone
to do the cleanup. Experts advise that homeowners check with local consumer affairs
agencies and the Better Business Bureau before engaging a testing or remediation company.
Ask a company for examples of removal experience and check references.
And avoid
conflicts of interest by not hiring the same company to do both the inspection and
remediation.
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