Mold and mold spores in homes, offices, crawlspaces, basements, attics may lead to health issues for homeowners in Victoria, Cowichan, Duncan, Nanaimo, Parksville, Qualicum, Courtenay, Comox, Campbell River, and Port Alberni.
Here are some common myths about mold.
Mold growing in your house is a sign of poor cleaning – true or false?
This is False. Mold growth in your house is a sign of a moisture problem. Mold spores naturally exist pretty much everywhere, both outside and inside. In your house they just need the right temperature and moisture level to grow into a mold colony. Moisture problems and mold growth are regularly caused by excessive humidity, lack of ventilation, water leaks, or flooding.
Black mold is very dangerous – true or false?
This is mostly False. When we talk about the dangers of “black mold”, we are usually referring to a type of mold known as Stachybotrys chartarum. This type of toxic mold, along with specific other molds, can produce mycotoxins in certain circumstances. Some people are more sensitive to these mycotoxins or have underlying conditions like asthma or lung disease that make them more prone to being affected by the mycotoxins. Mold toxins can lead to health issues like cold-like symptoms, allergic reactions or respiratory problems in people and animals. Reports of extreme health affects from black mold are extremely rare.
The best way to kill mold is with bleach or vinegar – true or false?
This is False. Bleach, vinegar and other chemicals can kill some types of mold on hard non-porous surfaces (like bathroom tiles), but are not recommended because of their overall ineffectiveness on both non-porous and porous surfaces and their impact on air quality. The best way to get rid of mold is to concentrate on mold removal rather than killing it. Health Canada recommends using soap and water on hard non-porous surfaces and to remove all porous surfaces (such as fabrics, materials, insulation, drywall, etc) that have mold on them.
Painting over mold will not kill the mold or prevent it from spreading – true or false?
This is True. Paint does not kill mold, nor prevent it from spreading. The first step in stopping mold from growing and spreading is to find and remove the moisture problem. Once this is done, you can try to paint over the mold to hide the staining, but often the mold will keep showing through. To get rid of the mold it’s best to remove and replace the affected drywall.
All you need to protect yourself is rubber gloves – true or false?
This is false. Non-professionals doing mold remediation need to take the same precautions taken by qualified professionals. This includes wearing personal protective equipment (eg. safety glasses or goggles, N95 mask, disposable rubber gloves), containing (or neutralizing) the mold and mold spores from the people in the building, having increased ventilation, doing proper disposal of all moldy materials (sealed in plastic bags and removed from the space in a timely manner), etc. Care also must be taken to not create any additional hazards, eg. electrical shocks, falls from ladders, etc.
Once the mold and mold spores have been neutralized, it’s gone for good – true or false?
This is false. You must be diligent in preventing the mold problem from reoccuring. Prevention is key. If the right conditions arise, mold can come back. It is key to identify and reduce the underlying moisture or humidity issues. This means finding and rectifying all water leaks, water seepage, improper ventilation, and excessive humidity.
What Can You Do?
In most situations, Pacific Decontamination Services can neutralize your mold up 99.99999%. If our spray, fog or foam can touch it, we can neutralize it. Our services come at a fraction of the cost as compared to the expensive approaches like soda / dry ice blasting, hepa vacuuming, scrubbing, removal of insulation and deconstruction and reconstruction of the attic and roof.
We neutralize the mold in your attic, crawl space, home, building, vehicle, or property by applying our eco-friendly, safe chemical on all surfaces and airborne, focusing our efforts on the visible mold areas. Depending on the job, we apply our formula by spray, mist, foam, or fog. We further kill all airborne mold spores in your attic. The average time of our on-site service is approximately one hour. An additional four hours is required to achieve maximum effectiveness. We ask that you stay out of the attic for approximately 5 hours in total. Read more about how we work.
Pacific Decontamination Services uses the world’s strongest, most effective and safe antimicrobial disinfectant, deodorization and chemical decontaminate. Our professional application will eliminate up to 99.99999% of any allergen, germ, bacteria or fungus that it touches. AND as powerful as it is, it is also completely safe.
What do you do next? How do you solve the challenge of mold and associated health hazards?
Call Pacific Decontamination Services at 778-269-0208 or email us at our email address: contact @ pacificdecon dot com
Serving All of Vancouver Island: Victoria, Cowichan, Duncan, Nanaimo, Parksville, Qualicum, Courtenay, Comox, Campbell River, and Port Alberni.
Black mold is very dangerous – true or false?
This is mostly False. When we talk about the dangers of “black mold”, we are usually referring to a type of mold known as Stachybotrys chartarum. This type of toxic mold, along with specific other molds, can produce mycotoxins in certain circumstances. Some people are more sensitive to these mycotoxins or have underlying conditions like asthma or lung disease that make them more prone to being affected by the mycotoxins. Mold toxins can lead to health issues like cold-like symptoms, allergic reactions or respiratory problems in people and animals. Reports of extreme health affects from black mold are extremely rare.
The best way to kill mold is with bleach or vinegar – true or false?
This is False. Bleach, vinegar and other chemicals can kill some types of mold on hard non-porous surfaces (like bathroom tiles), but are not recommended because of their overall ineffectiveness on both non-porous and porous surfaces and their impact on air quality. The best way to get rid of mold is to concentrate on mold removal rather than killing it. Health Canada recommends using soap and water on hard non-porous surfaces and to remove all porous surfaces (such as fabrics, materials, insulation, drywall, etc) that have mold on them.
Painting over mold will not kill the mold or prevent it from spreading – true or false?
This is True. Paint does not kill mold, nor prevent it from spreading. The first step in stopping mold from growing and spreading is to find and remove the moisture problem. Once this is done, you can try to paint over the mold to hide the staining, but often the mold will keep showing through. To get rid of the mold it’s best to remove and replace the affected drywall.
All you need to protect yourself is rubber gloves – true or false?
This is false. Non-professionals doing mold remediation need to take the same precautions taken by qualified professionals. This includes wearing personal protective equipment (eg. safety glasses or goggles, N95 mask, disposable rubber gloves), containing (or neutralizing) the mold and mold spores from the people in the building, having increased ventilation, doing proper disposal of all moldy materials (sealed in plastic bags and removed from the space in a timely manner), etc. Care also must be taken to not create any additional hazards, eg. electrical shocks, falls from ladders, etc.
Once the mold and mold spores have been neutralized, it’s gone for good – true or false?
This is false. You must be diligent in preventing the mold problem from reoccuring. Prevention is key. If the right conditions arise, mold can come back. It is key to identify and reduce the underlying moisture or humidity issues. This means finding and rectifying all water leaks, water seepage, improper ventilation, and excessive humidity.
What Can You Do?
In most situations, Pacific Decontamination Services can neutralize your mold up 99.99999%. If our spray, fog or foam can touch it, we can neutralize it. Our services come at a fraction of the cost as compared to the expensive approaches like soda / dry ice blasting, hepa vacuuming, scrubbing, removal of insulation and deconstruction and reconstruction of the attic and roof.
Pacific Decontamination Services uses the world’s strongest, most effective and safe antimicrobial disinfectant, deodorization and chemical decontaminate. Our professional application will eliminate up to 99.99999% of any allergen, germ, bacteria or fungus that it touches. AND as powerful as it is, it is also completely safe.
What do you do next? How do you solve the challenge of mold and associated health hazards?
Call Pacific Decontamination Services at 778-269-0208 or email us at our email address: contact @ pacificdecon dot com
Serving All of Vancouver Island: Victoria, Cowichan, Duncan, Nanaimo, Parksville, Qualicum, Courtenay, Comox, Campbell River, and Port Alberni.
