Can you have a mold problem is your brand new house? Absolutely, in some cases new houses can have a more significant mold problem than an old house. If proper construction protocols are not followed during construction mold can contaminate the house without you knowing about it.
I came across this news story that illustrates how serious the problem can be.
How do you know if your new house has a hidden mold problem potentially creating a health problem? Have the air tested for mold. See Mold Testing for more information. Also see the previous post on this blog on some of the reasons new houses have mold problems.
Mold is caused by moisture. We seem to have more mold today but we have always had moisture and water. Houses have always been built in the rain around Vancouver. After all it is raining most of the time in the Lower Mainland. Why do we seem to have more mold problems in new construction? Why do new houses go moldy when an old house often don’t?
The problem with new construction is two fold. First the water cannot escape. We have more insulation, tighter seals and vapour barriers. This allows moisture and humidity to be trapped inside the building. We are constantly generating moisture and humidity living in our houses. As new building materials dry they create humidity, as we breath, shower or cook we create humidity. Our plants and pets create humidity. Humidity condenses on cold surfaces. There is no getting around it, we produce humidity in our homes and our homes trap the humidity inside.
The second part of the problem is the materials a house is built from. Yes we know houses have always been built out of wood right? Well, yes but we are not exactly using the same wood as we used to. Remember plywood? Today in much of new construction plywood is replaced with OSB. Cabinets are made out particle board not timber. With timber or plywood moisture and mold cannot get into the surface as easily. OSB and particle board are more porous and act like a sponge to moisture and allow mold spores to penetrate easily. When condensation forms on OSB it turns to mold very quickly.
When these new materials do grow mold the methods for removal are different. In the past wood could be sanded or even wiped to remove mold contamination. Not with OSB or particle board. The mold penetrates deep inside. Fortunately there are processes available to clean these materials but the methods and chemicals are much different. Only those experienced with dealing with these materials should do so otherwise a more costly replacement is necessary.
What can be done to prevent mold problems in new houses? The first step takes place when building the house. The builder must pay closer attention to drying the house properly prior to sealing it up. We know it will get wet during construction so drying is almost always necessary. There is less room for error with the new wood products such as OSB that will go moldy easier and the tighter building seals that will not allow the moisture to escape.
The next step is to control the humidity. If humidity is too high, mold will grow. It doesn’t matter if it is your crawl space, attic, basement or your main living areas humidity must be checked to ensure it is not too high. Condensation on OSB will turn to mold very quickly.
Another important development to help prevent mold growth in new houses is to treat the wood products with permanent antimicrobial penetrants. This will help the OSB or particle board resist mold growth even if it gets wet. This is also an important part of proper mold remediation when wood products are involved.
ABM Environmental can help detect mold, humidity and condensation problems in houses. We also provide treatments to prevent mold in the first place. We specialize in mold treatments and prevention on OSB and other materials used in new construction. Please visit our website home page for more information.
Can a real estate pre-purchase home inspection detect a former grow operation? Not according to Mike Holmes from Holmes on Homes and CBC Market Place who investigated the problem in Ontario and and here in BC.
Recently the consumer program run by CBC called Market Place did a segment on detecting former grow operations by home inspectors. The show used Mike Holmes from the popular TV shows Holmes on Homes and Holmes Inspection as their expert grow op inspector.
Market Place found a recent home buyer who had purchased a home that they later discovered was a former grow house. The home buyer had a standard home inspection completed prior to purchasing the house but the home inspection did not reveal any signs of a former grow operation. They buyers only discovered later after the house they had just purchased was a former marijuana grow operation and their home inspection did not detect it.
On the show they went through the house with Mike Holmes to see if the house had signs of a former grow operation as the new owners believed after moving in. Mike went through and found several red flags that indicate a former grow house. Then Market Place posing as potential buyers of the house (setup with hidden cameras) brought in four different home inspectors to see if they would find the red flags of a former grow operation discovered by Mike Holmes. They wanted to see if the home inspector would inform the potential buyers the house may have been a former grow operation. Although some of the home inspectors did detect a few of the red flags Mike Holmes found, none of the four home inspectors detected a former grow operation nor warned the buyers of any major problems. Some of the inspectors did find mold or other issues but did not connect them as related to a grow op or a tell the potential buyers there was a serious problem.
The Globe and Mail news paper even wrote an article on the show. From the Globe and Mail article they quote a person on the show as stating, “The negligence of the home inspectors we brought in was shocking. This was so obviously a former grow-op and not one of the four caught it.”
To watch the actual Market Place Grow Op segment you can see it here.
I think to be fair to home inspectors, former grow houses are not necessarily easily detected. Mike Holmes had the benefit of knowing the house was a grow operation prior to doing his inspection. The four home inspectors they called in and the original home inspector who did not detect a grow op did not.
Former grow operators can spend a lot of money doing cosmetic repairs to cover things up. Often a former grow house will look perfect to the untrained eye. This can be deceiving to home buyers and home inspectors as the house looks fine but still may contain covered up or hidden mold contamination.
So how does a potential home buyer protect themselves from purchasing a former grow operation? The best way is to bring in a professional who specializes in the field if there are any suspicions. Home inspectors are generalists and must cover a lot of different things during a home inspection. Everything from electical and plumbing issues to structual and building envelope problems. Often detecting contamination and mold left from former grow operations requires specialized testing and expertise. If a house was used as a former grow operation it may still contain elevated levels of toxic mold. To detect the mold, air testing with laboratory analysis must be done. Visual inspections by an expert can also be important. Most of the red flags Mike Holmes found during his visual inspection would have been caught by those familiar with former grow houses.
A lot of people ask me about how to kill mould. This is the first questions I often get asked by someone who has a mould problem in Vancouver or other areas of BC that wants get rid of mould. I normally answer, don’t worry about killing the mould, you need to remove the mould and fix the moisture problem. That is, remove the mould from the house or building and fix what caused it in the first place. Fixing what caused the mould varies and I will not go into in this now, but how does one go about mould removal then?
Mould removal or mould clean up can be tricky. When dealing with a house with drywall that is showing visible signs of mould or mildew the full extent of the mould problem can rarely be seen. On the backside of the drywall, below carpets, above the ceiling, etc. may all have significantly more mould than is visible. A professional mould removal company will use equipment to help determine mould and moisture levels that are hidden. At ABM Environmental we know from experience the problem is almost always worse than first thought and it is only fully visible once removal of the mould has started.
Typically the first step in mould removal process after the initial assessment and testing is containment. The area needs to be segregated with poly sheeting walls and negative air with HEPA filtration creating a vacuum in the area to be remediated. This is important to ensure the spores that are stirred up during the mould removal are not spread into the air of other areas of the building. This is especially important when dealing with Toxic Black Mold.
Once containment is set up, the porous mouldy materials must be removed, packaged and disposed. Hard surfaces can be cleaned and semi porous surfaces can be cleaned in many cases as well. Often the decision is simply based on the cost of cleaning versus replacement. Mould removal contractors often use specialized chemicals that allow more materials to be saved rather than replaced. Removing the mould will stir up mould spores and the area being cleaned will actually become more contaminated with mould spores during the removal process. HEPA vacuuming and HEPA air scrubbing will capture and remove these mould spores. The HEPA vacuuming draws the mould spores off of surfaces and materials and the HEPA air scrubber removes the mould spores from the air. If containment is set up properly the area that needs to be cleaned is limited to the contained area and mould spores will not spread past the this area protecting occupants and preventing cross contamination in the building.
There are other steps involved in mould removal that do kill the mould, but mould removal is not just limited to killing mould. There are much more important steps in removing mould than just killing mould. Since dead mould spores can be just as toxic as live spores killing the mould alone will do little good. Often the mould will return soon after. In the end mould must be properly removed and simply killing mould alone often causes more spores to enter the air and can make the air quality worse over doing nothing. For more information see the ABM Environmental Certified 9 Step Process for mold removal or Mold Remediation.
We often hear that we have great air quality in Vancouver. Are people talking about the indoor air? No, not usually. For the most part they are referring to the outdoor air. Our wet climate and proximity to the ocean keeps things fresh and clean outdoors.
The same cannot always be said for indoor air quality in Metro Vancouver BC. When we are indoors, often the fresh outdoor air is restricted or limited. The indoor air can easily be changed by many things since the area is contained.
Moisture getting into buildings is a common problem in Vancouver. The wet conditions that keep things fresh and clean outdoors often have the opposite effect for indoor environments. Once moisture gets into a building mold may begin to grow. The moisture adds humidity which can also create a friendly environment for mold and other allergens. The mold spores or other allergens contaminate the indoor air creating health problems for occupants.
Another common indoor air quality (IAQ) problem is the presence of VOCs or volatile organic compounds. Organic chemicals that emit VOCs are widely used in household products and in building materials. The VOC fumes remain in the indoor environment. If they become elevated enough VOCs can give people serious health issues.
Elevated carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide levels are less common, but can also negatively effect indoor air quality.
Because we spend much of the year with our windows and doors closed and we have damp conditions we don’t always have the best indoor air quality in Vancouver. There are solutions for poor indoor air quality. They usually start with assessing what might be causing the problem and then conducting indoor air quality testing to pin point it. See Indoor Air Quality to learn more.
Marijuana grow ops are common in Metro Vancouver and BC. For years the industry has thrived due to the large market south of the border for indoor grown marijuana.
Because grow operations vary in size and duration the damage caused differs significantly from house to house. Although smaller operations almost always have some damage and do require proper clean up, the damages can be minor. On the other hand larger operations that have continued for years typically do a lot of damage which can be a significant amount of money to repair. This is something purchasers need to factor in before buying a grow op.
For those considering buying a former marijuana grow operation you should always have a professional inspection and testing prior to removing subjects by an Environmental Company. The biggest concern for grow ops’ is mold. Grow operations use a lot of water and high powered lights which create a tropical like humid environment. Houses are not designed for this level of humidity and condensation. This condensation allows mold to grow almost anywhere. Often the mold can be hidden which can only be detected by air testing. Stachybotrys or Toxic Black Mold is commonly found in former grow houses which is a health hazard.
Even grow houses that were inspected, tested or certified by the previous owner should be reinspected and tested. Just like a home inspection, you want your own professional to come in to evaluate the house. A house is too big of an investment to rely on a report paid for by the seller. Often houses that should not pass are passed anyway by unscrupulous or unqualified companies.
The other part to consider when buying a former grow op is the financing. Different banks and mortgage companies have different requirements. Most require testing be done at minimum to verify there is not a mold problem.
If you are thinking of purchasing a former grow op then call ABM Environmental for a free phone consultation. We can help with the evaluation and perform all testing services. See Grow Op Testing for more information.
There are a two common ways to test for mold typically used in Metro Vancouver.
The first method is to take a sample of the mold and put it under a microscope to identify it as mold. From this analysis we can identify the species of mold. The sample is collected by taking a swab of the mold, a tape lift of the mold or a bulk sample of material that has mold on it. Combined with a mold inspection this method can determine contamination levels and the mold species present.
The second method is sampling the air for mold. Since most species of mold give off spores that float in the air, testing the air is a great way to detect all the types of mold present in a building and the exact amount in the air. Since mold can be hidden in places not easily viewed or sampled, mold air testing is the best method for detecting hidden mold without ripping apart the building. One air sample is able to detect mold within a 1000 square foot area. The air sample process will also help us understand if there is a health risk to occupants since we will know the exact level of mold in the air. See Mold Testing for more more information.
During Metro Vancouver Mold Inspections we often get asked; How did the mold get into my house?
One thing a lot of people do not realize is mold is everywhere. It is not uncommon to find it in a house. Actually every house containes some mold at some level. It enters the house through open doors and open windows. The spores can also be brought in on anything else that comes into a house, such as people, animals, clothing, and even the materials the house was built with. The mold spores are invisible to the naked eye so you can’t see them.
The problem starts when the mold spores, which may be in small amounts and in a dormant stage, find a food source and moisture. A food source can be almost anything. It may be drywall, wood, carpet or most materials a house is built out of. The problem really starts when these food sources receive enough moisture or there is enough humidity in the air for the mold spores to grow. Other factors such as temperature, the amount of light and air flow will also influence the molds ability to grow.
All of the above environmental conditions are investigated during a mold inspection. As part of the mold inspection we not only evaluate the contamination level of the mold problem and the best course of action to remove it, but we also identify the environmental conditions that allowed the mold to grow in the first place. At least some of these conditions must be changed in order to prevent it from coming back. Understanding what caused the mold is the key part of making sure it will not return.
