Published January 2004

10 rules to lower cost
of mold remediation

By Brian Hunt
Guest Columnist

As an environmental consultant that advises clients regarding investments in real estate impacted by environmental contaminants, I try to keep track of strategies that have been observed to be the most cost effective with regards to minimizing costs associated with mold remediation. These include:

1. Damage assessment and mitigation strategies should be immediate and aggressive. If there is one action (or inaction) that drives the cost of remediation higher, it is not responding fast enough. Whether the site is at the point where there is visible mold present or the site has a recent incident where there is water intrusion, the damage assessment should be conducted immediately, and the written mitigation strategy aggressively implemented.

2. Determine what work you can do safely. The first thing is to stop the leak or flooding and repair the source of moisture intrusion. The next thing is to implement water extraction techniques demonstrated to minimize mold growth. As the insured, you may want to review your insurance policy to see if your loss is covered. If any or all of your loss is covered, you may want to work with your claims specialist to seek out any blocks to the process that would keep your response from being immediate and aggressive. For large projects, it is recommended that professionals investigate the site, write a remediation protocol and do the remediation. A resource for locating professionals is the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification, www.iicrc.com.

3. Use the minimum recommended remediation strategies for large projects. Once you have determined that you want professionals to conduct the work, or if you have the training and capabilities to conduct a large project yourself, the following document is recommended to do it safely: “Guidelines on the Assessment and Remediation of Fungi in Indoor Environments.”

4. Hire a qualified environmental consultant. Environmental consultants should be able to provide the initial assessment and emergency mitigation strategy or protocol, project oversight, clearance inspections and sampling, and a certification that the job was completed according to the protocol. The environmental consultant should have at least one year of experience in providing mold and water damage assessments and writing protocols for remediation. The better environmental consultants are also experienced and certified AHERA building inspectors, management planners and designers so that they can include an “asbestos survey” and/or lead in the assessment and so there will not be any delays implementing the remediation protocol for the site impacted by mold or water damage.

5. Hire a qualified remediation contractor. A licensed, insured and bonded contractor with at least one year’s experience with mold remediation is recommended. Asbestos and lead paint remediation contractors are ideal if they have the mold remediation experience, since their supervisors and workers are trained and certified and understand how to safely protect themselves, human health and the environment from exposure to harmful environmental pollutants. Ask your consultant to recommend at least three qualified contractors for bids. The bids should be based on the scope of work identified in the remediation protocol. Unit pricing for scope changes discovered during demolition or at the owner’s request during remediation should be provided with all bids to control costs associated with change orders.

6. Evaluate the need for project oversight by an environmental consultant. Project oversight by an environmental consultant can be full time, as needed or not at all, depending on the site conditions, concerns of the owner and financial resources available. Consultants provide project oversight by inspecting the work site, work progress and, in some cases, use sampling to determine if the site is cleaner than initial samples over time. They also sample to determine if the areas outside the isolated work area have been impacted. Although it may facilitate the billing process, it is not recommended that the consultant work for the contractor, as it could be considered a conflict of interest in some cases.

7. Evaluate the need for a clearance inspection and sampling by the environmental consultant. The clearance inspection consists of a site visit, usually a thorough inspection of the entire site and the development of a clearance punch list, which contains the visible tasks that need to be addressed before clearance sampling is conducted. The consultant should follow the sampling strategy outlined in the remediation protocol so that the owner and remediation contractor know what will be expected. The estimate for clearance should be provided with the remediation protocol. To ensure that you won’t have to do the work over again, it is recommended that you have an independent third party inspect the site to make sure the remediation protocol was completed and the affected area was cleared for mold.

8. Correct building system flaws when remodeling. In order to avoid the pitfalls associated with taking the lowest bid and remodeling your site so it conforms to what was there prior to environmental site restoration, check with your architect/engineer/planning department to see if your remodel is up to code. So that you don’t have to do the remediation over again, correct the building system defect that contributed to the conditions that promoted the mold growth. For an excellent resource, go online to www.buildingscience.com.

9. Develop a mold management program. In general, molds are ubiquitous and their mode of dissemination is typically through transport of the dry spore. The key to keeping the building spore levels from increasing beyond outdoor levels is providing and maintaining good air quality, either by mechanical or natural ventilation. Therefore, temperature and humidity conditions must be monitored not only for occupant comfort but also mold growth. The relative humidity should be maintained between 30 and 50 percent. Schedule periodic inspections to identify and remedy water infiltration. Develop a mold prevention program. Review your current insurance policy to determine what is covered. Review contracts to make sure that they properly allocate liability. Seek professional help. Inspect your properties now and in the future. Consider getting a CLUE report (Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange, www.choicetrust.com or 866-527-2600) on your properties and acquisitions so you have a full record of the property claim history.

10. Use standards and guidelines for quality assurance and cost savings. There are two documents that are useful in standardizing the procedures to be used when conducting mold investigations and remediation: the Mold Remediation Standard S520 (www.iicrc.com) and the ASTM Standard Guide for the Limited Survey for Moisture Intrusion and Visual Microbial Growth in Commercial Buildings.

Brian Hunt is a senior environmental consultant with more than 20 years’ experience as an industrial hygienist and more than 10 years’ experience as a general contractor. He can be reached at 877-232-9860 or e-mail to brian@alternative-technologies.com.

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