[Mold Control] Top 10

After interviews with pest management professionals and suppliers, PCT came up with a “Top 10 list” that PCOs need to know when considering adding mold-related services to their mix:

1. Mold can be found almost anywhere close to a water source. It can grow indoors and outdoors and on practically any substance, including wood, carpets and paper.

2. In structures, mold is commonly located in basements near walls that have seepage problems. It can be found on attic walls, insulation and ceilings near roof leaks, as well as on and around wooden joists near pipe condensation. It can be located under or around leaking air conditioners, near broken windows, underneath wallpaper in poorly insulated or paneled areas or near foundation cracks.

3. Exposure to mold can cause allergic reactions and respiratory ailments in humans and pets. Headaches, nausea and lethargy can result. Mold exposure can lead to inflammation and an infectious state that can trigger serious, hypersensitivity lung disease. Asthmatic individuals and/or anyone with mold allergies can have severe reactions to mold exposure. The severity can increase until the mold is remediated.

4. A mold problem must be cleaned up and sources of moisture eliminated.

5. One of the ways to control indoor mold growth is to control moisture; there’s no practical way to eliminate all mold and mold spores indoors.

6. Mold should be inspected and tested inside, above and below each water-penetrating ceiling, wall and floor.

7. Toxic mold infestations should be located, whether they are visible or hidden.

8. Sources of the water problem should be fixed and affected surfaces should be treated with the appropriate products to prevent mold growth.

9. Surfaces with mold problems should not be painted. Don’t expect to kill mold by using a mildicide-containing paint product. It’s too mild to kill existing mold infestations.

10. Quick, effective remediation processes kill mold and retard its growth.

Paying attention to the list, educating yourself about mold and control products and wisely marketing your mold services can add to your bottom line and make your company an even more significant public health asset.

According to Mark Brown, Hendersonville Pest Control, Hendersonville, N.C, mold is a “fairly prevalent” problem in his part of the country, mostly due to humidity and high moisture levels.

“We got into mold prevention about five years ago. We had been doing wood decay fungi treatments for customers and when mold issues became a concern we were already geared up. We had the equipment and products we needed to take care of fungi and crawlspace treatments.”

After hearing about and researching Mold-Ram, a product manufactured by Sostram Corp., Brown started using it. (He also had heard about the product from Billy Tesh, another North Carolina-based PCO.) “Our results have been good,” Brown said.

“We treat for mold in unfinished basement areas of homes. Work we’ve done in-volved crawlspaces with drainage problems or busted water pipes. The high moisture levels there generated the mold. We haven’t treated in any living areas, although that, too, can be done,” he adds.

SOP. Brown’s SOP (standard operating procedure) involves removing the insulation in the crawlspace where mold is present. Then they clean with Mold-Clean, a Nisus product. “We also do some cleaning with a 2 percent bleach solution in hard-to-clean areas and some sanding and scrubbing where the mold is etched into wood,” Brown said.

Once the cleaning process is completed, Mold-Ram is sprayed on the surfaces. In most cases, he says, the company’s technicians apply it with a borate solution to give the areas added protection.

“The research that was done by Sostram showed that their product works even better when you apply it with the borate,” Brown says. The product contains chlorothanonil, a fungicide that can be used on wood, wallboard, concrete and masonry block construction materials to inhibit the growth of mold organisms.

“Over the last five years, Mold-Ram has been very effective for us. There has been no regrowth of mold once we’ve done a treatment. It has a good residual, long-term effect.”

During the cleaning and treatment process, Brown’s crew always installs negative pressure to the crawlspace to prevent fumes from entering the house. Negative pressure is always recommended when doing any type of cleaning or mold remediation.

THE RIGHT MIX. Jim Gorman, vice president of marketing for Nisus Corp., says Bora-Care, his firm’s long-lasting termiticide, insecticide and fungicide, offers protection from mold, especially when it’s packaged with Nisus’ Mold-Care liquid concentrate.

“Our tests have shown that the active ingredient in Bora-Care effectively protects against fungi. Bora-Care with Mold-Care enhances this protection to include the control of mold by killing it and preventing future growth,” he says.

General Pest Control, Dover, Del., has been performing mold treatments for a few years with several Nisus products. Three years ago, General’s Bob Sadusky Jr., was contacted by a large homebuilder and was asked to use a particular pesticide as a wood treatment. “That product wasn’t labeled for wood,” he says, “so I told them about Nisus’ Bora-Care. I then saw the potential to get into the homebuilder market with wood pretreats.”

General Pest Control now includes new construction pre-treats as part of its full service pest control offerings. “We did a lot of mold clean up with Nisus Corporation’s Mold-Clean and became certified to use their Mold-Care and Bora-Care products,” Sadusky says. “The treatments have been working phenomenally well for us.”

General Pest Control also uses a Nisus disinfectant and multi-purpose cleaning product, DSV, in crawlspaces. “We do the treatments and make sure there is dehumidification to keep the crawlspace dry.”

Sadusky has been selling DSV to many surgical centers and other medical facilities, he says.

“It seems that the pest control industry in general has taken a downturn,” he says. “I hear PCOs saying termites haven’t been swarming as much as they used to. But there are a lot of houses being built and that means good potential for mold pretreats. But you’ve got to sell your customers about the benefits.”

Sadusky also has added dehumidification to his mold control program. He uses dehumidifiers that are “phenomenal” in drying a house out. “There’s basically no need for mold remediation if you can dry the house out.

“We’re also selling Mold-Clean to builders to clean up mold on the roofs of houses that they’re putting up. We’re planning on retailing that product as well as going into mold prevention big time.”

GREATER AWARENESS. Steven Nardozzi, general manager of Enviro-Tech Co., Rochester, N.Y., has been performing mold treatments since the company went into business 16 years ago, but started emphasizing its mold program about five years ago.

“We pushed forward on this because we saw a greater awareness in our area of mold and the problems it can cause,” Nardozzi said.

Enviro-Tech uses the Foster brands of encapsulated fungicides and disinfectants, as well as the manufacturer’s masonry primer and an encapsulated fungicidal protective coating, according to Nardozzi. “The protective coating has a 10-year warranty. The encapsulation process resists future mold growth,” Nardozzi said. “We’ve had great results from the Foster products, as well as the non-toxic Anabec Systems mold cleaning products.

“Going into mold work has rounded us more as an environmental firm that performs pest control, asbestos and lead-based paint remediation. It’s given us another chunk of the pie to offer to our customer base.”

THE HURRICANE. It comes as no surprise that Hurricane Katrina and the resulting flooding that clobbered much of New Orleans area in August, 2005 generated exceptional mold problems for the area. The aftermath saw standing water in affected buildings that lasted for several weeks.

“After the storm ended, mold control was, of course, necessary, but the national PCO companies in the area didn’t want to get involved,” says Jeff Addison, owner of Pied Piper Pest Control, Marrero, La. “So for smaller PCOs that was an opportunity to help out and to gain new business. We had to evacuate our offices for a three-week period and had no business when we returned.

“Through Univar, our distributor, we got in touch with Nisus and registered for their mold seminar, which was pretty much a mind-opener of what their products could do. We started applying Bora-Care with Mold-Care in structures that were being rehabilitated and have had really good results with that mixture. We bought our insurance through Nisus because our liability company here didn’t go with it. In fact they really preached against it.”

From November 2005 to 2006, mold work was about 80 percent of Addison’s business. “It was an unbelievable market. Before the storm our business involved about 40 percent termite control and 60 percent general pest control. Currently, mold work is about 20 percent and termite control is about 80 percent. We’re still working on rehabbed houses and the bulk of our work comes from existing clients. We service a lot of apartments. They’ve hired rehab contractors and recommended us to them.”

Ray Huling Sr., United Pest Control, Jacksonville, Fla., also has had success using Nisus mold control products. “I think they will revolutionize our industry. They cover all wood destroying insects and when you control those wood destroyers, you can treat for mold at the same time. They carry a 25-year warranty,” he says.

When Huling meets with a customer who has a structure with mold problems, he first determines the cause. “You’ve got to correct that source of water, otherwise you’ll never solve the problem. We use thermal imaging cameras to identify the source of the water. Once it’s corrected and dried out, we use the Nisus products.”

United Pest Control has had successful mold treatments at day care centers, a 100-year-old house, a 100-year-old church, condominiums and commercial accounts, he says.

THE KEYS TO SUCCESS. Making mold control a viable part of a pest control business involves extensive education and training, says Pied Piper’s Addison. “Mold control quadrupled our production, but we couldn’t have done it without the right training and products. That knowledge breeds confidence and therefore enhances your ability to sell that service.”

Explains Enviro-Tech’s Nardozzi, “We’ve become licensed for mold and have marketed our service and purchased insurance. Those are expenses that must be justified if you’re looking to add mold control to your service offerings. Training expenses are an important consideration, too.”

Weigh these things carefully, he advises. “This is not to say this isn’t a good business. It is. But awareness of these factors is important.”

The author is a freelance writer from Milwaukee, Wis.

Another Option: Mold Detection Dogs

In the Chicago, and Kansas City, Mo., metropolitan areas, Joe Cascone, president of Mold Pro, offers an alternative to infrared thermal imaging cameras to detect hidden mold — scent detection dogs. Cascone is a certified mold professional with the National Association of Mold Professionals.

“These are specially trained dogs that sniff out a particular odor in order to be rewarded — odors of such pests as mold, bed bugs and termites. Our dogs are trained to detect 18 different mold species that are commonly found in homes.” Scent detection canine/handler teams can be used by PCOs, remediators and environmental consulting firms, he says.