When to Suspect Hidden Mold

Even if you cannot easily spot areas of toxic mold in your home, you should do a thorough investigation if:

• Any room in your home has a continuous damp, musty odor.
• Your roof leaks in very heavy rain or when ice dams form.
• Your home has been subjected to flooding or storm water damage.
• People who live in the house complain of unexplained headaches, sinus problems, coughs, asthma, dizziness, or skin rashes.

Where to Look for Hidden Mold

Toxic mold needs moisture to grow, so check the areas around all water sources, including:

• Areas under kitchen sinks, where kitchen mold hides.
• The back walls of cabinets.
• Areas around drain pipes.
• Under and behind the refrigerator, where water might condense or collect in a drain pan.
• Areas under bathroom sinks and near bathroom tubs.
• In back of toilets, inside toilet tank and toilet bowl.
• Bathroom shower curtains, window curtains, cabinets.
• Areas near hot water heaters.
• Areas near air conditioning and heating ducts and intake vents.
• Inside ductwork.
• Under and in back of washing machines and dryers.
• Attic walls; try to trace the path of any roof leaks.
• Basement walls and floors; check in corners and behind furniture.
• Any place where furniture touches a wall; behind beds.
• Near rain gutters; in outdoor foliage.
• On the back walls and floors of closets; within bags of fabric or clothes.
• Behind wallpaper.
• Under wall-to-wall carpeting.

If You Find Toxic Mold

Remember that moving moldy materials can cause the mold to release even more spores into the air. Tearing down moldy wallpaper can saturate a room with mold spores, which will travel to distant parts of the house and attempt to start new colonies.

If you find hidden toxic mold, learn how to remove it safely or call a professional mold remediation service for advice.

Toxic mold in classrooms and school buildings can trigger many health problems, such mold asthma and mold allergies in many children, as well as skin rashes, headaches, dizziness, and possibly even learning disabilities.

Is Your Child’s School a Sick Building?

Parents of school-aged children should be alert for signs of mold contamination in the school building. Look for signs of black mold staining areas of the ceiling or walls, especially in bathrooms and basements. Be alert to the musty odor of mildew in carpeted areas, coat closets, and gymnasiums, which might indicate hidden mold. Look for evidence of water damage or water leaks anywhere in the building.

Older school buildings are more likely to have damage that might result in mold. School mobile units or portable classrooms are often less protected against the elements and may be more susceptible to water damage and resultant mold. School buildings that have withstood tornadoes, hurricanes, flooding, or other natural disasters should be closely inspected for water damage and mold.

Unfortunately, the first signs of mold contamination in a school building might be the medical symptoms of those who work and attend classes there. Symptoms that your children might be exposed to mold at school include:

• Repeated head colds and sinus infections
• Asthma attacks
• Allergic reactions in the form of skin hives or reddened eyes
• Sore throat, coughing, and/or sneezing
• Shortness of breath
• Fatigue

If your school-aged child has these symptoms, ask him or her whether the symptoms get worse after they arrive at school and better when they return home. Notice whether symptoms improve during school vacations or holidays away from the school building. If symptoms are serious or resulting in the child missing school, talk to your physician about the possibility of mold allergies.

Talking to School Officials About Mold

If you think your child’s school might be contaminated with toxic mold, talk to the teachers first. They are also at risk from mold exposure and might be aware of having similar medical symptoms. Talk to other parents to find out of their children also seem to be affected.

Approach the school principal with your findings and ask for a professional mold inspection and mold testing. The principal probably will have to consult with the school superintendent about this; write a letter asking him or her to do so, and have the letter signed by anyone else involved with the school who has a concern, including teachers, staff members, volunteers, and parents of other students.

Be prepared to attend a school board meeting and have your concern put on the agenda for discussion. In an area where school board members are elected officials, parents and teachers have real leverage in bringing attention to their concerns. Bring along information from government agencies about mold health problems. Ask your local health department officials to attend the meeting and speak to the school board about your concerns.

State and Local Mold Laws

Check with your local health department to learn if your state or municipality has specific laws concerning mold in public buildings. Mold laws vary greatly from state to state. In many areas, if citizens cannot point to mold legislation that specifies recourse, they might have to go to the courts.

Individuals in Virginia, New Jersey, and Florida have filed successful claims against school districts because of health problems suffered following mold exposure in classrooms and school buildings, and many other suits have been settled out of court or are pending. Often, it is teachers filing claims for worker’s compensation that brings attention to mold problems in schools. Watch for news reports of mold lawsuits filed by school employees and be aware that the teachers’ medical problems might be a warning sign of similar medical problems in students.

If you are unable to get satisfaction from school officials, be prepared to remove your child from the school and speak to a mold attorney.

If you become ill because of toxic mold in your rental unit, you might have to convince your landlord that mold cleanup is his/her responsibility.

A Sick Building: Symptoms of Mold at Home

The symptoms of a sick building — a house or apartment where the indoor air quality is poor because of contamination by toxic mold — are often apparent. Visible black mold growing on ceilings, walls, or floors is a sign that the place where you live might be sick.

Do a thorough mold inspection of your apartment, ideally BEFORE you sign a lease agreement:

• Check for black staining on walls and ceilings, or small areas that have been painted over.
• Inspect all areas near water sources, including kitchen and bathroom sinks, toilets, water heaters, washing machines, and air conditioning units.
• Check porches, basements, and storage areas where debris might be holding mold.
• Be aware of any odor of mildew or mustiness that often accompanies carpet mold.

Perform your inspections with your landlord or rental agent by your side; make notes of any evidence of mold you find. Videotape your inspection, if possible. If you have concerns about mold in a place you’re considering renting, ask the property owner to include a guarantee of mold remediation with your lease agreement.

Sadly, the first symptoms of a sick building are often medical symptoms that show up in the people who live there. You might have no idea that a property is contaminated with toxic mold until you have lived there for weeks or months. Be alert to medical symptoms that began or changed when you moved into your home. Chronic sinusitis, repeated sneezing, skin rashes, and headaches can be signs that you are being exposed to toxic black mold where you live.

Mold Inspection and Remediation

The first step to resolving a mold problem is to notify your landlord, in writing, by certified mail, of your concern. Keep documentation of every conversation you have with the landlord about your mold concerns. These documents will become important if you end up in court to resolve the issue.

Ask your landlord for a professional mold inspection; if mold is found, insist on professional mold remediation. Some landlords will try to resolve a mold problem themselves, unaware that the process of cleaning and removing mold often releases more mold spores into the air, where they will affect both the cleaner and the residents who have to live there.

If your landlord is unwilling to resolve the toxic mold problem in your house or apartment, be prepared to move to a safer living space. If moving means breaking your lease or rental agreement, you might need the help of an attorney to keep from being penalized.

If you own a condominium or townhouse, your Homeowners Association might be willing to intervene on your behalf with the property owner. The Homeowners Association bylaws might specify who is responsible for mold remediation.

Landlords and Mold Laws

In many states, landlords are required by law to disclose to prospective tenants if they know a property has a mold problem. In some states, they must also disclose if a property has had a mold problem that has been cleaned up and resolved. Your local health department will have information about what local and state laws apply to landlords and mold.

Most states require property owners who rent out living spaces to maintain those living spaces in safe condition, but the laws vary greatly on whether mold must be considered a health hazard. Again, the local health department will be able to tell you where your state and local governments stand on assessing mold health risk.

If you caused damage to your rented unit that resulted in mold — for example, if you let water overflow the bathtub or left windows open during a rainstorm, which caused mold infestation — your landlord probably cannot be held responsible for mold remediation in those areas.

If you have suffered monetary losses from mold in your living space, because of medical bills or lost wages, you might be able to hold your landlord fiscally responsible. A landlord-tenant lawyer might be able to resolve a disagreement between you and your landlord about who should pay for mold-related repairs and medical bills. If your landlord doesn’t comply, consult a mold lawyer or an attorney who specializes in mold personal injury claims for information.

If you would like to be referred to an attorney with experience in handling mold legal issues such as these, please fill out the form on this page.

Tips for Landlords

• Know your legal responsibilities concerning mold in your rental units.
• Inspect your property regularly for mold.
• If you discover mold, act on it immediately; advise your tenants of the problem and what you are doing to resolve it.
• Do not try to cover mold with paint, flooring, or wallpaper.
• Stipulate in any lease that the tenant must tell you immediately if any water damage occurs.
• Never knowingly rent mold-infested property to tenants; consider your future liability.

Tips for Tenants

• Inspect the rental unit before you sign anything.
• If you find mold, insist on professional mold inspection and remediation before you move in.
• If you suspect you are already living in a mold-infested property, contact the landlord and insist on professional mold inspection and remediation. Document your contacts with the landlord about this issue.
• Be prepared to move. Do not live in mold-infested property. Contact a landlord-tenant attorney or a personal injury attorney specializing in mold lawsuits if your landlord won’t let you break your lease.

Symptoms of a Sick Building

In Las Vegas, a 56-year-old man is permanently disabled, struggling for breath, his skin covered in sores, his mind unable to process simple information. His doctors say he suffers from fungal infections caused by both Aspergillus and Stachybotrys mold after several years of toxic black mold exposure at work. Dan Paulus worked in a sick building, and even his local health department officials didn’t recognize the danger. In fact, Paulus is a health department official. His office was inside the city’s Health Department building.

What is a sick building?

Any building where the indoor air quality is so poor that it affects the health of people who live or work there.

Indoor air can become polluted by chemicals, such as the outgassing from building materials, or chemicals that are carried in on dry-cleaned clothing or cleaning products. But the building where Dan Paulus worked was contaminated by a biological toxin: toxic black mold.

In many cases, the only signs of a sick building are medical symptoms developed by people who live and work there. If one employee is diagnosed with a fungal infection from mold exposure, all co-workers should consider whether their health problems — chronic respiratory infections, rashes, dizziness, etc. — might also be linked to mold exposure. A sick building is likely to be making everyone inside sick, although some people will react more severely than others.

Sick buildings can be caused by new construction materials and water damage, but also by:

• HVAC systems that cycle off when the building is closed for the night, allowing humidity to build and condense.
• Inadequate air conditioning and ventilation systems.
• Underground moisture that seeps into the building through inadequately sealed building foundations.

Buildings with indoor water features, such as swimming pools and fountains, can have poor indoor air quality (IAQ) unless the air conditioning and ventilation systems are big enough to handle the extra humidity caused.

What If I Work in a Sick Building?

Sick buildings can be “cured” in many cases by mold removal. If you suspect you are working in a sick building, speak to your manager or the company owner and voice your concerns. Sometimes several employees must band together to pressure management to have a professional mold evaluation of the building. If toxic mold is discovered, the inspector will be able to suggest the kind of mold remediation that will be required.

Curing a sick building might involve cleaning heating and air conditioning ducts, repairing structural leaks, and replacing ceiling panels, wallboards damaged by leaks, or replacing the carpet. Business in the building might be disrupted for days or weeks while the work is done, but improved indoor air quality will benefit everyone who works in the building — including managers.

Government Regulations, OSHA, and Mold

The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) and many other U.S. federal agencies have documented toxic mold as a danger in the workplace. The Environmental Protection Agency has issued a bulletin, Mold Remediation in Schools and Commercial Buildings that addresses the issue. But as of this date, there is no American federal regulation specifically dealing with mold. OSHA, the federal government’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, has no clear-cut guidelines or “mold standard” to use in evaluating complaints about mold in the workplace, although it has published A Brief Guide to Mold in the Workplace as a Safety and Health Information Bulletin. Disclaimers within the bulletin specify that the OSHA information does not create any legal obligation on the part of the employer, but also reminds employers that they are bound to provide employees with a workplace free from hazards.

Although workplace safety issues normally come under the jurisdiction of OSHA, other federal agencies have attempted to nail down the employer obligations concerning mold in the workplace. The American Society of Safety Engineers is working on developing a standard to protect workers during mold remediation; the standard will recommend procedures to minimize worker exposure to mold, but will not set a maximum acceptable level for mold that would automatically trigger remediation. The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published guidelines for indoor air quality entitled “Mold Remediation in Schools and Commercial Buildings.” The EPA considers toxic mold a form of air pollution.

But although many local governments are waiting to see what stand OSHA will eventually take, other states and cities have developed their own mold legislation that might serve to protect workers in sick buildings. New York City has had toxic mold guidelines since 1992.

The proving ground for state regulations concerning toxic mold is often the state Worker’s Compensation programs. Workers injured by toxic mold in the workplace can file claims for compensation for their lost wages and medical costs, just as workers can if they are injured by anything else at work. Such claims force state legislatures to consider and decide about the validity of toxic mold injuries.

State-by-state guidelines on mold legislation are available from the Center for Disease Control.

To be referred to an attorney who has experience in handling this type of mold-related claim, please fill out the form on this page.

But the color of indoor mold is also determined by what the mold is eating; mold that grows on old leather jackets in humid conditions is lighter green, while mold colonies behind certain types of vinyl wall covering might be pinkish or yellow.

Mold is a living thing, so it has certain life requirements. Mold can eat, and therefore grow on, any organic material — that is, anything living or that was once living. This includes all natural building materials. Mold can grow in or near plastic building materials if there is any organic component in the adhesive or adjacent surfaces to serve as the mold’s feeding ground. Mold can grow on a greasy film or a pile of dust.

Mold also needs the correct temperature to thrive; unfortunately, mold does best in the same indoor climate that most people prefer, with moderate temperatures.

Checklist: Where to Look for Mold

Although toxic indoor mold can eat any organic material, it always needs an ample source of water. Areas of high humidity, where moisture can condense, are perfect for mold. So you should begin your search for indoor mold wherever your home has a water source or is damp.

The Environmental Protection Agency suggests you check the places on the image above, as well as:

• Bathroom floors, walls, and ceilings, especially near the faucets and drains of the sink and tub; floor and walls near the toilet; inside toilet tank and bowl. Check for bubbled wall or floor material, which might be a sign that toxic mold is hiding underneath.
• Kitchen floors and walls, especially near the faucets and drain of the sink, the back wall of the below sink cabinet, and the area behind the refrigerator, especially if you have an automatic ice-maker.
• Basement walls, ceiling, and floor. Check areas where joists in the basement ceiling exit the building and all entry and exit points for water pipes. Check areas near water heaters.
• Crawl spaces, especially those with dirt floors.
• Walls around air conditioning units.
• Wall areas under and around windows.
• Carpeting, anywhere it touches a wall.
• Area around a washing machine.
• Floors and walls near any aquarium, humidifier, or dehumidifier.
• Attics, especially if the roof leaks anywhere. Check flashing around chimneys.
• Closets, especially if ventilation is poor and leather items are stored there.
• Upholstered furniture that has been exposed to excessive moisture.
• Gutters along the outside of the house.
• Overgrown foliage in garden or landscape areas.
• Behind wallpaper, inside cabinets, and in other hidden areas.

When checking for mold, look for stains on walls and ceilings that might indicate moisture damage. Notice bubbled wall coverings, ceiling tiles, or vinyl flooring, cracked or peeling paint, and, of course, obvious areas of black, fuzzy mold.

Carefully inspect areas where you notice a mildew/mold odor, which often indicates the presence of moisture but does not necessarily mean toxic mold is growing there. Not all mold is toxic, and not all toxic mold has a musty odor. So odor alone is not a good indicator of whether your home has a problem.

And remember: the most dangerous toxic mold might be the mold you can’t see, because it’s hidden within walls, under flooring, under rugs, above ceilings, or behind furniture.

Hiring a Mold Inspector

If you’re thinking about hiring a professional to inspect your home for mold, you probably already suspect you have a problem. Unfortunately, the first signs of a mold problem are often recurring allergic reactions and illnesses among the home’s occupants that can’t be explained by other substances in the home. If your family is in this situation, it’s a good idea to have your home evaluated by a mold professional.

A professional inspector will evaluate your home for mold in a much more thorough manner than you can. The inspector will look within the home’s structure, under flooring and carpeting, above ceiling tiles, and even inside the walls. S/he might also take samples and test any mold s/he finds, which will tell you if the mold is a particularly deadly variety. But testing is expensive, and usually only confirms what visual inspection. Remember, all mold is a problem, because every variety can cause serious allergic reactions in sensitive people.

Advantages of Hiring a Mold Inspector

You have a flashlight and a pry bar, and nobody knows your home better than you. Can’t you just perform a thorough mold inspection yourself?

You can, and you probably have, inspected your home, but here are a few good reasons to hire a professional:

• The inspector will know where to look. Mold inspectors will move furniture away from walls and check underneath carpeting if they think mold is present. The inspector will look at your upholstered furniture and bedding in a more objective way than you will, because we become accustomed to items in our own homes. The mold inspector will follow water pipes through the house, looking for areas where condensation might cause mold.
• Inspecting a home poses its own risks. Mold inspection increases the inspector’s exposure to mold. Some inspectors, and all mold eradication professionals, wear full protective gear before they begin, to minimize this risk. When you do your own inspection, you’re the one being exposed.
• Inspectors know how to check for mold without inadvertently disturbing it. Mold easily releases spores into the air, which can then land on another surface and start a new colony. Breathing in the spores triggers allergic reactions in sensitive individuals. Mold spores can drift on air currents, so mold you disturb in the basement might end up sending spores into a distant bedroom through the heating vents.

If you suspect your home might have a mold problem, but you can’t see where it’s coming from, it’s definitely a good idea to have a professional inspection. Hidden mold behind a wall can be affecting every member of the household, and the effects get worse over time.

If you suspect there might be a toxic mold problem in your school or place of business, insist on a professional inspection. Where the health of many people, especially children, is involved, it’s better to trust the pros.