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Biocide Applications vs Surface Cleaning During Mold Remediation
Jason Yost • May 04, 2023
Biocide Applications vs Surface Cleaning During Mold Remediation
With the growing number of cleaning products on the market advertising themselves appropriate for use during mold remediation, some mold remediators have begun to rely more and more on the products and less and less on the cleaning process (e.g., HEPA vacuuming surfaces and wiping surfaces down to remove residues and dust). Most of these remediators claim the products do the remediation work for them; that they remove the need to HEPA vacuum or, otherwise, clean the surfaces. Several have told me that the products (i.e., “enzymes”) used “break down the [mold] body of the organism”, so cleaning isn’t necessary.
It's not the purpose of this blog to get into the strengths and weaknesses of biocides. That’s been done and can be read here. What I want to focus on in this blog is this: What happens when the cleaning phase of mold remediation is ignored or left out of the remediation process in favor of chemical biocides? That said, one should remember that surface cleanliness does impact the effectiveness of any biocide.
Between the years of 2010 – 2018, I was a part of a research project that looked to answer that question. The parameters of each project required that a thorough pre-remediation assessment was performed, that included, among other things, surface and air samples; they required that surface and air samples were collected during any post-remediation assessment; they required an independent, accredited laboratory – with no knowledge of the research project – perform all laboratory analysis; they required that the same mold assessor be involved in all assessments of the project; and they prevented the mold assessor from operating as project manager. The projects were performed by different mold remediators. Some remediators would clean surfaces with HEPA vacuums and wiping of surfaces; processes and products (if any) varied. Some remediators did very little, next to spraying surfaces after demolition. Still other remediators were in-between, perhaps using a broom to sweep floors before spraying a biocide onto surfaces. All of the latter two types of mold remediators utilized some combination of chemical biocides, spraying and/or fogging surfaces and/or the air in the work area.
What did we find?
Well, those mold remediators who took the time to meticulously clean surfaces in the work area had a 100% post-remediation success rate, meaning all surface and air samples demonstrated a normal mold population in the work area. The latter two types of mold remediators (those with little to no surface cleaning in the work area) did not fair so well. As it pertained to air samples, results were mixed: 74% of air samples showing a normal airborne mold spore population. As it pertained to surface samples: 91% of surface samples showed an abnormal surface mold spore population. When the latter group was provided guidance on how to complete the job and surfaces were meticulously cleaned, the success rate of the post-remediation sampling rose to 100%. (That said, not all mold remediators would accept guidance. Those that did not continued to fail surface sampling in subsequent post-remediation assessments.)
What does this tell us?
Firstly, it tells us that meticulous surface cleaning is important on mold remediation projects. One cannot rely on chemicals or biocides alone to remove an abnormal presence of mold (whether in visible or invisible form).
Secondly, and an often-overlooked component of these findings, air sampling, by itself, is not a good indicator of whether the work area has been successfully remediated. While it is a common request that surface samples not be taken during a post-remediation assessment, it is clear, from these findings, that when they are excluded – especially in cases where surfaces are not visibly clean –abnormalities in the mold populations may be overlooked.
Finally, while it wasn’t a component of this study, these results suggest that there could be a mold-related hazard associated with dust generated from demolition that if not contained to the work area could lead to contamination in rooms/areas adjacent to the work area. (In a future blog I may get into how to prevent that kind of cross-contamination and what to do if you think this has happened to your home or office.)
If you have a mold-related need that requires a mold assessor, contact Gulf Coast Center for Indoor Air Quality Services and let's explore how we may best serve you.
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