Texas Tech University mold expert David Straus recommends that homeowners not try to clean up toxic mold themselves.
July 30, 2009 by admin
Filed under Mold Removal
“Have a professional do it,” says Straus, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Texas Tech University who lost part of his hearing after an exposure to stachybotrys. “The area needs to be contained. … If you get somebody doing remediation and they don’t know mold and haven’t done this before, they could spread it throughout the house. When you see mold growth,” he says, “it’s usually the tip of the iceberg.”
In other words, if you see a tiny spot of mold in some corner of your house, then you may have a whole bunch more behind the walls, in the attic, in the air conditioning system. …
The surest way to determine what kinds of mold you’ve got is to hire an experienced air quality professional to take some samples. Indoor air consultants can test for mold spores in samples of air and settled dust. Where mold is visible, consultants can collect specimens by cutting out samples of the moldy material or by pressing a piece of shiny cellophane tape into it.
