Are there any laws that have to be followed when removing extensive mold from a home?

common sense leads the list. if it's too bad to leave, it's too bad to deal with without at least N95 masks and serious bleach washing... clothes and site. shower yourself.

ideally the type of mold should be ascertained by a professional. no air movement as much as you can control it during the removal.

mold spores are everywhere, but it takes moisture, food like drywall or latex paint, and ignoring the issue for mold to take off.

anybody who is on a steroid or immunosuppressant (many prescriptions for things like MS, allergies, psoriasis, or arthritis) drugs that knock down the immune system can cause a serious or fatal mold infection within the body. if you are taking anything like this, and ask your doctor if you don't know, do NOT go wandering into Mold City. it might not be treatable.

what I would do if I had Mold City and couldn't afford remediation is... I would get a set of cans for my mask that are rated to filter out chlorine, mix up a four-times mix of the sterilizing mix on the back of a bleach bottle, and spray the mess down, hard. wet the next mess as I tear it out. wear a Tyvek suit and hat I could throw away after the day's work. and get that dumpster out of there as soon as possible.

but then, being asmatic to start with, I'd not do it myself, I'd hire it out. period.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: swschrad,

just an added note, instead of using laundry bleach, use liquid pool chlorine. It has 10% chlorine and houshold bleach, 5%.
you can get it at any pool supply co. or walmart

Don't ask me where I heard it but had once read that bleach should not be used to defend against Mold. I believe they suggest a Borate product instead. Wish I would have bookmarked the site. Well maybe a Search of the net may produce the correct answer.

I have also read in a couple of places that bleach is not the answer.
Here is a quote from http://inspectapedia.com/sickhouse/Bleach_Mold.htm "Bleach, diluted bleach, or bleach sprays used in cleaning may be appealing but they are unnecessary, potentially dangerous (if you get bleach in your eyes), and the use of bleach tends to lead to improper and inadequate cleaning - if you substitute "spraying bleach" for actually cleaning or removing the mold your cleanup will not be successful."

I have also read that the moisture left behind from spraying with bleach is likely to encourage mold growth.

I wish there were a better answer, because I have a problem in my attic crawl space that would be extremely expensive to solve "the right way".

I too have read that bleach is not an appropriate solution; however, I don't recall where I read that information or whether the source was one I consider reliable. There's so much online information available to vet before it can be considered authoritative.

I've had success removing bleach in bathroom areas with baking soda and salt, but that also requires washing it off after scrubbing to remove the mold, so it's obviously not for every moldy situation.


As to laws, you might want to consider how "public" you want this project to be. If you have a significant mold problem and get estimates from mold remediators, do you want the extent of your problem reflected in a contractor's records? I don't know what their obligations are to report any serious mold situations with which they come in contact. E.g., attorneys and doctors are required to protect confidentiality, but are contractors bound to such standards? Are they obligated, for example, to report threatening situations to a local public health department? My point is that other agencies could become involved and mandate remediation, taking the option away from you and most likely significantly increasing the remediation costs.

Secondly, I'm not familiar with mold existence disclosures for any state other than Michigan, so I don't know whether you might have to disclose the existence and/or remediation efforts in your home if you decide to sell it at some time. I haven't researched this issue to know if the disclosure is required by Michigan law or if there's a Federal statute which mandates it for all states, or if it's an EPA regulation. But if you want to sell your house eventually and don't plan to stay there "forever", it might be an issue you face, particularly since you acknowledge that there is a mold issue.

Third, there are some contractors who post here who are very familiar with this issue and might want to elaborate on my limited knowledge.

Fourth, as an example of compliance with legal lead removal issues, I had one broken window replaced last year and had to sign various acknowledgements that the contractors had to provide legally for minimizing exposure, etc. to any mold. I haven't researched the issue to determine if this was a state or federal requirement.

Fifth, I do believe that there are either laws or regulations establishing mandatory compliance with specific disposal remedies for mold affected substances, such as wood, insulation, etc.


You might want to check the EPA's website to research this issue further. This is only one link to a number of EPA related articles on mold remediation:

http://nlquery.epa.gov/epasear...lter=sample4filt.hts

Sixth, some states have laws in addition to whatever may exist on the Federal level. See the "US and State codes" section of this site for links to specific laws in specific states:

http://lawcrawler.findlaw.com/...remediation+statutes

It looks as though Texas, California and Illinois each have mold remediation statutes. If you live in any of these states, you might want to check out some of the statutory links.

Lastly, if you rent out the building with mold, there are additional obligations for landlords to remediate mold.

I just did a search for "borax and mold " (include the word "and ") and found severll places to check. I didn't read any, I left that up to you
I have used pool chlorine on mold in my bathroom shower and eliminated it for a long time, but it did return, so I repeated the process and again it worked, but I'm sure it will return again
I dont think you can entirely stop mold unless you can keep the homes humidity low enough to retard its growth

bingo, Nona! the holy grail is 40% humidity, I have heard... regular cleaning and good repair will retard mold development, but it won't be so dry the cat sticks wherever you put it... ceiling, wall, artwork.

borax is an oxidizer when it breaks down, as is bleach... but bleach being chlorine makes stronger oxidation bonds, and so I would expect it would disrupt and kill slimy living things better than borax. you put on eye protection (unvented surround mask) and use a chlorine-rated air filter in your breathing mask, no problem. if you mix 4x the bottle recommendation, it's no worse than the air in the health club pool room.