Frequently Asked Questions - Mold Industry Scams

Most remediation contractors are honest businessmen, but every industry has its “opportunists” – individuals who have no moral or ethical scruples when it comes to padding their profits by getting your repair bill up as high as possible.  Mold remediation is big businesses. Renovation contractors typically charge 3 to 5 times more for jobs involving mold than similar jobs which don’t involve mold. With such tremendous potential for abuse, hiring mold inspectors who profit from the remediation work presents a serious conflict of interest – much like hiring a fox to mind your hen house.This scam can be avoided by not hiring inspectors who profit from mold removal work. Insist on Certified Mold Inspectors who are not in the remediation business and are not motivated to create more work for themselves. And specifically ask your mold inspector if there is any money being exchanged between the Remediator and the inspector. Pacific neither accept nor offers “finders fees” for its services If you encounter a mold inspector who also does mold removal (or visa-versa) just say NO THANKS. There's plenty of quality contractors available that don't do both. Contact the American Indoor Air Quality Council; www.iaqcouncil.org, or the Indoor Air Quality Association; www.iaqa.org  to file a formal complaint.

"House cooking" is an old scam designed to get the worst possible test results. The inspector shuts all the windows and turns on the furnace in order to elevate the number of mold spores in the air before taking samples. Some will even turn on ceiling fans and humidifiers full blast. The purpose is to cause high levels of detectable mold to justify expensive mold remediation work.  This scam can also be avoided by not hiring a mold inspector who also profits from remediation work.

Ozone schemes claim that tenting a home or building and then injecting massive amounts of ozone gas into it will kill all of the mold in the structure. Ozone can only kill what it comes into contact with. Ozone cannot get at, and thus cannot kill, mold growing inside drywall, walls, carpeting, upholstered furniture, wall cavities, ceiling cavities and floor cavities. Besides being ineffective at killing hidden mold (the worst type), ozone readily damages all rubber and plastic parts it comes into contact with such as rubber and plastic components of appliances, electronics of all types, exposed electrical lines, extension cords and HVAC controls. Ozone is also unhealthy to humans according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Many contractors offer "FREE" clearance testing also, (which is equivalent to grading their own homework). Don't fall for it! Clearance testing is crucial to the mold remediation process and should never be performed by a mold removal contractor waiting to get paid for his work.AVOID BEING SCAMMED.  The best way to avoid getting scammed this way is to avoid using mold removal contractors for mold inspections. Pacific IAQ is not in the mold removal business and therefore we have no vested interest in how your inspection and testing comes out. Our position is always unbiased and neutral. But even if you don't choose Pacific IAQ for you inspection and testing needs, be sure whoever you do choose is not looking for repair work for himself.

AND CALL THE REFERENCES! Don't take anyone's word for it when it comes to shelling out thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of dollars for remediation work. Ask for references for jobs that are at least 10 to 12 months old. Why? Because every mold remediation job looks great as soon as it’s finished. But if remediation work is not done correctly, it can take several months to realize it. As a rule, if mold does not reoccur in that time, the work was done correctly. A remediation contractor who has nothing to hide, has no problem giving you references. If a contractor gets offend by your request, that’s a good indication that you don’t want to use that contractor.

The standard rates for remodeling or reconstruction work that involves mold remediation is approximately three time higher that the exact same remodel without mold remediation. That means, by hiring one contractor to do the entire job, you are paying triple the regular rate for the reconstruction work that takes place after the mold is removed. As rule, you save a lot of money by hiring a remediation contractor to remove the mold, then having a remodeling contractor come in to do the reconstruction. Some remediation contractors will insist on doing all the work or none at all. Just remember, there's more where they came from. Furthermore, be sure to have a post-remediation verification test done before you pay your remediation contractor. If you agree to make progress payments, make sure the final payment is a significant percentage of the total job price so the contractor is motivated to finish the job correctly.Never allow a contractor to provide clearance testing for his own remediation work.Many remediation contractors will offer to provide FREE clearance testing after their work is complete. Nice gesture, but don't fall for it. The reason they do that is so they pass their own work and get paid. Also, they more than likely quoted you a firm price in order to get the work in the first place and if a third party inspector fails his post-remediation clearance test, he has to keep coming back until he gets it right. A "free" clearance test from a contractor offering to pass his own work is not a good deal for you. Always insist on third party post-remediation clearance testing and make sure your agreement with the contractor states that he will come back and correct his work if it fails. And don't settle the account until you see the clearance report in writing.Never allow a remediation contractor to "encapsulate" mold.Some mold removal contractors include a process they call "encapsulating" or "encapsulation". Plainly stated, it means they paint over mold, (often with a stain killing paint called KILZ, sold in most Home Depot stores). This practice is not recognized by the EPA or any other legitimate authority on mold remediation. The EPA guidelines for mold abatement is very clear, "REMOVE IT". If the mold is removed, there is no need for encapsulation. Unless mold is removed, it is still there. "Encapsulating" mold by painting over it is just a way to cover up any mold that was not removed. Are you starting to get it? Encapsulation is a scam. Ask your contractor before he begins if he does encapsulation. If he says yes, find another contractor.There are a few reasons why your consultant may recommend encapsulation:•    He suspects that there may still be traces of mold left in areas that cannot be accessed without major demolition and encapsulating those areas will inhibit spore release.  •    He suspects there is a possibility that moisture is still a factor in or around the remediated area and, as a precautionary measure, he wants to apply a water seal treatment to the salvaged materials to protect them from that moisture. •    There are contractors who process their work to exemplary levels and then apply ‘shields’ for future prevention purposes – these contractors will allow for testing at the client’s discretion as they normally pass whether at the end of remediation or after applying their final step products.

Here are several mold frauds perpetrated by insurance companies and insurance adjusters.      a. Hiring testing personnel who are loyal to the insurance companies (not the insured) to do the least possible mold testing in the least likely mold locations in an insured's property so that any actual mold is NOT likely to be discovered.      b. Forcing testers to restrict the air flow to purposely lower the spore count in air sampling cassettes. The two most widely used spore traps (air sampling cassettes) are the Air-O-Cell and the Micro-5. The manufacturer of the Air-O-Cell trap recommends the following pump settings: 10 liters per minute for 10 minutes. The manufacturer of the Micro-5 recommends the following pump settings: 5 liters of air for 5 minutes. AMI recommends you always ask your tester to show you the pump settings.      c. Forcing the tester to only report findings and lab results to the insurer, then refusing to disclose the findings with the insured.All these scams can be avoided by hiring Pacific IAQ, the North Bay’s most trusted certified mold inspector.

Some contractors claim that applying heat to a structure is an effective way to remediate mold. This is a bogus claim. While mold can be killed by heat, as can every other living organism, there is no evidence to support the notion that heat treating a house will kill all the mold, and heat will not destroy all of the allergens and irritants that are associated with mold growth.

it’s hard to imagine insurance companies doing anything improper or unethical. But like any company in business to make money, what is proper or improper, ethical or unethical, right or wrong, is not defined by moral absolutes or standards. It is defined by legal technicalities. Fairness, integrity, and conscience are nice words to flaunt. But the bottom line is always comes down to profit margins, not nice words.Here are some profit-driven business practices of insurance companies to look out for. (DISCLAIMER: Not ALL insurances companies)1. Hiring only "preferred" inspectors and remediators who are loyal to the insurance companies (not the insured) and who will not look too hard for mold.2. Requiring preferred testers to restrict the air flow of their sampling pump to purposely lower the spore count in air samples.3. Requiring the inspector to inspect only, and not sample.Pacific IAQ will not work under such conditions!

      • mold removal contractors who also offer mold inspections and mold testing services      • all in one mold service firms which offer mold removal service after their mold inspection service as well as their own clearance certificates and post-cleaning results.Their scam is creating non-existent mold problems and charging you thousands of dollars to fix them.If you suspect you have a mold problem, whether mold is visible or not, one call to Pacific IAQ is all it takes to be sure. Our only interest is in providing our clients with accurate reporting of the data we collect in the course of the inspection process and reliable results of mold tests and samples.