Ozone... whats the deal.

Had a mold inspection in Sonoma yesterday. The home owner just got out of the hospital for pneumonia... for the second time this year. She was concerned about mold so her insurance company sent me out to determine if there was a problem so that they could research the possible coverage for the issue. One of the first things she told me is that she has been using an ozone generator since March 2007, but only a few hours a day, and only while she is gone from the home. Ozone can be nasty to your lung tissue. High environmental ozone can cause a long list of respiratory problems... now add additional ozone to your home and you have a worse problem than mold. Her rational was that she heard that ozone "explodes" mold spores. Really? There is no evidence that ozone has any effect on mold spores, and even if it did render the spores non-viable, those spores would still be present and may cause an allergic response in certain individuals. As if ozone wasn't enough, she also had a serious rodent problem, and the lab results show that she does indeed have elevated mold spore concentrations... really elevated! So, to wrap it up, she thought she had mold, so she ran ozone for over two years in her home, which deteriorated her lung tissue and made her even more susceptible to mold realted illnesses, and she is constantly breathing in dust that is contaminated with rodent feces and urine. Ozone is not the answer! The only proven technique in getting rid of a mold problem is stopping the water intrusion, physical removal of the mold, and detailed cleaning... period!