Building Manager's Guide to Mold in Rental Homes, Apartments, Offices

Building manager's guide to mold contamination:

This document discusses explains why building managers or landlords are sometimes reluctant to face a mold problem and offers advice to both building owners and tenants about these worries.

We discuss what to expect the rental property managers to do if they are going to address a mold problem properly, and what the rental apartment tenant needs to watch out for during a mold investigation and mold remediation of their home.

Building management reluctance to address mold problems in Rental Properties

Mold cleanup cost concerns: 

Sometimes a building management is reluctant to face the expense and trouble of handling leaks and mold contamination correctly.

Correct response to mold in a rental property might require a (costly) thorough building survey, evaluation, diagnosis of problem areas and their causes and specification of the steps to remedy them, followed by performing of the work followed by clearance inspection and testing by someone not at all connected with the contractors performing the remediation.

It would be rare for a building manager to have such an expert on full-time staff, so hiring an outside expert would be necessary.

Mold fear concenrs: 

Reluctance of building managers to address mold also comes from the wish to avoid alarming other tenants.

In our experience this is always a mistaken notion, as tenants talk to one another anyway, and building-related illness frightens people - fear spreading faster than mold growth.

Accurate information and the assurance that tenant concerns are being handled competently is more effective than other less direct responses by building management.

True cost of improper mold remediation: 

Half-baked or amateur workmanship risks increasing the ultimate cost to the building management:

• Improper mold cleanup can increase indoor mold levels,
  
  making building occupants sick and/or by contaminating their belongings leading to the need for additional cleaning of contents and personal items.
• Improper mold remediation can lead to unnecessarily high costs
  
   of repeated attempts to clean up or remove problem mold or even repeated visits by building inspectors and "mold testers" until someone finally correctlyi diagnoses the causes of problem mold and finds the actual mold reservoirs, including moldy materials that may not have been obvious based on just a superficial inspection, an air test, swab, or culture mold sample.
• Risks of mold-related illness may spread 
  
  to other building occupants or to future tenants in the same rental space if the cleanup is not properly performed.
• Improper mold causation diagnosis risks having to repeat
  
  the mold cleanup because the basic causes of mold growth have not been identified and corrected

In sum, it's least costly in end if mold remediation is performed properly in the first place.

Bogus and Ineffective Mold Remediation Treatments to Avoid

I moved out of my moldy rental house and into a motel - landlord did "electromagnetic" treatment for mold!

I had mold testing done in the house I rent and moved to a motel due to my health and my dogs. The levels came back high and the management group hired a guy to come in and do electromagnetic remediation.

He tested again and the levels came back as acceptable. I have been back in the premises for 10 days now, I am just as sick as I was 2 months ago when I moved out.

There is a smell and brown residue in the cupboards, on my items sitting out. It was 30 degrees in the house when I returned so I started using my space heaters to warm the dwelling and that is when I noticed the smell and my eyes, nose and throat have become inflamed and burn with difficulty swallowing.

Does Electromagnetic remediation leave behind a residue that can make a person and dogs with a beat up immune system become ill again? On 2014-11-15 by Melinda

Answer by (mod) - Nonsense! There is no electromagnetic treatment or remediation system for mold. List of ineffective "mold treatments".

Electromagnetic radiation for mold remediation?

There is no such mold treatment that makes a shred of sense whatsoever.

In my OPINION the "residue" from an ineffective "mold treatment" or quack science is likely to be the same as before the treatment was performed, if not worse.

It would have been better to give the cost of such a "treatment" to charity.

Also ineffective is simply bleaching mold to try to kill it, as we explain

at MOLD KILLING GUIDE

and also ineffecitve is using ozone, as we explain

at OZONE MOLD / ODOR TREATMENT WARNINGS

The proper procedure is to remove the mold, clean surfaces that can be cleaned, discard materials that can't be cleaned, and then to find and fix the cause of the mold growth.

Details are at

MOLD ACTION GUIDE - WHAT TO DO ABOUT MOL

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Continue reading at TENANT HELP for MOLDY RENTAL or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Or see these

Rental Unit & Tenants Guide to Mold & Indoor Environmental Hazards

• MOLD: A COMPLETE GUIDE to TEST CLEAN PREVENT - home page for reading about how to clean up or remove mold and how to prevent its growth in buildings
• MOLD / ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERT, HIRE ? - figure out when to hire someone
• RENTERS & TENANTS ADVICE for UNSAFE or UNHEALTHY HOME
  • HEALTH DEPARTMENT HELP for RENTERS
  • HIDDEN MOLD RISKS for RENTERS
  • HOUSING, EMERGENCY & TEMPORARY
  • LEGAL AID ATTORNEY HELP SOURCES
  • MOLD ACTION ADVICE for RENTERS
  • MOLD CONTAMINATION CAUSES
  • MOLD HEALTH RISKS for TENANTS
  • MOLD SAFETY ADVICE for TENANTS
  • MOLD ADVICE for BUILDING MANAGERS
  • TENANT HELP for MOLDY RENTAL
  • TENANT LANDLORD MOLD DISPUTE
  • UNSAFE ENVIRONMENT, CAN'T LEAVE - what if you have to continue to live in a moldy apartment or rental home?
• MOLD: A COMPLETE GUIDE - home

Suggested citation for this web page

MOLD ADVICE for BUILDING MANAGERS at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.

Or see this

INDEX to RELATED ARTICLES: ARTICLE INDEX to BUILDING ENVIRONMENT

Or use the SEARCH BOX found below to Ask a Question or Search InspectApedia

Or see

INDEX to RELATED ARTICLES: ARTICLE INDEX to MOLD CONTAMINATION & REMEDIATION

Or use the SEARCH BOX found below to Ask a Question or Search InspectApedia

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