Talk Mold

My mold removal company got a call from a Portland Oregon homeowner who had water damage in a bedroom closet so he opened up the closet wall and found mold. When I got there, I found that he had removed all the drywall with visible black and/or green mold, laid it in a big wet pile, and had a fan blowing high speed up at the exposed wood in the closet trying to dry it out.

What he didn’t know was that the fan was probably doing more damage than good; it was most likely spreading the dangerous mold spores from the closet out into the entire bedroom.

He should have contained the contaminated closet to protect the bedroom from mold spores BEFORE removing all the drywall. This seller wasn’t concerned at all about that; he just wanted me to replace the sheetrock, cover up the mold, so he could sell his house.

It so happened that the buyer came in while I was there, stated that this bedroom would be for her young son, and wanted to ensure that all of the mold would be removed. The seller falsely assured her that I was taking care of everything. I called her later and expressed my concerns that the seller would not agree to proper mold removal or mold remediation being done in the bedroom and that having a child that young sleep there could be dangerous for his health.

The buyers insisted the seller have me submit a new mold bid to correctly remediate the bedroom and closet of mold. From my certification in water damage restoration and mold remediation, I was positive that the demolition this seller had done in the closet had indeed spread the mold spores into the bedroom.
The seller still was not convinced there were mold spores in the bedroom, tried to explain to me that because the boards were wet, the spores could not spread and I could just cover them up. I corrected him and convinced him to have me do carpet dust samples; one in the closet where he originally found the mold and one in the furthest bedroom corner away from the closet.

Both samples tested positive for mold.

Nick, Owner Certified Restoration Inc
IICRC Mold Remediation Technician