FROM SNAKE OIL TO STEALING

SHAKEDOWN
It might surprise many to find out that presently, there are no federal or state licensing requirements for individuals and business involved in the mold testing and remediation industries. New York City and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have guidelines that many organizations follow, including AMI, but these are merely guidelines, not regulations or even standards.

Because of the newness of the mold inspection industry, scams do exist out there that seek to profit from a property owner's misfortune and at the same time either create a non-existent problem or fail to correct a real and hazardous situation. To ensure your situation is handled ethically and professionally, make sure you hire a Trained Mold Inspector, Trained Mold Contractor or a Trained Mold Remediator. This is for your protection financially as well as to protect you and your loved one's health. The following are potential mold scams to watch for:

#1. Mold Remediation Contractors Who Also Perform Mold Inspections:
In a perfect world you could trust everyone, but it's not a perfect world. 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. For some, their motto is, “Mold Is Gold!” and their primary concern is 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.

Protect your client and yourself by insisting on Certified Mold Inspectors who are not in the remediation business.

#2. Fraudulent Mold Testing
Some unscrupulous inspectors or contractors will bring back to you mold test results showing extremely serious mold problems in your home or on your property. Unfortunately, the mold samples are not actually from your home but are in fact samples that had been intentionally infected (inoculated) with large amounts of mold spores from other locations or from mold collections maintained by these same contractor. This scam can be avoided by not hiring a mold inspector who also profits from remediation work. 

#3. House Cooking
"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. 

#4. Ozone Generator
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.