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This just happens to be my field. A typically poorly--researched article.

If you see mold in your home, everyone agrees you should get rid of it. But experts say in most cases there is no need to have expensive mold remediation done. They advise homeowners to stop the water intrusion and to simply clean up the mold with a little bleach.

True, but misleadingly incomplete. The time to prevent mold problems is before the mold growth occurs. That means any moisture intrusion event should be treated with the same sense of urgency as a fire. Modern structures seldom dry out by themselves. Professional, expert, aggressive restorative drying is required. Just stopping additional intrusion is not at all adequate.

Biocides such as bleach are not effective at eliminating mold problems.

If it has spread, experts advise homeowners to replace moldy building materials like Sheetrock.

Improperly performed removal of moldy materials can make the problem MUCH worse.

It's also important to note that not all black-colored mold is Stachybotrys chartarum.

True. And there are a great many toxigenic molds. Stachybotrys is only one of them, and not necessarily the most potentially hazardous.

I know a family who found mold on the walls behind their furniture. They lived in a townhome. Upon further investigation, they found that a pipe had leaked in the attic, but the leak never came thru the ceiling, so they had no way of knowing there was a problem. The rafters in the entire attic were so full of mold they looked like they were covered with moss. The people who own the apartment complex told them they had to move out. Somehow the DEP has gotten involved & now they can't even get their bikes and stuff out of the attic. The DEP people said it is the worst case they have ever seen. My questions - is all their furniture ruined? Will laundering their clothes get rid of this mold? They don't have any health problems at this point, but are they safe now that they are out of the place?

Improperly performed removal of moldy materials can make the problem MUCH worse.

So when we ripped out moldy flooring, wood and drywall and tossed it in the trash we were doing something wrong?

My husband took out the moldy stuff, replaced it with non-moldy stuff and now my house doesn't stink. My oldest son is allergic to mold (we had only lived in the house 1 week before we discovered the problem) and he's been fine.

Restorer,

Your screen name made me write this to you.

My mother's house is very old (mid-19th century), and of course has plaster walls. She lives right across the street from Long Island Sound, so there's plenty of water all around, but I have NEVER seen mold anywhere in her home.

I, on the other hand have a more modern house (can't afford any of the real nice oldies) built in the mid-1950s, and the walls are made of sheetrock. We also don't live waterfront (can't afford that, either! LOL). While we don't have a mold problem ourselves, other houses in the neighborhood have been afflicted with it.

My question to you is...are sheetrock walls more prone to this kind of damage than plaster walls? If so, is the paper content in the sheetrock the reason?

Regards,