Archive for February, 2008
Do It Yourself Mold Remediation
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008The AP reported this morning that a historic Miami courthouse has been partially shutdown after a “U.S. Public Health Service study [ . . . ] found mold throughout the 166,000-square-foot building.” In fact, the building was making its occupants sick.
Employees have repeatedly complained about such health problems as sneezing, coughing, runny noses and lung irritation, as well as musty odors and water leaks. One law clerk in a second-floor office works from home because of “poor indoor air quality and mold,” the report said.
Note those symptoms. They read like a quote from the National Center for Environmental Health for mold spore exposure.
So what are we to do?
For do-it-yourselfers, here’s a quick mold remediation and prevention list:
- Problem: Leaking air conditioning ducts create moisture around the ducting, creating an environment for mold spores to grow.
- Solution: Seal all duct joints with flexible mastic.
- Problem: Impermeable vinyl wall coverings trap moisture between the wall covering and the sheet rock, creating an environment for mold to grow on the sheet rock, thereby degrading it.
- Solution: Use a primer with meldewcide in it on sheet rock prior to installing the wall covering. (Zinsser Bullseye® is my preferred choice of mold killing primers.) Also ensure that any vinyl wall coverings you buy have a permeable paper backing that allows it to “breathe” so that moisture will evaporate naturally.
- Problem: The laundry room.
- Solution: Laundry rooms should have a floor drain and pan for the washing machine. I haven’t seen a washing machine yet that didn’t at one point or another leak, drip, or spill some water at some time — even if only during servicing or removal. Dryer vent runs should be kept as short as possible, and hose connections kept tight. Dryer air may be hot, but it’s also very damp.
- Problem: Water-resistant dry wall (“green board”) is often used as a backer board for tile work. In fact, in many places it’s still legal to do so. The problem is, “green board” is water resistant, not water proof. Over time it degrades and the tile pulls away, letting mold grow in the gap.
- Solution: As is now code in most places, cement backer board should be installed over water-resistant dry wall. It remains structurally sound even after repeated wet/dry cycles.
- Problem: Poor venting or no venting at all in the bathroom.
- Solution: At the very least, open a window. Better yet, especially here in the Pacific Northwest (where the outside air can be just as damp as the bathroom air), leave the door open for awhile after showers, and ajar as a matter of habit. Or, install an externally vented bathroom fan.
To get rid of existing mold growth, scrub the affected areas with a ½% chlorine bleach solution (i.e. standard laundry bleach), then prime and repaint. Make sure your paint has a meldewcide in it. (As stated above, Zinsser Bullseye® is my preferred choice for this.) If the mold problem was really bad, double prime with a meldewcidal primer before putting on your top coat.
- Solution: At the very least, open a window. Better yet, especially here in the Pacific Northwest (where the outside air can be just as damp as the bathroom air), leave the door open for awhile after showers, and ajar as a matter of habit. Or, install an externally vented bathroom fan.
- Problem: Damp/wet/flooded crawl space. Here in the Pacific Northwest, the housing bubble grew this problem to epidemic proportions. New housing tracts were been built on wet lands and sub-areas were dug to as much as a foot below grade. And of course, no thought was given to drainage, nor was it required by the approving building department.
The result is a craw space so damp (or actually flooded!) that insulation becomes soaked. Not only does it no longer insulate, it becomes a host for mold.
- Solution: Depending on the severity of the problem, a sump pump may need to be installed in the crawl space. This will require grading the sub area so that water will flow into the basin. Then a vapor barrier should laid over the ground. 90% coverage is the minimum tolerable, but often not achievable due to low clearances. Do the best you can. Re-insulate as necessary and possible.
- Problem: Improper flashing of roof, doors, and windows. Once water is behind the barriers designed to keep it out, the wood framing and sheathing soaks it up, creating an environment for rot and mold.
- Solution: You can tell if you have a flashing or caulking problem around windows and doors fairly easily: The walls around the doors and windows will become discolored. Roofs should be visually inspected every year or so to make sure the the shingles are in good shape and that flashing is not rusting away. Fixing discovered problems, however, may not be so easy. Whether it’s the roof or the doors and windows, if you have a flashing problem, it will require anything from minor to major disassembly of the roof or trim and siding to correct.
Failed caulking around windows is more in the do-it-yourselfer’s range. Scrape out all the old caulking with your trusty 5-in-1 tool and clean the groove. Prep and prime the wooden framing around the window (but not the plastic or metal window itself). Once the primer is dry apply a bead of good door and window caulk. (I prefer Sikaflex® caulking.) Finally, when the caulking is dry, prime and paint it.
- Solution: You can tell if you have a flashing or caulking problem around windows and doors fairly easily: The walls around the doors and windows will become discolored. Roofs should be visually inspected every year or so to make sure the the shingles are in good shape and that flashing is not rusting away. Fixing discovered problems, however, may not be so easy. Whether it’s the roof or the doors and windows, if you have a flashing problem, it will require anything from minor to major disassembly of the roof or trim and siding to correct.
- Problem: Drainage. A huge problem here in the Pacific Northwest, where we live in a temperate rain forest that gets over 100 inches of rain every year! It’s also one that architects and designers are famous for overlooking.
An improperly drained property can flood crawl spaces seasonally. It can also allow water to “wick up” into the structure anywhere wood comes into contact with the moisture. And once that happens, you have both a rot and mold problem.
- Solution: Unfortunately, there is no one solution to fix all drainage problems. And even the most common sense elemental solution — properly grade the property so that water runs away from the building — can be intimidating when you compare the size of your shovel to the size of your yard.
Sometimes more drastic measures are needed to protect the building: French drains, drainage walls with lift pumps, and drain fields are all common methods of removing excess water from the property, there-by keeping the house itself dry.
- Solution: Unfortunately, there is no one solution to fix all drainage problems. And even the most common sense elemental solution — properly grade the property so that water runs away from the building — can be intimidating when you compare the size of your shovel to the size of your yard.
- Problem: Use of dehumidifiers — especially portable dehumidifiers. Yeah I know, they’re supposed to dry out the air, thereby reducing the mold problem, not contribute to it. Unfortunately most dehumidifiers are improperly maintained, so they end up providing both a growth medium and a distribution system for mold spores.
- Solution: If you’re going to use a dehumidifier (they’re really not all that effective), properly clean and maintain it. And be sure to add some antimicrobial solution (available in hardware stores) to the drain pan every time to dump it.
(Oh, and if you’re one of the few people that has an air conditioner in your home, the same thing goes for its the condensation pan. Clean it thoroughly with that ½% bleach solution mentioned above before firing it up in the summer, then put some of that antimicrobial solution in the pan to prevent mold growth.)
- Solution: If you’re going to use a dehumidifier (they’re really not all that effective), properly clean and maintain it. And be sure to add some antimicrobial solution (available in hardware stores) to the drain pan every time to dump it.
- Problem: I did everything you said and the mold came back!
- Solution: Yup. We can’t get rid of all the mold. In fact, experts suggest we see less than 10% of the mold that’s really there. Even full blown remediation doesn’t completely eliminate all mold spores from a building. So there’s one more thing you need to do to keep the little buggers under control:
You have to take steps to keep the entire building warm and dry and well ventilated year around. I mean, from the attic spaces to the crawl space. Usually that means installing a good building ventilation system that’s equipped with a dehumidifier.
This doesn’t kill the spores. Rather, the air changes remove any air-born spores from the building, while at the same time forcing those that remain in the walls and crawl spaces and so on to go dormant so they’re no longer a problem. Unless you do this, in our damp North West climate, the mold spores will begin to grow and spread again even before that new paint in the bathroom is dry.
- Solution: Yup. We can’t get rid of all the mold. In fact, experts suggest we see less than 10% of the mold that’s really there. Even full blown remediation doesn’t completely eliminate all mold spores from a building. So there’s one more thing you need to do to keep the little buggers under control:
If your mold problem isn’t bad, working your way through the steps above will put an end to any mold related health problems you might be having. If your house is really sick (“sick house syndrome”), and doing the above isn’t solving your problem, you’ll need to do full remediation to save the building. For that you’ll need a professional.
Technorati Tags: mold, mold remediation, sick house syndrome, do-it-yourself projects, indoor air quality
He Can’t Do It For That
Sunday, February 17th, 2008Last night I was chatting with a friend who related the lament of a contractor who had just lost a contract to a “kid” who had bid the job so low, the older, more experienced contractor knew the young fellow couldn’t complete the job for the contract price.
It’s a perpetual problem built into our American construction culture. Journeymen and master craftsmen are pretty much expected to become contractors themselves. Young people, attempting to avoid the minimum wage racket of fast food, take classes in school, leverage that into a part time job after school helping a builder, then work full time in the summer. By the time they’re 18 they’re almost journeymen; by the time they’re 25 they’re senior journeymen at their trade, and are crew chiefs or construction supervisors.
Many will decide to become a contractor. And there’s the rub.
Yes, they know the craft. But knowing how to build a house has nothing to do with knowing how to run a business, or how to accurately compute the cost of building that house. They don’t know the difference between their hourly wage and what it costs the boss to pay them that wage, and they have no concept what-so-ever of what it costs to run “the back office.” And ironically, even given another ten to twenty years in the trade, they still won’t know.
This was amply demonstrated to me many years ago. I was called out onto a job site on which a master carpenter was doing a beautiful job of fitting a hand made, cherry wood arched door frame into obtusely angled opening. The man had thirty years experience in his trade. All of it spent working for a company in Sacramento. Finally, he’d decided to strike out on his own. One day I had the opportunity to ask him what he was charging the customer. His answer: $25/hr!
I was stunned.
He was working for his former hourly wage, oblivious to some rude realities that were going to catch up with him at tax time: All those taxes his employer had paid for so many years — or had split with him — were now his responsibility. And then there are the hidden costs of being your own boss: Vehicle maintenance, bad debts, adverting, the non-billable hours of work that go into paperwork and bookkeeping, broken and worn out equipment — all costs not built into an employee’s salary. All costs the Boss has to factor into the price of every job.
There is a double standard in the construction industry, as in so many other professions. We expect people to go from being employees to business experts in their formerly salaried position with with the wave of a bureaucratic wand. Upon issuance, the master craftsman is supposed to be an expert on contracting law; to know how to bid a job, how to make payroll, how to write at least three types of legal contracts and a half a dozen other routine forms, none of which he’s likely ever even seen prior to striking out on his own.
There is no easy answer. In California the State License Board fails dismally in its task of attempting to turn craftsmen into business people by teaching them what the State thinks they need to know through the trade and License Law tests. But at least it’s trying.
In reality, this is problem bigger than, California. It’s a problem in all the States. The same mechanism that works so well in teaching young people the building trades — apprenticeship — fails dismally at teaching them to be contractors, and for good reason: Turning a young apprentice into a valuable employee is in the best interests of the employer. Turning a valuable employee into competent small business owner creates a competitor for the employer. Few contractors want to see yet another contractor succeed on their turf. Let the kid learn on is own!
And who gets to pay? Unfortunately, the public. Contractor horror stories are at least as common as medical horror stories. All too often the bubbly home owner’s enthusiasm at discovering they can get that new kitchen at a price they can afford turns into a nightmare of delays and cost over-runs that have them scrambling for money from everywhere they can find it, just to get a usable kitchen.
Sadly, often it isn’t really low-balling; it’s simply a lack of experience.
Technorati Tags: contractors, contracting, the business of contracting, estimating, bid estimating, building costs
Busy Delays
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008Okay, so it’s been a month since I’ve posted. I’m tardy, and I know it. My apologies.
My problem is, I’m currently involved in a project that I don’t have permission to tell you about yet! So I’m compelled to “zip my lip” until such time as I have permission to tell you all about it.
As I’m writing this, “A” (my wife and the inspiration behind this blog) is off collecting a Nikon (yes a Nikon!) digital camera for us. Given the projects on my plate this year (and more are coming up to be bid on), I’m sure the camera will come in handy in keeping you informed on what’s happening here at Alternative Building Services.
On a more general note: Last week I learned that West Coast Builders, one of our larger local builders — they won the environmental award for the Co-Op project, remember? — has laid off 40+ employees! Also, apparently Danco Builders has laid of 60+. And senior employees at some our building suppliers have told me smaller contractors (like me) are getting worried. They’re finishing up their last jobs and have no more work scheduled. The Sub-prime mess is beginning to hit Humboldt County hard. And it doesn’t look like their’s any relief in site!
Anyway, hopefully this next week things will ‘pop’ with this project I’m working on and I’ll be able to post about it — complete with pictures!
Technorati Tags: Alternative Building Services, Danco Builders, West Coast Builders, Sub-prime mortgages
