On 8 Sep 2003 13:28:43 -0700, (Susan
Oliver) wrote:

I have three occurrences of mold in my house. First, a large area on
the sheeting in the attic. Second, around a toilet where the wax seal
has broken. And third, in the wall behind the washer where there is a
plumbing leak. The mold behind the washer is toxic, but does not
cover a large area.

I have had all the mold tested and have talked to an abatement firm.
Now I am being told I need to have the air quality tested in my house
to establish a "control group" to do comparisons with when the mold is
being removed. This will cost more money. I am also being told I need
to have a protocol written by a certified mold estimator before the
abatement company can do the estimate. This will cost at least another
$800.

I feel like I am being scammed. I simply want the mold removed.
Have you reported this to your insurance company - if not, why do you
need the testing? Mold remediation is a huge business now caused by
lawyers and insurance companys that knuckle under. Mold has been
around since the beginning of time but has hit the big time due to a
couple of hefty lawsuit settlements. It's not difficult to remove the
sheetrock around the washer, fix the leak, kill the mold with a
bleach/water solution and paint over it with Kilz for extra precaution
then replace the sheetrock. Hard to say what to do on the roof but
bleach/water will kill mold. You must stop the source of the leak
first or it will just return. If you get the insurance company
involved they will require testing to insure it is all taken care of
(even though they may pay) but it will go in the database and could
create problems later. I had mold around two windows of a house I
bought and had estimates of $10,000 - 50,000 to fix. Since the outside
was Masonite siding (which was junk to begin with) I removed the lower
sections, killed the mold, painted with Kilz and replaced the siding -
only cost a couple hundred bucks. Unfortunately, the seller had called
the insurance company to see if it was covered and the agent wrote it
up as a claim rather than letting it go as an inquiry so I had to pay
$700.00 to have a test done to prove to the insurance company that it
had been completely remediated - otherwise they wouldn't insure it.
Good luck - hope all comes out well.