FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
Our starting rate is $249, which includes a full inspection and 2 air samples, one indoor and one outdoor control. The two are compared, and anything found inside and not outside generally indicates that it came from indoor growth that must be tracked down and eradicated. If high numbers of a particular mold type are found in the outdoor control, it may explain some of the same types being found inside, as hundreds or even thousands of mold spores can be let in every time you open your doors or windows, even when just coming and going. A good Filtrete filter that says it catches mold spores (the red and purple outlined ones at any Home Depot, Lowes, or Walmart) will cut down on this, btw. Additional samples from visible growth areas where water intrusion, past or present may be, are $75 each; they can be air samples for the same price that tell you every type of mold spore found per cubic meter in the area taken, or by direct swab of visual growth to make sure it is not highly toxic, like the "black mold" Stachybotrys often mentioned in the news and in the videos on our site, which is considered a problem at any level. Most molds have a threshold of 1,000 spores per cubic meter, and below that are considered normal levels inside that flew in when doors/windows are open. There are exceptions to that rule, like Stachybotrys, and many molds appear "black", but are not necessarily 'the' black mold, since there are over 400,000 mold types, 147,000 of which give off mycotoxins through their metabolization process, which is what ultimately makes people sick from it growing inside their homes or workplaces; anywhere they spend a lot of time. Luckily most spores do not in and of themselves make us sick, or we'd all become sick when going outside. But when it is growing inside a house, it is similar to being in a garage with a running car. The toxins they give off will be breathed in and slowly decrease your immune system among other symptoms similar to Lyme disease. The 'black mold' known as Stachybotrys Chartarum is the worst, and will kill people over time if exposed long enough, though children and the elderly are at the highest danger due to having a lower immune system to begin with. But fear not, no house is beyond remediation of mold. It's just a matter of finding out the type, extent, and water source keeping it alive. Mold cannot live without a constant water and organic food source, like a bare wood ceiling in a basement or attic, the paper on each side of drywall/sheetrock, wood furniture, leather goods, and sometimes even humidity and dust itself is enough to provide both, allowing growth inside metal A/C ducts and hvac coils and systems themselves, even bathroom glass surfaces in extreme cases; you name it. It will likely inherit the Earth, and was one of the first single celled organisms to inhabit the Earth from the beginning, many believe. It is even mentioned in the Bible. In Leviticus 14:36-37, Moses instructs a priest to draw a circle around suspected mold, and instructs that if it is seen to grow beyond the marked circumference after a week's time, the "unclean" and unHoly house is to be vacated & destroyed along with all its contents. This was in the desert, not some swampy area, telling us that mold can grow anywhere, anytime, even in the dryest or coldest of areas, and has been doing so since the beginning of time, and were among the first living things. Ever notice how a sandwich of loaf of bread will still turn green if not wrapped securely enough even inside your refrigerator? This is because temperature in many cases slows down many mold types, but that's it. THey still have enough moisture from the bread and food to live in, and spread from microscopic spores that make their way in the bag when its open, maybe even when packaged, and begin growing slowly over time from then on, and more and more as more spores are introduced every time it's opened. A large family will consume loaves before that happens, but you will notice that a forgotten sandwich or loaf hidden in the back will still turn green. This happens in the North & South Poles too, though at a much slower rate of course. A deep freeze, however, can preserve some otherwise mold food sources, proven by almost perfectly preserved mammoths found in ice in the Arctic for millions of years. Once thawed, the process will continue, with ancient mold spores coming back to life through the thaw. The first archaeologists to enter and find the tombs of the pharaohs and mummies, etc, were in some cases opening otherwise perfectly preserved molds that had begun to metabolize and spread before running out of water and oxygen they needed to survive, but were of a highly toxic nature. In those days when these coffins/sarcofagi were discovered, the treasure-hunters/grave-robbers/archaeologists were not aware of mold or its danger, nor had they discovered antibiotics to do anything about it were they to be knowingly exposed. (And of course, I don't think anyone believed any sort of centuries old, living dormant "seed" could be brought back to life simply from exposure to fresh air and the humidity it contained. Or it could have also been the sweat from their own foreheads peering inside that brought this toxic mold back to life. No one will ever know for sure.. All we know from records left is that they all viewed what was left of these human (or at least organic) bodies inside, and this likely could have exposed them to toxic mold spores, some types that we already know remain toxic, dormant or not, for unknown lengths of time, and the viewers all started dying off one by one, about a week or two later, from severe cases of symptoms we would now describe as pneumonia and bronchitis their bodies were ill-equipped to fight off alone. And such was born, "The Curse of the Pharaohs"! These cases are quite similar to what would happen to the residents of those thatch-roof huts (not quite waterproof) described in Leviticus of the Bible, if they were not burned to the ground and rebuilt when noticed. Luckily they lived in areas without a lot of precipitation, so it was not an overly common occurrence, or they would have gone back to cave type dwellings I'm sure, rather than burning & rebuilding after every rainfall like we have today where I live anyway. Castles of rock and such that were eventually waterproof, and masonry that mold simply can't feed on wet or not, eventually took these problems over, until roof type fillers of dried clay were made to keep water (and the cursed mold) out for good. Perhaps this is why stone masons were and still to this day are held in such high regard. The Free Masons anonymous fraternity just might be the descendants that saved the human race on a whole, or at the very least from a whole heck of a lot of trouble!
- What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
A time and date are agreed on, or a lockbox combo if applicable, areas known to be a problem are discussed if known of or seen and noted by a home inspector in the case of a sale, and addressed first, then a full inspection with a thermal camera, moisture meter, flashlight, & visual inspection is conducted to find any other unknown hidden areas, along with at least 2 or more air samples, one outdoor control, and one or more indoors to show mold spore levels of every type per pubic meter, results available and emailed the following business day by 5pm. Each sample is overnighted to a microbiological lab in Greenville, SC called SEEML, or Southeast Environmental Microbiology Laboratories, and AIHA accedited lab, see: seeml.com. This lab report will show how many spores per cubic meter of each mold type are in the areas tested and whether they are above or below a healthy level, and whether they indicate an indoor source that's gone airborne, thus giving off mycotoxin gas, if it is of a type that does, which will be listed as well, along with the mycotoxin types that can be tested for in the blood, along with symptoms known to be given by each. There are always mold spores in every residence traveling in the natural airways looking for a place to metabolize with an organic food and water source. Without both, it cannot survive and begin to spread or metabolize. If one (water or food source) is taken away, or dried up for instance, the mold will dry up as well and remain dormant until the proper environment once again presents itself. Because spores are microscopic and in such high numbers everywhere outdoors, especially in warm humid climates, they are inside all wall cavities laying dormant since original construction of houses & structures of all sorts. For this reason, when a leak begins, be it from plumbing or rain, it will bring these spores out of dormancy and back to life within 24 hours or less. When water soaks through drywall or whatever building material it is on, it usually starts on the inside of the wall cavity where there is less ventilation and light, and then soaking through if there is enough that doesn't evaporate quickly enough, creating growth on the outer visual side of the wall or ceiling drywall, feeding on the paper/cardboard under the paint, if applicable, possibly even caving in, in the cases of ceilings. That is when the toxins it gives off through the metabolization process can make humans sick. They are carcinogenic amongst other things, and each type gives off different types of mycotoxins, which will all listed in the lab report for each mold type found, along with their effects. For this reason, knowing what kind of mold you're dealing with will have a great deal to do with the best way to remediate it as well. That is what makes inspection & testing so important. Companies that claim to do both, thus creating a conflict of interest, often find things that aren't actually there, and in higher numbers, because remediation is much more expensive than testing, and they want that business. (Tens of thousands of dollars compared to a few hundred) That's where we come in. We have no affiliations with any remediation companies whatsoever, and our only motivation is to provide results that are as accurate as possible, and are legally binding as a result. Once we finish taking our samples, we are done and won't know how the results will turn out until they are processed by our lab the next business day. We always hope our clients are in safe environments, but above all, we don't want them wasting money on remediation when it's not needed. The practice of one company providing both services has been made illegal in 7 states, but unfortunately VA, MD & DC are not of the 7, so the practice of high-pressure sales in this area still continues to this day. Please look over our site and give us a call, email, or text our main number and we will answer right away. We have no recordings to worry about unless we're all climbing through attics and small areas and can't get to the phone at the time, in which case I will call you personally as soon as humanly possible. So please leave your name, number, and approximate area so I can do so with a time frame in mind as well for you. Thanks for reading, and I hope we can be of service to you with a plan, and a remediation protocol if needed along with your lab report pdf, with which a layman's terms explanation will also be provided in the email it is sent through. Mold only gets worse until physically remediated, unfortunately, unless long periods of low humidity are kept, and no types outside the lessor toxic varieties are the only types present. Time is of the essence if you think you have a problem, sometimes only preceded by respiratory issues even if it is only a small hidden pinhole leak inside a wall cavity. Cheers, Michael Cane, CEO MoldHackers, LLC Serving Northern VA, the DC metro area and most parts of MD.
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
NAMP - National Association of Mold Professionals Certified ESA - ESA Association Certified IAQ - Indor Air Quality / EPA Certified IOT - IOT Interactive Acceptance Training Certified