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Mold & The Plumbing
Contractor Beverly Wolf, Interstate Plumbing & Air Conditioning’s risk manager, had some insightful things to say about mold at the February membership meeting of the Plumbing & Mechanical Contractors of Nevada. Wolf has been studying the mold issue for some time, and the knowledge she’s gained in fighting mold related lawsuits provided a unique perspective on what has become an issue of enormous importance to the plumbing and air conditioning industries. For those contractors who had not yet heard of mold, Wolf cited recent court decisions in which large sums of money were awarded for damages caused by the microbiological menace. In Texas, the Ballard family collected $32 million after their new home was overrun by mold spores. The suit was based on their insurer’s failure to remediate the problem. "That case had to do with suing the insurance company for the health effects that the Ballards claim they suffered. The Ballards claim that the insurance company did not remediate the mold and clean up the flood in a timely enough manner, and therefore it was their fault that the house was destroyed. Obviously, the jury felt the same way." In California, more than $18 million has been awarded so far in mold related suits, with some 2100 personal injury suits pending. That state recently passed a law that requires property owners to clean mold and disclose to residents or potential buyers that a mold problem had been present. In Nevada, there are already more than a hundred mold related suits. Many more are expected to follow in the months and years to come. Mold Grows Naturally Mold is present naturally in the environment, and plays a key factor in breaking organic material down for recycling. Mold can grow on most materials used in the building process, and nearly every material that goes into a residential home can host microorganisms under the right conditions. There are more than 100,000 species of mold, with about 1000 of them common to the United States and about 300 known to cause harm to human beings. The most well known mold is stachybotrys chartarum, a greenish black fungus that grows on material with a low nitrogen, high cellulose content. Fiberboard, drywall, paper, carpets, and even dust that is chronically moist or water-damaged can host this mold. Tag, You’re It Mold requires food, heat and water to grow. Since most materials in a home can host mold, and Las Vegas has enough heat to melt plastic outdoors, the missing ingredient is supplied by plumbers. Water. Minimal moisture can allow colonies of mold with billions of organisms to grow on wallboard, carpet or wallpaper. Water leaks are breeding grounds for mold; the area affected by the moisture can become a sea of mold hidden by paint, wallpaper, or carpet. "How do we get tagged for a mold claim?" Wolf asked the plumbers in attendance. "Water is the key ingredient. If water caused the mold, you’re it." She said that contractors should do whatever they can to avoid mold cases from being filed. Cases that go to trial will be heard by people who may be frightened of mold. Mitigate Mold While You Can Wolf urged plumbing contractors to mitigate the claims in the field. The first step is recognizing that the problem exists. If mold is discovered in the process of repairing a leak, Wolf recommended that the plumber mitigate that future claim by remediating the mold then and there. In other words, clean it up, get rid of it, and make sure that the area is safe and clean by the time the service call is through. "I cannot find anything that precludes contractors from doing it themselves," she said. "At this point, there is no license through the State Contractor’s Board, there is no certification that is actually required, there is no training that is actually required." She said that to become certified to perform mold remediation, one need only take a class and that there are no specific codes in place on how to actually do the work. There are no guidelines and no EPA requirements. Wolf pointed out that her advice has to do with small amounts of mold, and that there does exist certification courses. There is, however, no strict requirement that a person cleaning mold have those certifications. Areas where mold has infected less than ten square feet do not even need to be cleaned by a certified remediator, according to Wolf. Anyone can do it. "You can be certified. You can go through classes. And certainly, if you’re going to do what we call "Level 5 Abatement or Remediation," which is a completely infested building, you would need to have certain certificates that deal with the clean up of hazards. You would need to employ an industrial hygienist. But when we’re talking about a little bit of mold on a toilet flange, a dime-size mold on a sheet of drywall, a little bit of mold on a kitchen sink, there’s no reason why it can’t be done right now and mitigated so the cost is not exorbitant and the homeowner gets taken care of." Cleaning Mold Easier Than You May Think Although the microbiological bad guys are considered a legitimate and serious health risk, there exists no national certification standards to become a mold remediator. "There is no licensing for mold remediation," Wolf said. "There are about five industrial hygienists in Las Vegas, and they are not remediation specialists." Wolf said that plumbers should prepare to handle mold on the spot. "You need to repair the leak," she said. "Then you need to get rid of the mold." She said that when mold is found, you should, "Go out to your truck, get your R95 mask, gloves, glasses, and your mildicide. Go back in, clean it up, wrap any material that you removed in a plastic bag and put it in the trash." In other words, don’t wait for a lawyer to demand money for mold remediation. Do it immediately. Do it yourself. Insurance Companies React To Mold Wolf, being Interstate Plumbing & Air Conditioning’s risk manager, knows the impact that mold has had on the insurance industry. Policy exclusions and denials of coverage are becoming common. She warned that the trend will continue. "Homeowners policies will have exclusions, as will the commercial general liability policy," she said. "Both for owner’s buildings and for contracted work. The mold claims have become so prevalent and the damage awards so large, and the insurance companies have been hit with so many of them that dollar for dollar they can no longer afford to insure mold issues." Call To Action Wolf called on the PMCN and other associations to form a committee to investigate the issue and create guidelines for future reference. She said that plaintiff’s attorneys often quote what seems like outrageously high costs for repairs. Working together, according to Wolf, associations can pool data to arrive at more realistic figures. "The PMCN has a duty to put togther a committee to focus on these issues," she said. "Plumbers and HVAC people should sit down and find out a price to do repairs. The plaintiff’s say it’s $400 to pull a toilet and replace it. If the industry says it’s only $50, that can be the cost of the repair." "I’m simply amazed at what a horrendous problem we could be experiencing here in the Las Vegas Valley," said Sherry Hernandez, executive director of the PMCN. "I’m ready, willing and able to set up a committee to deal with this. This is an industry issue. It’s not just plumbing, it’s HVAC, as well, and we need both organizations to pull together to combat this issue. If we can work together on solving this mold issue and get information out to contractors on how to contain it, hopefully we can save them a lot of money in reference to insurance claims. If we can get out and clean it up immediately, that’s the key." Other PMCN News PMCN Executive Director Sherry Hernandez said the association is working on a "Pre-apprentice" course designed to transition individuals into the apprentice program. The course will be geared to people interested in pursuing a plumbing career, yet have no experience. They will be trained for six months on the rudiments of the trade, and join the fully accredited program as an apprentice upon graduation. President Arthur White said that the construction defect issue has gotten worse now that mold contamination has been added to the mix. White said that a third of the contractors in the room could well be out of business if associations like PMCN fail to get together to solve the problems created by mold. |
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