Links: Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification Indoor Air Quality Association Indoor Environmental Standards Organization InstallationMasters

HousingZone: What are builders doing correctly now when it comes to preventing mold? What practices and techniques are they doing that are beneficial for them and their businesses?

Strong: They're drying out their buildings. Everything off-gasses. Your concrete slab off-gasses. Studs off-gas. Even if they're 19% [moisture content] or less, they still have moisture in them until they stabilize at 6%. Unless they're in contact with concrete, in which case it's 12%. Drywall is manufactured with 20% moisture content. When it dries out, it's down to 5% or 6%. But then you put joint compound over it -- full of moisture. Now you've got all this moisture off-gassing in the building. Say you've got a roof leak. Where does the moisture go? Well, it travels back through the drywall through transpiration. And it feeds on the cellulose backing of the drywall. In single-family dwellings -- stick-frame -- it's wood. In commercial, it's steel studs. But the sub-sheathing is still either oriented strand board or exterior-grade gypsum sheathing -- all stuff with paper in it. So now you've got mold. You've built a tight building, insulated it. You ran polycell foam under the plates. It's sealed up tight; it's got nowhere to go.

The big-box builders are saying, "Control your humidity. Control your moisture." There are companies out there that make dehumidifier-type machines that draw that moisture out of the air and exhaust it. Dry your buildings out before you close them in. Before you even put your windows and drywall in, let your slabs off-gas as well as your studs equalize to ambient temperature just as you would with hardwood flooring. Be bright. It's just common sense.

All these little guys aren't getting the picture. And the big guys are starting to get this, where they're bringing in people like us, and we say, "Bring in this machine. It's made specifically to dry." And we're not talking about bringing in propane heaters. Those create more vapor. What you want to do is remove the moisture vapor from the air and exhaust it.

HZ: You're doing this during the building process?

Strong: Right. You get your slab poured, and you frame. You close in your building before your windows are in. You're already working on humidity and moisture control. Now you start your drywall. Store your materials so they don't absorb more moisture. You don't throw your plywood or OSB in the mud. You keep it covered from the rain and sticker it. You cover it. The same with your drywall. You don't let it get so wet that when you put it up, it's saturated. Before you close in your walls, you get your studs so that they're stabilized or at least below 12% [moisture content]. Anything over 20% is not good. From 28%, you start what's called the fiber-saturation point. At 28%, wood starts to degrade because the fibers are saturated. And the higher it goes, the worse it gets. So you dry out your building in increments as you move along. The builders in Texas are starting to get it, and in Florida, but not all of them. So that's what builders are doing. But it's only the big builders.

HZ: What's it going to take for the smaller builders to jump on board?

Strong: Write a good article. Get it out to them. Write one that makes sense and has some of this information. They don't need me. There are other people that have the same knowledge I do. They sit on the same national committees I do. There are consultants all over the United States. There are people out there. There are books out there. There's knowledge out there. Knowledge is power.

HZ: Liability insurance for builders has jumped tremendously in the last several years. Is mold really driving these increases?

Strong: For the most part, yes. Here's why: Melinda Ballard collected $32 million, even though it was reduced to $4 million. Ed McMahon collected, I think, $28 million. [The lawsuit was settled at $7 million.] Verdicts started going to the plaintiff. And the jury in the Texas case -- the Ballard case - [decided] without any scientific testimony and any medical testimony on a causal relationship. ... In other words, somebody like me didn't go up and say, "All this mold is horrible, and here's a doctor, and he says it caused her husband to get sick." Juries watch 60 Minutes and Nightline and Dateline. So the jury on its own decided, without any medical testimony.

The judge is the gatekeeper. He has to decide if that testimony is relevant or should be heard. And they didn't hear any of that. The jury on its own awarded $32 million. That's why it was reduced in appeals to $4 million, because the appeals court said, "This is crazy. These people just figured this out out of emotion." That scared the insurance agency ... because insurance companies have to put aside what are called reserves. Whenever a claim is made, they have to say, "Potentially, our exposure is X." Well, with mold, what's your exposure? The cost of just investigation can be $10,000 or $20,000 or more. Remediation can be $150,000. Then you've got reconstruction.

HZ: Have the hype and hysteria died down since these big celebrity cases?

Strong: No. Here's why: Some of the insurance people are saying, "This is all much ado about nothing. This is not the new asbestos. This is just a fad." You'll get people on the phone who will say, "This is all hype." You know what? I've got clients whose hair fell out, whose dog died, who wheeze so bad and have autoimmune-compromised systems. Everybody has a different susceptibility. That's why the feds and the state can't establish standards. You could walk into a room full of Stachybotrys and feel nothing. I could walk in and get a terrific sinus infection and be wheezing in minutes. The people most susceptible are children, pregnant women and people who are immuno-compromised. You'll get people that you'll interview who will say, "This is much ado about nothing. It's going away." You'll get people on the other end of the spectrum who will say, "Mold is gold" or "Mold is just unbelievable." I have a balanced perspective. I've researched this for over 15 years. I gave a speech to the California Industrial Hygiene Council a year ago December. There were over 350 people in the room, 350 industrial hygienists. I said, "How many of you were dealing with mold issues 10 years ago?" Maybe six hands rose from 350. "How many five years ago?" Maybe 35 -- 10% -- rose their hand. Then I said, "How many now?" Almost everybody in the room raised their hand. So, you tell me it's going away. I'll retire, and this will still be going on. But there's a balance. You have to maintain perspective.

HZ: You had talked a little bit about how it's difficult to establish standards. Are we going to get mold standards?

Strong: Yes. We already have them. The IICRC -- the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification -- issued a standard called S520. You can access it on the Web [www.iicrc.org]. It's not agreed to yet. That's for dealing with mold remediation. The contractors don't have one yet. In fact, most water restoration guys don't even have to be licensed contractors. They're the ones causing a lot of the problems. There's also an organization that I belong to called the Indoor Air Quality Association. They have standards. There's another organization I belong to: the Indoor Air Quality Council. They have standards. Then there's the IESO's [Indoor Environmental Standards Organization] Standards of Practice for the Assessment of Environmental Quality. I sit on an ASTM [American Society for Testing and Materials] committee. The committee developed a consensus standard in 2001. It's ASTM E2112 -- the standard practice for installation of exterior windows, doors and skylights. And AAMA -- American Architectural Manufacturers Association -- developed a program called InstallationMasters, where they train framers and window guys in three days to install windows properly. AAMA has passed that program on to Architectural Testing Inc., out of Pennsylvania. And I sit on their task force that oversees it. That's one of the big problems -- windows and doors. The other one is roofs. And decks over habitable spaces.

One thing I tell my contractors: Take pictures. When you bid it, take pictures. When you're doing the work, take pictures. Digital. Download them. Take the memory stick or the Flash card out and then use it again. Keep an archive. Keep a daily log, a bound, consecutively numbered log. Fill in every day, even if you don't work. It's a quasi-legal document. Guard your queen. In other words, watch your back. Nobody else is going to do it for you.

Strong recommends that window subcontractors and framers attend the two-day InstallationMasters certification program.

Working with several regional and worldwide construction firms, Polaroid has identified eleven key applications for imaging before, during, and after major construction projects.

Contractors would be well advised to thoroughly document every step in the construction process to protect against future claims of negligence.

With construction defect litigation on the rise, builders are rapidly discovering the importance of taking pictures on every project. Early in a job, you might catch something on film that could turn out to be your saving grace at a later date.