by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
About 150 attended the Ponte Vedra Council’s first meeting of the year last month to hear Michael Rowan of AmeriPro Inspection Corporation discuss mold at the Plantation Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach.
Mold had been around for years and years, but lately it has become a hot topic with Realtors, home appraisers and lawyers. And it has become the cause of many lawsuits lately as well.
Rowan said that it used to be primarily in commercial properties, but that in the last few years it has really started hitting residential properties as well.
Rowan explained that mold is a microscopic organism that is everywhere.
Some common places to find mold are behind the air conditioner, water heater, the walls where leaks have occurred and in shower enclosures.
“We have a lot of problems with moisture and humidity,” said Rowan. “You can’t eliminate mold, but you can manage it.”
He said that humidity and water leaks are related to most causes of mold.
Rowan said not to turn the air conditioning power off when selling a vacant home.
“You list a home and your client tells you they are not paying the electric bill and for you to turn the air conditioning off,” said Rowan. “Where does all that humidity go? It goes into the walls. We can’t leave the air conditioning off because every veteran home inspector knows that if you go into a home that has been vacant for a period of time with no air conditioning, there is going to be a mold problem.”
He said that mold needs moisture and oxygen to grow, so if you can control the moisture, oxygen and temperature, you can control the mold.
Rowan cautioned the group against opening up walls to search for possible mold.
“Mold is a living organism and it is starving,” said Rowan. “You are going to have millions of spores flying through the air looking for a source of moisture. That is why we can’t open up drywall anymore.”
He said a lot of builders are going back to the drawing board and trying to construct homes to combat mold before it can even start.
“It’s very difficult to control this issue,” said Rowan. “I think if we build better and have better preventative measures that will help. It’s only when you have a problem that you will deal with it, but if you are proactive you can eliminate it before it is a problem.”