Meet MSU’s "Mold Man"

BOZEMAN–When it comes to mold, Mike Vogel has seen it all: the rubbery-looking brown stuff that bubbles up in the corner of the shower. The green speckly fuzz that sprouts on window sills. And the one that gets the most attention, the black, glossy, gooey ooze that sticks on sheetrock after a flood.

By Suzi Taylor, MSU News Services

As Montana State University’s resident "mold man," Vogel helps Montana homeowners and housing professionals learn more about a myriad of mysterious molds. He’s a housing specialist for the MSU Extension Service, a university outreach service that tackles practical topics not normally found in textbooks and classrooms. The hot topic of the moment: MOLD.

Mold’s been in the limelight ever since a well-publicized 1993 case in Cleveland when the deaths of six children were attributed to Stachybotrys, often known as “black mold.” And it doesn’t hurt that the evening news prominently featured Ed McMahon’s $20 million lawsuit last April, which alleges that toxic mold from a botched plumbing project sickened McMahon’s family and killed his beloved sheepdog.

But not all mold is deadly, stresses Vogel—sometimes the tabloids just makes it seem that way.

In fact, Vogel says, “Molds are a part of life. They’re everywhere. There’s no way we’re going to eliminate them.”

With his expertise in mold–and other indoor air hazards like radon, asbestos and lead–Vogel’s Extension housing program has become the largest of its kind in the country, meaning people seek out Vogel with questions ranging from the boring to the bizarre. Landlords and realtors want to know if they’re liable for mold problems. Most homeowners simply want to know if the mold they’ve spotted is dangerous, and if so, what can be done.

That, says Vogel, depends.

Calculating a mold’s toxicity is not easily done, he says, because mold’s effects on human health vary case by case. As with all indoor air quality hazards, the people most vulnerable are kids, the elderly, smokers, and anyone with a compromised immune system.

But, Vogel says, more important than identifying which type of mold has taken up residence is pinpointing its cause.

“To control mold, you must control moisture,” says Vogel. Find the source of moisture, and you’re a long way toward ridding your abode of mold.

Sometimes the moisture source is painfully obvious, such as in a flooded basement. Other times, high humidity-moisture from showering or cooking is the culprit. Vogel says most Montanans think their homes would not be susceptible to mold, because our climate is so dry. However, he said, people compensate (and occasionally over-compensate) for the dry air by adding moisture through humidifiers and other sources, which can lead to mold.

Other factors contribute, says Vogel, including prolonged elevated temperatures (70-80 degrees F) which is why bathrooms, utility rooms and kitchens tend to be vulnerable; availability of organic material (mold grows faster on natural fibers like wool carpet) and time (in other words, tend to that dripping basement sink right now!)

Vogel says homeowners can tackle a small area of mold (say 10 square feet or less) with a 10-to-1 bleach solution. Larger infestations greater than 100 square feet may require professional cleaning. (Which, by the way, Vogel doesn’t do. Nor does he identify the mold samples that have been mailed to him on swatches of sheetrock, fabric or two-by-fours).

Don’t bother testing for mold, says Vogel. “If you can see it and you can smell it, you have it.” Since no federal limits or standards on mold or mold spores have been set, sampling cannot be used to check a building’s compliance with federal standards.

MSU is also the national headquarters for Healthy Indoor Air for America’s Homes (the national clearinghouse for indoor air quality education, also found on the Web at http://www.healthyindoorair.org and the Housing Education and Research Association, as well as serving as one of eight regional centers for the Environmental Protection Agency.

Contact: Mike Vogel, 994-3451

http://www.montana.edu/commserv/csnews/nwview.php?article=747