Mold Remediation in Gettysburg, PA

Signs of a mold problem in a Gettysburg home

Most Adams County mold is found by nose before it is found by eye. The EPA's guidance on hidden mold is direct: you may suspect hidden mold if a building smells moldy, but you cannot see the source, or if you know there has been water damage and residents are reporting health problems. It adds that mold may be hidden in places such as the back side of dry wall, wallpaper, or paneling, the top side of ceiling tiles, the underside of carpets and pads, which in a finished Gettysburg basement describes every surface that was put up against the stone. These are the signs worth acting on:

• A musty, earthy smell in the basement, a closet, or at the crawl space hatch, especially one that gets stronger in humid weather or after rain.
• Visible growth of any color. White, green, gray, and black growth are all mold until proven otherwise; the CDC's position is that all molds should be treated the same with respect to potential health risks and removal.
• Water stains, bubbling paint, warped trim, or a white mineral crust on stone or block. Each says water has been moving through that surface.
• Condensation on cold-water pipes, ductwork, or masonry in summer. The EPA's advice is to keep indoor humidity below 60 percent (ideally between 30 and 50 percent) relative humidity, and it notes that relative humidity can be measured with a moisture or humidity meter, a small, inexpensive ($10-$50) instrument available at many hardware stores. A basement reading above 60 percent in July is a mold problem in progress.
• A water event in the last two days. When water leaks or spills occur indoors, the EPA says to act quickly: if wet or damp materials or areas are dried 24-48 hours after a leak or spill happens, in most cases mold will not grow.
• Symptoms that ease when you leave the house. A stuffy nose, sore throat, cough, or burning eyes that follow the house rather than the season are the pattern the CDC describes for people who are sensitive to mold.

Two cautions. First, do not go looking behind the paneling yourself: the EPA warns that investigating hidden mold problems may be difficult and will require caution when the investigation involves disturbing potential sites of mold growth, that removal of wallpaper can lead to a massive release of spores if there is mold growing on the underside of the paper, and that if you believe that you may have a hidden mold problem, you should consider hiring an experienced professional. Second, the color of the growth tells you nothing about how urgent the job is.

Is black mold different?

"Black mold" is a color, not a diagnosis. The EPA notes that molds come in many colors, including white, and the CDC says it is not necessary to determine what type of mold you may have growing in your home, because all molds should be treated the same with respect to potential health risks and removal. Dark growth on a Gettysburg cellar wall gets the same answer as any other: find the water, contain the area, remove the growth, and dry the structure. What "black mold remediation" means in practice is ordinary remediation done properly, and anyone who quotes a premium for the color is charging for fear.

What a proper mold remediation looks like, step by step

The ANSI/IICRC S520 standard and the EPA's remediation guide describe the same sequence, and every itemized quote you receive should map onto it. If a step is missing from the quote, ask why.

1. Inspection and moisture mapping

The job starts with the water, not the stain. The EPA's rule is that the key to mold control is moisture control, and its warning is blunt: if you clean up the mold, but don't fix the water problem, then, most likely, the mold problem will come back. In Gettysburg that usually means a moisture meter on the stone, a look at grading, gutters, and downspouts outside, and a check of the sump, the water heater, and every supply line before anything is scrubbed.

2. Containment and air filtration

Spores from a basement should not end up in the bedrooms. The EPA's remediation guide says the purpose of containment during remediation activities is to limit release of mold into the air and surroundings, that limited containment is generally recommended for areas involving between 10 and 100 square feet of mold contamination using a single layer of 6-mil, fire-retardant polyethylene sheeting, and that the containment area should always be maintained under negative pressure. In a house, that looks like plastic sheeting sealed across the stair opening and a HEPA-filtered fan exhausting to the outside.

3. Removing what cannot be cleaned

Porous materials that have grown mold come out. The EPA notes that absorbent or porous materials, such as ceiling tiles and carpet, may have to be thrown away if they become moldy, because mold can grow on or fill in the empty spaces and crevices of porous materials, so the mold may be difficult or impossible to remove completely. Its guide adds that building materials and furnishings that are contaminated with mold growth and are not salvageable should be double-bagged using 6-mil polyethylene sheeting before they leave the containment area. Wet drywall, insulation, carpet and pad, and ceiling tile are the usual casualties in an Adams County basement; framing, joists, and masonry usually stay.

4. Cleaning what stays

The EPA is specific that it is necessary to clean up mold contamination, not just to kill the mold, because dead mold is still allergenic, and some dead molds are potentially toxic. Cleaning means physically removing growth from wood and masonry, then vacuuming: the EPA recommends HEPA vacuums for final cleanup of remediation areas after materials have been thoroughly dried and contaminated materials removed. Spraying bleach or a fogging product and leaving the growth in place is not remediation.

5. Drying the structure

Nothing is rebuilt until the stone, the framing, and the slab read dry. Dehumidifiers and air movers run until the moisture readings taken in step one come down, which in a stone cellar can take longer than the removal itself.

6. Verification

The S520 standard lists post-remediation verification among the components of the job. At minimum that is a visual and moisture check of every treated surface; where the situation calls for it, the EPA notes that surface sampling may be useful to determine if an area has been adequately cleaned or remediated. Ask how the result will be verified before the work starts, and ask for the readings in writing.

7. Rebuild, with the moisture fix in place

Only after the space is verified dry does drywall, trim, or flooring go back, and only over a moisture problem that has been corrected. A finished basement rebuilt against a stone wall that still weeps is a remediation you will pay for twice.

Should you clean it yourself?

Sometimes. The EPA's threshold is the one we use: if the moldy area is less than about 10 square feet (less than roughly a 3 ft. by 3 ft. patch), in most cases, you can handle the job yourself, following its cleanup guidelines. A patch of growth on a bathroom ceiling or the corner of a window frame is a homeowner job with detergent, water, gloves, and ventilation. The EPA adds that if there has been a lot of water damage, and/or mold growth covers more than 10 square feet, the job belongs under its full remediation guidance. A Gettysburg stone cellar with growth along one wall is past that line before you start counting.

Who is doing the cleaning matters as much as the size. The CDC says people with allergies, immune suppression, underlying lung disease, or chronic respiratory diseases like asthma or COPD should not take part in cleaning up mold. And skip the bleach: the EPA's position is that the use of a chemical or biocide that kills organisms such as mold (chlorine bleach, for example) is not recommended as a routine practice during mold cleanup, and that in most cases it is not possible or desirable to sterilize an area; a background level of mold spores will remain, and these spores will not grow if the moisture problem has been resolved.

When you bring in a professional, the EPA's advice is the standard we work to as well: make sure the contractor has experience cleaning up mold, check references, and ask the contractor to follow the recommendations in EPA's guide, the guidelines of the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH), the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC), or other guidelines from professional or government organizations. What to ask for, and what Pennsylvania law already entitles you to, is below.

Mold and your household's health

We are not doctors and this is not medical advice, but the two federal agencies that publish on the subject are clear about the shape of the risk, and it is worth knowing before deciding how urgently to act. The EPA's summary is that molds produce allergens, irritants, and in some cases, potentially toxic substances, that inhaling or touching mold or mold spores may cause allergic reactions in sensitive individuals, and that molds can also cause asthma attacks in people with asthma who are allergic to mold. It adds that mold exposure can irritate the eyes, skin, nose, throat, and lungs of both allergic and non-allergic people, and that symptoms other than the allergic and irritant types are not commonly reported.

The CDC puts the same picture in household terms: for some people, mold can cause a stuffy nose, sore throat, coughing or wheezing, burning eyes, or skin rash, people with asthma or who are allergic to mold may have severe reactions, and immune-compromised people and people with chronic lung disease may get infections in their lungs from mold. The practical consequence for an Adams County household is about who does the work. The CDC's cleanup guidance says people with allergies, immune suppression, underlying lung disease, or chronic respiratory diseases like asthma or COPD should not take part in cleaning up mold. If anyone in your house is in one of those groups, a damp basement is not a weekend project; it is a job for a contained, professional remediation, and it is a reason to act sooner rather than later.

The CDC's list of what mold can cause in people who are sensitive to it, in plain terms:

• a stuffy nose, sore throat, coughing or wheezing, burning eyes, or a skin rash;
• severe reactions in people with asthma or a mold allergy;
• lung infections in people who are immune-compromised or have chronic lung disease.

What the agencies do not say is also worth knowing. Neither the EPA nor the CDC describes any color of mold as more dangerous than another, and neither recommends testing to identify the species before removing it. The CDC's position is that it is not necessary to determine what type of mold you may have growing in your home, and that all molds should be treated the same with respect to potential health risks and removal. If you see it or smell it, the answer is the same: find the water, and remove the growth.

Your rights when you hire a contractor in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania does not license mold remediators, but it does regulate the people who do home improvement work, and a basement remediation is home improvement work. The Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act (Act 132 of 2008, 73 P.S. § 517.1 et seq.) defines home improvement to include repair, replacement, remodeling, demolition, removal, renovation, installation, alteration, conversion, modernization, improvement, rehabilitation and waterproofing done to a private residence where the total price is more than $500. Tearing out wet drywall, cutting back insulation, and waterproofing a cellar wall all sit inside that definition, so the act's protections are yours whether or not anyone mentions them.

Registration, and what it does and does not mean

Under § 517.3, no person may hold himself out as a contractor or perform any home improvement in Pennsylvania without first registering with the Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection. The exceptions are small operators, defined as a person whose home improvements totalled less than $5,000 in the previous taxable year, and very large retailers. A registered contractor must include the registration number in every advertisement, contract, estimate and proposal, so a quote with no number on it is a fact worth asking about. You can check a registration with the Attorney General's office before you sign.

Registration is a filing, not a seal of approval, and the Attorney General says so plainly: registration under the act is not an endorsement, recommendation or approval by the Office of Attorney General of the contractor's competency or skill. Treat "registered" the way you would treat "insured": necessary, verifiable, and no substitute for the IICRC certification and the written scope described above.

What your contract has to contain

Section 517.7 is the useful part. It says no home improvement contract is valid or enforceable against the owner unless it includes, among other things:

• the contractor's registration number, in writing and legible;
• signatures of both the owner and the contractor, and the date of the transaction;
• the contractor's name, address and telephone number, and a post office box alone does not count as an address;
• the approximate starting date and completion date;
• a description of the work, the materials, and a set of specifications that cannot be changed without a written change order signed by both of you;
• the total price, with any down payment and any special-order materials listed separately;
• the names, addresses and telephone numbers of every subcontractor known when you sign;
• an agreement to carry at least $50,000 of personal-injury liability coverage and $50,000 of property-damage coverage, and the amount actually carried at signing;
• notice of your right to cancel.

Two consequences follow. A remediation quote scribbled without a start date, a specification, or a subcontractor list is not just sloppy, it is a contract the act says cannot be enforced against you. And the insurance line means you never have to take "we're insured" on trust: the figures belong in the document you sign.

Three days to change your mind

Section 517.7(b) gives you the right to rescind a home improvement contract without penalty, within three business days of the date of signing, wherever it was signed, outside genuine emergencies. Mold is frightening and mold sales calls know it; the three-day window exists so that a signature given in a damp basement on a Friday can be undone on Monday. Section 517.8 goes further and makes home improvement fraud a crime, including taking an advance payment and then failing to perform the work or return the money.

If you rent, or you rent the house out

The Pennsylvania Department of Health's mold factsheet is direct about the gap here: Pennsylvania has no state law about landlord duties for mold prevention or repair. Its instruction to tenants is to report all plumbing leaks and damp areas to the building owner, manager, landlord, or superintendent, and the practical version of that is to do it in writing and early, so the date exists later. Duties between a landlord and a tenant come from the lease and from general habitability law rather than from any mold statute. Our real estate mold inspection page covers the rental and transaction side in more detail.

Where we work

We cover Gettysburg borough and the Adams County townships around it, plus the boroughs in the county's outer ring. Each has its own page because each has its own housing and its own reasons for getting wet: Littlestown, laid out in 1760 near the Maryland line; New Oxford, the antiques borough between Gettysburg and Hanover; Biglerville, in the apple country to the north; and McSherrystown, the dense rowhome borough against the York County line. The service areas page lists all of them with what makes each one different, and if your township is not named, use the contact page and ask; if it is in Adams County, the answer is almost certainly yes.