For Cleaning the HVAC System Indoor Remediation Services

During the pandemic, spores grew in the HVAC system at the Senior Nutrition Program of the East Harlem Council for Human Services — a big problem for the local seniors who go there for free lunch and activities. (Mold in an HVAC system can cause respiratory issues for anyone in a building, no matter how far they are from the ducts.)

As a city-funded organization, the program is required to get quotes from three companies, and according to program director Wendy Martinez, Indoor Remediation Services’ proposal was by far the best (so thorough it was “like a book,” she says). The company happens to specialize in HVAC cleaning, including decontaminating moldy air handlers, air conditioners, and duct systems. (It’s also adept when it comes to small projects — it will just as happily take on regular remediation jobs in studio apartments.) Owner Gustavo Lezama came in and promptly got to work, clearing debris from the basement and cleaning the pantry air handler and ducts.

Although the building has an extensive ventilation system, the whole job took only half a morning and services were not disrupted. “His guys were ready to go — they came in quick and on time.” says Martinez. And the place felt so thoroughly clean afterward that Martinez says she wanted to hire Indoor Remediation to come to her house, too. “You could just immediately smell the difference.”

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Mold Assessment and Remediation in New York State

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What is Mold?

Mold is a multi-cellular fungus, similar to mushrooms and yeast. Mold can be different colors, and look fuzzy, slimy, or powdery. It often has a musty odor when present in large amounts.

Mold requires three things to grow:

water/moisture,
organic food source (paper, fabric, sheetrock, etc.), and
proper

The presence of mold means there is too much moisture. Moisture problems can be caused by:

plumbing leaks
leaking roofs or windows
high humidity
flooding
condensation due to poor ventilation or insulation

It is impossible to ‘mold proof’ your house. However, you can manage mold growth by controlling indoor humidity levels and fixing water leakage problems. To prevent mold from coming back in the future, you must fix the underlying source of moisture.

If I want to clean up mold, do I need to hire a mold professional?

No. Mold issues can often be fixed by the property owner. However, if you are sensitive to mold, not interested in cleaning up the mold or are not capable of cleaning the mold, you can hire mold professionals.

Does New York require a property owner to clean up mold when it is found?

No, there is no cleanup requirement for property owners. However, if a property owner chooses to hire a mold professional, those professionals must follow the requirements of the law.

Does a mold assessor need to perform sampling as part of an assessment?

No. In most cases, air sampling and mold testing are not necessary. There are no national or state standards for “safe” levels of mold. Mold spores are a natural part of the environment and are always in the air and on surfaces. A thorough visual inspection is the most important step to identify mold problems and determine cleanup strategies. Before contractors perform any sampling or testing, ask what type of sampling or testing they wish to perform, why it is necessary, and what it will show that is not already known.

How much should an assessment cost?

The law does not say how much an assessment should cost. We recommend that you get estimates from different companies. If a contractor recommends testing as part of

an assessment, you should have a clear understanding of the costs for that testing and exactly what the testing will show.

Remediation

What does the Mold Remediation Contractor do? The remediation contractor does the actual cleanup work. They must give you a mold remediation work plan. The work plan must fulfill all the requirements of the mold remediation plan developed through the assessment.

Hiring a Mold Professional

What should I know before hiring a mold professional?

As is true with all construction projects, the most important step is choosing your contractor. Contact more than one contractor for all work to be performed.

For Mold Assessment: Make sure each contractor comes to the job site and bids on the same work. Before any work starts, you should have a clear understanding of the scope of work and the services the contractor will

Note: Rental property owners must still provide clean and sanitary living conditions to their tenants.

How does the Department of Labor help with mold issues?

The Department of Labor makes sure that professionals who do mold assessments and remediation work have proper training, licenses and minimum work standards.

Every mold cleanup project performed by professionals must follow these steps: assessment, remediation (clean up),

clearance. The law protects consumers by barring licensed mold companies and their employees from doing both the assessment and remediation on the same property. One mold company and their employees may do the initial and post-cleanup clearance assessments, but a different company and their employees must do the actual cleanup work.

Assessments

What is an assessment?

An assessment, or a mold remediation plan, is a document prepared by a mold professional.

It identifies mold and serves as a guide for the cleanup project. It says what must be done, how it is to be done, and how you will be able to tell if all the mold has been removed. The specific requirements are listed in Section 945 of the Labor Law.

Am I entitled to a copy of the assessment? Yes. If you hire a mold professional to do an assessment, you must be given a copy. The professional you hire to do the remediation work must also get a copy.

acceptable work scope and job clearance. This may include sampling, recommended use of biocides or other chemicals, replacement of materials, and criteria to demonstrate clearance after the cleanup.

For Mold Remediation: The work plan must fulfill all the requirements of the mold remediation plan developed through the The work plan should also have specific instructions and/or standard operating procedures for how the contractor will perform the cleanup work.

Ask about the contractor’s experience and references from previous clients. If you are not sure that the proposed work complies with local building code rules, contact the local building code office before allowing the contractor to start work.

How can I verify that a Mold Assessor or Mold Remediation Contractor is licensed by NYSDOL? Visit the Department of Labor’ s website and use the “Licensed Mold Contractors Search Tool” at: https://www.labor.ny.gov/workerprotection/ safetyhealth/mold/licensing.shtm

How can I file a complaint if I do not believe the mold professionals followed this guidance?

Submit the “Mold Contractor Complaint Form” at: https://www.labor.ny.gov/workerprotection/ safetyhealth/mold/compliance.shtm

Where do I go for more information? New York State Department of Labor: http://labor.ny.gov/mold

New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: http://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/ health-topics/mold.page

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: https://www.epa.gov/mold

Benefits of HVAC Cleaning

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Benefits of HVAC Cleaning

NADCA’s rule of thumb for consumers is that “if your air ducts look dirty, they probably are,” and that dirty HVAC systems should be inspected by a reputable, certified HVAC professional. Below are some other reasons homeowners choose to have their air ducts cleaned.

Indoor Air Quality

Indoor air quality is one concern that homeowners have when they decide to investigate air duct cleaning. Your heating and cooling system is the lungs of your home. The system taken air in and breathes air out. Through normal occupation in a home, we generate a great deal of contaminants and air pollutants, such as dander, dust, and chemicals. These contaminants are pulled into the HVAC system and re-circulated 5 to 7 times per day, on average. Over time, this re-circulation causes a build-up of contaminants in the duct work. While dirty ducts don’t necessarily mean unhealthy air in your home, school or workplace, they may be contributing to larger health issues or harboring contaminants that could cause serious problems for people with respiratory health conditions, autoimmune disorders or some environmental allergies.

Energy Savings

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 25 to 40 percent of the energy used for heating or cooling a home is wasted. Contaminants in the heating and cooling system cause it to work harder and shorten the life of your system. Although filters are used, the heating and cooling system still gets dirty through normal use. When an HVAC system is clean, it doesn’t have to work as hard to maintain the temperature you desire. As a result, less energy is used, leading to improved cost-effectiveness

How to Manage Indoor Air Quality Amid COVID-19

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As we seek to return to normalcy without a vaccine, COVID-19 confronts us with a troubling reality. We spend 90% of our time indoors in the U.S. and Europe, and scientific evidence indicates we are nearly 20 times more likely to be infected by the virus indoors than outdoors. COVID-19 has impacted many indoor settings such as schools, offices, churches, restaurants and bars, with prisons, meatpacking plants, and long-term care facilities being most affected due to high occupancy, poor ventilation and vulnerable populations.

Increasingly, scientists believe airborne transmission is a major route for the spread of COVID-19. Viral respiratory droplets released from coughing, sneezing, talking, and breathing can aerosolize into smaller particles, stay suspended in the air for hours, and travel significantly farther than six feet. A key scientific debate has been whether the virus is infectious in aerosols.

Though the virus is clearly detectable in aerosols, no one had been able to provide evidence that it is “live” until the University of Florida. Skeptics of airborne transmission have been using this lack of evidence to challenge the importance of this mechanism. As the prominent aerosol scientist Linsey Marr said about the UF study, “If this isn’t a smoking gun, then I don’t know what is.” Even those who acknowledge aerosol’s infectiousness debate the relative importance of different viral transmission routes, including airborne or fomite, droplet or aerosol, direct or indirect contact, or a combination of mechanisms.

The role of airborne transmission of COVID-19 has a huge bearing on infection control in the built environment in two important respects. First, common approaches characterized by deep cleaning are incomplete and possibly misguided altogether. Second, masking and social distancing by themselves might be insufficient for mitigating airborne transmission.

Lisa Brosseau, a retired professor of public health, says that masks can limit larger particles’ spread, but they are less helpful for smaller particles. Aerosol mobility of over 30 feet, and suspension in air for hours can reduce the efficacy of six-foot social distancing mandates.

The fundamental question is what can and should we do to mitigate airborne transmission and create “safe” indoor environments amid COVID-19? One critically important and often overlooked area is engineering and Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) controls. The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) states, “Engineering controls that can keep infectious aerosols at very low levels indoors offer the greatest promise to protect non-healthcare workers and other vulnerable populations as we reopen our businesses and workplace.”

Similarly, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) states, “Changes in building operations, including the operation of heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems can reduce airborne exposures.” It highlights the following HVAC strategies based on evidence-based literature:

Enhanced filtration that includes higher Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value(MERV) filters over code minimums in occupant-dense and/or higher-risk spaces
Upper-room UltraViolet Germicidal Irradiation (UVGI), with possible in-room fans, as a supplement to supply airflow
Local exhaust ventilation for source control
Personalized ventilation systems for certain high-risk tasks
Portable, free-standing High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters
Temperature and humidity control

ASHRAE is careful to qualify its recommendations with the caveat that the system’s impact will depend on the source location, strength, and distribution of the released aerosol, droplet size, temperature, air distribution, humidity, and filtration. Each indoor environment is unique; conditions within each indoor environment are dynamic, and there is not a one-size-fits-all strategy for infection control.

A Quick Kitchen-Cleaning Mission for Monday

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At the risk of sounding like a cloyingly optimistic Peppy Patty (which I can assure you, I am not), I never really understood all the pervasive hate for Mondays. I get that easing yourself from the freedom of the weekend into the structure of the workweek is a bit of a shock to the system…

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The “Flip and Fluff” Routine is the Best Thing

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Our spring cleaning journey has been about turning over some lesser-cleaned leaves and your space to brand new for the season ahead. So in many ways, today’s assignment is symbolic of the whole shebang. We’re going to be flipping and turning, revealing a fresh new face for some of the most-used…

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New Cleaning With Hydrogen Peroxide Tips

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Hiring just the right housekeeper can be life-altering for the busy family. Now this may seem to be a little over-the-top, but I am serious. Think about your life-whether single, a couple or a family-you have no time. No time to keep your home as organized or clean as you would like. No time to do the smaller tidying jobs that would make a huge difference.

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A Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Plan for Tackling an Annual Chore

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Hiring just the right housekeeper can be life-altering for the busy family. Now this may seem to be a little over-the-top, but I am serious. Think about your life-whether single, a couple or a family-you have no time. No time to keep your home as organized or clean as you would like. No time to do the smaller tidying jobs that would make a huge difference.

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Apartment Therapy Mom Wisdom on… Taking Care

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“I am still learning about my home. If you can’t do it yourself, find good service people and treat them well.” — Terry (mom to our Human Resources Coordinator, Louisa)

Raise your hand if you grew up with a mom (or another parental figure) constantly reminding you to clean your room. Often, our earliest memories of figuring out how to tidy up and take care of our homes are with our moms—they taught us how to do laundry, how to do the dishes, and how to make our beds. So it should come as no surprise that when we asked our moms for their best homekeeping advice, they came back with some great tips.

Most agreed on a few major themes: it’s important to make sure everything has a home, that you put things back when you take them out, and that your home is an inviting, relaxing place to come home to—and invite others to.