Why Your Mold Treatment Might Not Be Working

Struggling with persistent mold despite treatment? You're not alone. Today's episode tackles a common frustration homeowners face when mold remediation efforts fall short of expectations.

We dive into a question from Rod in Maryland, who discovered mold still present in his crawl space after professional Concrobium treatment. The answer lies in understanding two critical distinctions in the world of mold control: the difference between viable and non-viable mold testing, and the specific conditions required for treatments to work effectively.

Many homeowners don't realize that mold tests can show "positive" results even when treatments have successfully killed the mold. Non-viable tests detect mold spores whether dead or alive, while viable tests specifically look for living, reproducing mold colonies. This distinction explains why you might still see concerning test results despite effective treatment.

The effectiveness of products like Concrobium hinges on proper application conditions. These treatments require dry environments with humidity below 60% to work properly. When applied to damp surfaces or in high-humidity conditions, they become diluted and ineffective. Concrobium specifically works by crushing mold as it dries, but this mechanism leaves dead spores physically present – which explains why follow-up testing might still detect mold.

For complete remediation, physical removal through soda blasting or manual cleaning is crucial, particularly before using antimicrobial treatments. While Concrobium works well in living spaces, it may not be ideal for consistently damp environments like crawl spaces.

Whether you're tackling mold yourself or hiring professionals, ensure proper drying of the affected area first, then consider physical removal methods before applying treatments. Visit our DIY store for specialized products and subscribe to our channel for more expert guidance on creating healthy home environments.

Chapters

• 0:00 Rod's Question About Concrobium
• 0:47 Types of Mold Testing Explained
• 1:37 Why Concrobium May Not Work
• 2:45 Removing Mold Properly
• 4:42 Final Recommendations and Sign-off

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey, michael Church, crawl, Space Ninja and Basement Ninja, and today we got a question from Rod in Port Tobacco, Maryland. He recently had a contractor apply Concrobium Mold Control to some spots in his crawl space and whenever they tested those spots there was still mold present and he wanted to know if this is normal and should he have it retreated. Stay tuned. Okay, so you can see. It's a beautiful, beautiful East Tennessee day. It's morning about 10 am and I decided to do a video outside and wanted to answer Rod's question about Concrobium.

Speaker 1: 0:47

A couple things before I get into answering the question is number one you need to know there's basically two types of mold testing that contractors use. There's a non-viable and a viable test. The difference between them is a non-viable test is registering mold, whether it's dead or alive. Typically that would be an aerosol test or a swab or a tape lift test and you get what's called a non-viable result. So it's going to pick up any mold present and it's going to register that mold and it doesn't care if it's alive or dead, it's just going to show up. It's going to register that mold and it doesn't care if it's alive or dead, it's just going to show up. The other test is a viable test, which means it's checking for colony forming units of mold. So this is the more accurate depiction of whether something has been disinfected or killed properly. Okay, so a viable mold test. If he did a viable mold test rod and you still had active mold present, in other words, if the mold was still alive, then obviously the concrobium didn't work. So what does that mean?

Speaker 1: 1:54

Typically, if you're using concrobium in a crawl space, one of the ways that concrobium has to work is that the humidity has to be low and the wood or the way Anabec works in the same principle. If you spray Anabec cleaner or the Anisphere Plus on a wet surface, it can be diluted and become ineffective. So if you're looking to make sure that the contractor does the mold remediation properly, they need to make sure that they dry the structure and keep humidity below 60% and then, and only then, apply whatever mold remediation product you're using, whether it's Concrobium or Anisphere or the cleaner by Anabec or whatever. Now the caveat to that is, if it's a non-viable mold test, it doesn't matter what kind of product you use. It doesn't matter if you gave it a proper dry time or not. If you dry out the structure, lower the humidity and you got a lot of visible mold on your floors and on your joists and things like that and you apply a mold cleaner it doesn't matter if it's concrobium or whatever and then you allow it to work and then you do a non-viable tape lift or you do a swab. That's a non-viable, it will still come back positive for mold because it doesn't care if the mold is alive or dead. Okay, and that's why soda blasting is so important, or just some kind of mold removal. Whether it's soda blasting or even if you got some dry ice companies out there that do this sort of thing or you just visibly wipe it off, you've got to remove the mold. So if you're getting positive results on a non-viable test rod, what you're going to need to do is scrub the joists, either use a soda blasting agent or something to get the mold off and then reapply the Concrobium. If you're getting a positive result, they're showing colony forming units because the mold is still alive. Chances are they didn't dry the crawl space out properly because keep in mind Concrobium the reason why we don't like using Concrobium is it has to dry in order to work. It actually crushes the mold, so it still leaves the mold behind, crushes it and will still show a positive reading in a colony forming unit or a live mold culture if it wasn't dried properly. So, rod great questions, and if you guys have used any or ladies have used any of the Concrobium products, let us know down below how they work for you. Of the Concrobium products, let us know down below how they work for you.

Speaker 1: 4:45

I love Concrobium in living spaces. I'm just not a fan of it in crawl spaces or in wet environments. Of course, the Anisphere Plus and the cleaner is great if you want to get that on our DIY store, but you still have to follow mold protocols. Whether you do it yourself or you hire a contractor, make sure they're drying out the structure properly. Make sure, if you can afford, to get it visibly removed and physically removed. That's the best approach, which is why we always recommend soda blasting. I know not everybody can do that and oh, by the way, my name is Michael Church. Make sure you answer the question below about did Concrobium work for you and make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel. I'm with Crawl Space Ninja and Basement Ninja. Hope you make it a happy and blessed day and we'll see you later. Bye.