Why Your Mold Treatment Might Not Be Working

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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.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, michael Church, crawl, Space Ninja and Basement
Ninja, and today we got aquestion from Rod in Port
Tobacco, Maryland.
He recently had a contractorapply Concrobium Mold Control to
some spots in his crawl spaceand whenever they tested those
spots there was still moldpresent and he wanted to know if

(00:20):
this is normal and should hehave it retreated.
Stay tuned.
Okay, so you can see.
It's a beautiful, beautifulEast Tennessee day.
It's morning about 10 am and Idecided to do a video outside

(00:43):
and wanted to answer Rod'squestion about Concrobium.
A couple things before I getinto answering the question is
number one you need to knowthere's basically two types of
mold testing that contractorsuse.
There's a non-viable and aviable test.
The difference between them isa non-viable test is registering

(01:05):
mold, whether it's dead oralive.
Typically that would be anaerosol test or a swab or a tape
lift test and you get what'scalled a non-viable result.
So it's going to pick up anymold present and it's going to
register that mold and itdoesn't care if it's alive or
dead, it's just going to show up.
It's going to register thatmold and it doesn't care if it's
alive or dead, it's just goingto show up.

(01:26):
The other test is a viable test, which means it's checking for
colony forming units of mold.
So this is the more accuratedepiction of whether something
has been disinfected or killedproperly.
Okay, so a viable mold test.
If he did a viable mold testrod and you still had active

(01:47):
mold present, in other words, ifthe mold was still alive, then
obviously the concrobium didn'twork.
So what does that mean?
Typically, if you're usingconcrobium in a crawl space, one
of the ways that concrobium hasto work is that the humidity
has to be low and the wood orthe way Anabec works in the same
principle.
If you spray Anabec cleaner orthe Anisphere Plus on a wet

(02:30):
surface, it can be diluted andbecome ineffective.
So if you're looking to makesure that the contractor does
the mold remediation properly,they need to make sure that they
dry the structure and keephumidity below 60% and then, and
only then, apply whatever moldremediation product you're using

(02:52):
, whether it's Concrobium orAnisphere or the cleaner by
Anabec or whatever.
Now the caveat to that is, ifit's a non-viable mold test, it
doesn't matter what kind ofproduct you use.
It doesn't matter if you gaveit a proper dry time or not.
If you dry out the structure,lower the humidity and you got a

(03:13):
lot of visible mold on yourfloors and on your joists and
things like that and you apply amold cleaner it doesn't matter
if it's concrobium or whateverand then you allow it to work
and then you do a non-viabletape lift or you do a swab.
That's a non-viable, it willstill come back positive for
mold because it doesn't care ifthe mold is alive or dead.

(03:34):
Okay, and that's why sodablasting is so important, or
just some kind of mold removal.
Whether it's soda blasting oreven if you got some dry ice
companies out there that do thissort of thing or you just
visibly wipe it off, you've gotto remove the mold.
So if you're getting positiveresults on a non-viable test rod

(03:55):
, what you're going to need todo is scrub the joists, either
use a soda blasting agent orsomething to get the mold off
and then reapply the Concrobium.
If you're getting a positiveresult, they're showing colony
forming units because the moldis still alive.
Chances are they didn't dry thecrawl space out properly
because keep in mind Concrobiumthe reason why we don't like

(04:17):
using Concrobium is it has todry in order to work.
It actually crushes the mold,so it still leaves the mold
behind, crushes it and willstill show a positive reading in
a colony forming unit or a livemold culture if it wasn't dried
properly.
So, rod great questions, and ifyou guys have used any or

(04:39):
ladies have used any of theConcrobium products, let us know
down below how they work foryou.
Of the Concrobium products, letus know down below how they
work for you.
I love Concrobium in livingspaces.
I'm just not a fan of it incrawl spaces or in wet
environments.
Of course, the Anisphere Plusand the cleaner is great if you
want to get that on our DIYstore, but you still have to

(05:00):
follow mold protocols.
Whether you do it yourself oryou hire a contractor, make sure
they're drying out thestructure properly.
Make sure, if you can afford,to get it visibly removed and
physically removed.
That's the best approach, whichis why we always recommend soda
blasting.
I know not everybody can dothat and oh, by the way, my name
is Michael Church.
Make sure you answer thequestion below about did

(05:21):
Concrobium work for you and makesure you subscribe to our
YouTube channel.
I'm with Crawl Space Ninja andBasement Ninja.
Hope you make it a happy andblessed day and we'll see you
later.
Bye.