In response to an explosion of “toxic mold” claims in 2000-2001, the insurance industry acted in unprecedented unison to universally get rid of all claims related in any way to mold. They didn’t stop at just excluding claims from mold; they threw bacteria into the exclusion as well.

What are the most important restoration tools and advancements for CAT, cleaning and disinfection, contents, fire and smoke, forensic, mold, and water damage work? We asked 14 industry experts to weigh in.

Spaulding Decon topped the Entrepreneur Franchise 500 crime-scene cleaning category in 2022. Here, CEO Laura Spaulding shares her journey from humble beginnings as a solo-, woman-led startup, to 20 to 30 new franchises a year and millions of social media followers.

The approach often taken by contractors is the simple and quick method to set up containment. In reality, the design and construction of containment often takes far longer than the actual remediation. Containment is one of the highest liabilities that impacts the contractor, as well as the client, and should be given priority.

The Indoor Air Quality Association is hosting its 2022 Annual Meeting & Expo February 22-25 in Tucson, Arizona. In this episode of Ask the Expert, IAQA President Jay Stake discusses the educational program of more than 40 sessions on topics including infectious diseases, mold remediation, and regulations and standards.

“Hideous piles of plastic in our landfills or incinerators aside, containment is never a bad thing. Just like running a HEPA on every job site is never a bad thing, building containment is also never bad, from a purely scientific perspective. These decisions, however, do not happen in a vacuum,” Keith Gangitano writes.

Michael Pinto, CSP, CMP, RTPE, discusses mold sensitivity, mycotoxins, demand for mold remediation contractors who can properly serve mold-sensitive customers and what makes these projects unique.

The purpose of this discussion is to revisit the notion of a spore trap “Clearance Criteria,” and discuss what such a standard is and why it can be useful to everyone involved in a mold remediation project. Because of the turnover of professionals in the industry over the last 20 years, we will focus on a long-established spore trap post-work verification criterion as a teaching example.

For this R&R Roundtable, we asked four mold remediation professionals – Rachel Adams, Mark Cornelius, Cliff Grost and Jim Pearson – the same seven questions on topics including top tools, safety precautions, memorable projects and future predictions.