Talk:Indoor mold

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 27 August 2018 and 10 December 2018.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 00:28, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Advertising?

Wondering if a lot of this info is gleaned from "mold remediation" companies. There seems to be no counter-point, i.e; mold is bad, pay to have it removed. Kind of like the termite business. Blondesareeasy (talk) 07:33, 14 June 2014 (UTC)

Killing mold

People are always calling into Car Talk and asking what they can do to remove the moldy smell. They always say that if there's mold (the type that will grow on your auto carpets anyway), you can only really kill it with two things, sunlight (intense and long term) and bleach. While the Toxic mold article mentions some ways of generally killing mold, some of the remedies listed only shrink the colony (like ventilation) and won't actually kill it. So I came to this article to see if what those two lunkheads was true (since there's usually a lot of mold in their heads). O how I'd like a mycologist to come here and add some good stuff to this article! What definitely kills mold?? 82.93.133.130 06:16, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

According to this bleach isn't necessary. --sciencewatcher (talk) 18:34, 21 June 2014 (UTC)

Short reply to above: Not a mycologist but a mycology metadata researcher.

Unfortunatelly there is still a ton of work to do in the field to scientifically prove a lot of present "truths" regarding mould growth, assessment, and remediation. A really big misconception is that bleach that is chloride based (usually through perchlorates), destroys mould. The fungi contain melanin and theese bleaching agents just takes the colour out, but the fungi and spores from it are still there, so it will grow back.

All known types of mould (as any type of living organism) can be destroyed by oxidation from free oxygen and would therefore be more or less affected by bleach containing or producing hydrogen peroxide, which in turn produces free oxygen.

Putting mould into sunlight will also have an affect on it, but NOT because of the UV radiation but rather by several oxidizing agents in the outdoor air, like hydroxy groups or ozone, combined with the fact that the material affected by mould will ultimately be dried out if exposed to long term intense sunlight. However most "problematic" funghi is very resilient and spores still present on the material would likelly survive to grow once it's growing conditions are met again.

The page (Mold growth, assessment, and remediation) contains claims about bleach beeing effective against mould and ozone not beeing effective. There are several other claims in the article that seems to be outdated by recent research. I'll have to put together a proper list of sources, and will edit these parts then. Niplas (talk) 12:24, 18 January 2015 (UTC)

Mold-free environments

"(1) Spores: Both our indoor and outdoor environment have mold spores present. There is no such thing as a mold free environment in Earth's biosphere." Since some extreme environments may not have mold. Volcanoes and nuclear reactors. Does the moon count? Is there mold in the far reaches of space?

Neither moon nor the far reaches of space are part of the Earth's biosphere. Note that key word Earth. As for volcanoes and nuclear reactors, you're reaching there -- the writer of that sentence obviously wasn't referring to things like molten lava, or the middle of bonfires, for that matter -- but I wouldn't bet against the nuclear reactors. There are molds that can live in jet fuel, among other strange places, and mold spores are highly radiation-tolerant (and pretty much everything-else tolerant, which is why mold is such a bear to get rid of). 66.92.68.103 (talk) 23:36, 16 November 2009 (UTC) (as usual, too lazy to log in)

Plagiarism?

The following paragraph, "The key to mold control is moisture control. It is important ...", comes directly from this website: http://www.epa.gov/mold/moldresources.html It also contains instructions. Does someone want to delete it? 142.162.15.34 (talk) 08:02, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

It is okay to include information from any reliable source. It is only forbidden to include large quotations of text without attribution. Moisture control IS the primary way to prevent the growth of molds. David Spector (talk) 16:23, 18 July 2013 (UTC)

Remediation section: deletion

Unless someone objects, I plan to delete references to a "dry fog".

The following currently appears: "New technology allows some mold remediation companies to fill a room with a dry fog that kills mold and stops its growth. This fog uses a chemical that is EPA approved and does not harm or damage the physical well being of persons or animals."

There is no such magic chemical. Any product which can kill mold by air contact will be harmful to humans. The closest I could find to a "dry fog" was a wet fog mixture of Peracetic acid (which is corrosive to metals) and dilute Hydrogen peroxide, but the effects are not documented. Possibly, Acetic acid is meant, although that probably would not inhibit mold growth as claimed. The effectiveness of such ad hoc treatments is doubtful. WP needs reliable sources for any claims about substances used in mold remediation, other than for removal by cleaning. David Spector (talk) 16:20, 18 July 2013 (UTC)

Requested move 27 January 2017

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: page moved to indoor mold. (non-admin closure) TonyBallioni (talk) 16:38, 11 February 2017 (UTC)

---

Mold indoor growth, assessment, and remediation → ? – I came across this article browsing recent changes. At first I was tempted to examine deletion, simply because the title reads like that of an instructional article. Of course, then I read the article and discovered it's a top-importance article for a WikiProject. But the issue of the title remains. It's certainly not WP:CONCISE, and to me it reads like the items pertaining to mold are: indoor growth, assessment and remediation. That is not what the article is about (as far as I can tell!). I think the best move would be to minimise commas and wordiness - so something like Assessment and remediation of indoor mold (still wordy) or Indoor mold growth treatment (which I think sufficiently encompasses the topic, but would need a subject expert to assist). Cheers. Triptothecottage (talk) 23:08, 27 January 2017 (UTC) --Relisting. JudgeRM (talk to me) 02:57, 4 February 2017 (UTC)

• Support - Move to Indoor mold with causes, prevention and treatments sections as in Disease which details in the relevant sections the three topics named in the above too detailed title. --Robertiki (talk) 13:49, 4 February 2017 (UTC)

Reason for the short form Indoor mold are WP:CRITERIA as readily recognizable, more natural than the long form, just as precise as the long form, and more concise than the long form. --Robertiki (talk) 14:34, 4 February 2017 (UTC)

• Support "Indoor mold" as main title header. —Roman Spinner (talk)(contribs) 21:58, 4 February 2017 (UTC)

---

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

• Black Indoor Mold.jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 03:47, 16 April 2021 (UTC)

Black mold may not be toxic

{{Dubious}} tag added because;

On this page:

..."Toxic mold" refers to mold which produce mycotoxins, such as Stachybotrys chartarum.

On Stachybotrys chartarum page:

Because of misinformation, S. chartarum has been inappropriately referred to as toxic mold. A variety of health problems have been misattributed to S. chartarum. Throat0390 (talk) 02:49, 30 September 2024 (UTC)