SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – The campus of Del Sur Elementary in Poway is empty as classrooms at the school are tested for mold spores.
ABC 10News spoke with Chase Bedard, a mold inspector for Mold Safe Solutions, about what goes into mold inspections and remediations in a large building like a school.
“So all of this is pretty much the same that we would use in a home, smaller business, something like that. The only difference is it's a larger scale,” Bedard said. “Definitely start with the visual, use lights, moisture meters, thermal imagery, anything that gives us indication of any mold growth, any visible mold growth, any moisture conditions conducive to mold growth.”
All the work they have to do depends on the scale of the building or school they need to inspect and possibly remediate later.
“Just inspecting one classroom, one large, say like office room could take up to 2 hours,” Bedard said. “So if we're saying an entire school, you know, 10+ classrooms of significant size, that could take up to several days to do it completely accurately,” Bedard said.
Bedard said the testing aspect of remediation can be done quickly, and the actual remediation can take a couple of days or a week, depending on how many people and how big an area needs to be cleared of mold.
“We would really do a top-to-bottom approach. So, every building, basically every single surface would need to be physically wiped from the ceilings, walls, floors, desks, inside cabinetry. Everything needs to be physically wiped; all carpets, fabrics, anything like that needs to be vacuumed,” Bedard said.
Things could be removed if they’re a source of contamination, such as a leaky pipe or flooded drywall or flooring.
ABC 10News asked Bedard when students and staff would be allowed back into a school.
“I'm not exactly informed of all the protocols that are taking place, of course, but as soon as the remediation is done, all areas are free of visible mold and retested, so they need to be tested again, verify that those levels have been brought down, that's when it would be safe for kids and everybody to return,” Bedard said.
