"Tell them to contact an industrial hygienist for the testing. FYI, the company that did the clean-up should have performed clearance testing."

The above statement is totally wrong. How many of you graded your own papers while in school. Did you Cheat?

The guy who does the clean-up should be looking for third party clearance to protect him. When I am called out I work for the home owner not the remediator. Heck I don't even recommend that the remediator be allowed to make the put back repairs. Too much of a ethical issue for some of these guys to struggle with. I also recommend that the property owner have an agreement with the remediatior that if the first clearance test fails that they will pick up the cost of the re-testing.

Regarding insurance coverage for mold it has always been an excluded peril under the insurance policy. It wasn't till the source of the mold was tied to a covered peril (water pipe break) that mold started to be included in the loss coverage. However the insurance companies got smart and started limiting the coverage or flat out not providing it at all to include, testing, remediation, clearance testing and put back costs. Now for the most part there is simply a limit in the policy $2,000 or $5,000 but it has to cover everything related to the mold as indicated above. I have never seen an insurance policy deny coverage for testing alone.


Greg D. Dames
National ThermoGraphic Inspections
Pacific Mold Assessment