Mold?

[Jeff Eastman]

..........

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[Gunnar Alquist]

Jeff,

Ummm... Looks like electrical stuff to me. I can't see any mold.

[Matt Fellman]

Wow, if that's mold it's on steroids.... It lookes like some insulating foam or soemthing... was there any evidence of a fire? Just a thought....

[Jim Luttrall]

Might be mold or just dirt, if mold, the way it is dispersed, I would think there would have to have been a sustained high humidity.
Is that cellulose or foam insulation?

[Chip O'Brian]

Jeff I see possible two related issues HVAC ducts cold air "leak" & possible hot roofing " makes condensation" could produce mold like substance. If in fact it is mold & of course we know the only positive I.D is sample & lab! Until it is a mold like substance right.

[Jerry Peck]

I see it on the concrete block in the 2nd photo.

[Eugene Cameline 3rd]

Mold needs an organic substance to feed on or so I always thought.

[Scott Patterson]

Mold needs an organic substance to feed on or so I always thought.

Household dust is just about 99% organic! Ready to really get grossed out! Dander or dead sloughed of skin makes up a vast majority of inside dust. So mold can grow on just about anything if it has enough moisture and dust covering it.

[Kevin Barre]

Jeff--
I personally doubt that it is mold. It would appear that you are in Las Vegas. The photo looks to be taken in an attic. If those two assumptions are correct, I strongly doubt that there is enough moisture there to support mold growth. Mold needs not only organic matter but also moisture to thrive. Is there moisture in a NV attic? I can't see that there would be much.

Based on the pattern I see in the pic, I find it more likely that you have stains due to duct leakage. You don't say if this is a residence or a commercial building. But I suspect it's commercial...or the residence has occupants who use a lot of candles, or smoke, or leave the windows open a lot, etc.

In any case, I highly doubt it's mold.

[Rick Hurst]

Kevin,

Why would you think that mold is not probable in an attic space in Las Vegas?

What would be in that conditioned air if it was leaking? Moisture!

Moisture and heat together make a great enviroment for mold, right?

rick

[Kevin Barre]

Kevin,

Why would you think that mold is not probable in an attic space in Las Vegas?

What would be in that conditioned air if it was leaking? Moisture!

Moisture and heat together make a great enviroment for mold, right?

rick

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but isn't Las Vegas a hot, dry climate? So why would there be moisture leaking from an A/C duct in an attic-- the A/C cycle doesn't introduce moisture, does it? I can't even see how a swamp cooler (which we never see around here) could introduce moisture. I think that the staining is simply dirt. Just like what you see on the ceiling around registers in large retail buildings. Even if there is moisture, wouldn't the dry, cooler night air pull moisture out of the attic? (Assuming it's ventilated.)
And if it were mold, I'd think that the distribution would be wider since the moisture would spread and not be so localized. The pattern suggests to me that it is fine particulates spewed out through leaks in the ducts (or through previous, unsealed ones) and "trapped" by the rough texture of the insulation. Secondly, even if there is moisture, there must be an organic food source for the mold to live on. I don' t know what the insulation is in the photo, but even cellulose is treated to make it inhospitable to fungal growth. So what type of insulation is it, and could it support mold growth?

[Rick Hurst]

Its a dry heat right.

Seriously, Vegas has rain like every where else and I'm sure they had some roof leaks from time to time, so if the moisture doesn't come from say a leak in a duct it could come from the roof or a water line in the attic space.

As you say, it does just appear to look like some type of dust to me too.

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

So they can keep it whatever it is.

rick

[Chip O'Brian]

Dry or humid environment has no bearing on cold hitting hot and can produce moisture. Example HVAC closet supply leak at duct board I have discovered mold lab tested. The closet is indoors or in envelope of home indoor humidty at around 50% so why did mold grow on drywall?

So I still believe mold can and will grow in a Las Vegas attic under certain conditions.

[John Carroll]

I side with the dirt staining crowd. Mold would be more densely packed together, especially on the first shot, the dirtiest areas are on the high ridges of the insulation, suggesting an airflow that would deposit dirt on the protruding ridges first. Mold growth would be more uniformly spread over the insulation...

not an expert, but I slept at Holiday Inn once!