The seriousness of any property claim should be defined by the activities and sensitivities of occupants as well as the type of loss and its handling history. As an Indoor Environmental Professional (IEP) I have come across numerous claims where a home owner's sensitivities and activities required that remediation included some adjustments to building systems and/or design in order to accommodate their sensitives and desires to use the room(s).
With that said, I do see a lot more people cleaning up their own water, sewage and flood damaged homes than I do mold damaged ones. A lot of that does come about due to our culture's perspective on the two.
While the routes of entry and lifespans of specific microbes may be different between sewage, flood and mold claims, the hazard still exists - for restoration crews and the building occupants. The one thing I will point out (for sewage and flood claims and many other water damages) that there are other hazards besides those on the surface. For example, while vegetative bacteria last for only a few hours (once conditions for life stop) in the water and building surfaces, their endospores can persist for years (even in harsh conditions) on surfaces and in the air. One type of bacteria, known to produce these endospores, Thermoactinomyces, can irritate, dis-comfort, or dis-ease occupants with and/or causing hypersensitivity pneumonitis. Another, more commonly known, example of airborne contamination from water damages includes the endotoxins, released from the outer wall of gram-negative bacteria, which is known to cause irritation and flu-like symptoms.
We could take this conversation one step further and ask the question when is a clean water source contaminated? And to what degree? Sources of these contaminants are not isolated to flood and sewage claims. In some cases they may be present (to variable degrees) on any number of water damages. A proper and building-specific assessment and protocol design is key in securing the health and safety of all occupants (building owners and restoration professionals). That is what we do here at SOLUTIONS.
SOLUTIONS IEC is a company that assesses and generates protocols for property claims and contamination issues. Our company does not perform remediation, so there is no conflict of interest. Our inspectors assess the structure and generate protocols with goals then return to inspect the finished work (to see if it met the goals established). We offer a $50 discount to any IM360 member and their referrals. We also offer a number of free resource materials. Contact me for a no obligation discussion of any of these things.
Edited: April 21, 2011 09:11AM
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