Reported by: Jaie Avila  May, 2008

    
         (Newport Television LLC)

Here in South Texas mold can be a serious threat to your home, or even your health, but removing a mold problem can be expensive.  How do you know if it's necessary?  In a hidden camera investigation, News 4 Trouble Shooter Jaie Avila uncovered something else that can grow out of control, misleading sales pitches from mold removal companies. 

If you have a mold problem in your house, you obviously want to catch it before it turns into something like this.  There are literally dozens of companies in San Antonio offering to assess or remove your mold problem, but the ones we called, couldn't tell the difference between mold and women's eye shadow.

It doesn't take an expert to identify what's growing all over the walls of Graciela Price's home.  It's mold that started in the bathroom spread everywhere while the family was out of town.   

She told us, "You cannot live here, stay here for five minutes, without any protection there is no way."

Mold like this can sometimes trigger severe allergies, asthma and headaches, but this is an extreme example.  The Trouble Shooters wanted to know if mold removal companies are using horror stories like this, to sell repairs that really aren't needed.

We started by having our test house thoroughly inspected for mold.  Overseeing the testing was Industrial Hygienist Ron Bishop, whose company, AEHS, also teaches contractors how to inspect for mold.

Bishop's team checked the surfaces, the air and inside the walls.

He told us after he received the test results back, "We found no evidence of any growth of mold whatsoever."

Then, we took regular women's eye shadow and spread a little bit of it on the wall in the bathroom.

Next, we called four different companies that advertise on-line and in the phone book offering mold inspection or removal and asked them to come look at our bathroom, where we had also installed hidden cameras.

What did all four companies say when they saw the dark eye shadow on the wall?  They all took a look and said it was mold.

To their credit though, two of the inspectors, Chris Moreno with Fresh Air, and David Stuller of Floodmaster did not offer to do any costly repair work.  They told us it was just surface mold that we could easily clean off with bleach.

Moreno and Stuller also happen to be the only ones licensed by the state as mold contractors.

The other two mold inspectors, who are not licensed, launched right into their sales pitches.

Michael Pena, of the Budget Construction Source, made it sound like we need repair work in a hurry.

"If you take care of the problem right now, you shouldn't have any major, major problems, you know.  It's a good thing you called right now, though," said Pena.

Andres Magana, whose company is called AAA Painting, went even further.  He told our pregnant, undercover producer that the mold on the bathroom wall was dangerous.

"That, if you breath it inside you, the same way it looks right there, the same way it goes in your lungs.  That's when they kill you," said Magana.

Experts say it's impossible to tell whether mold is harmful without testing it.

Bishop told us, "I wouldn't even make the health claims and I have a Masters in Public Health...To me that's a scare tactic that is used to try to get the homeowner to immediately take action."

That's just what both unlicensed contractors urge us to do.  They offered to rip out part of our wall, treat the mold and then repair the damage.  Both said the job should cost us around $1,100.

Michael Pena of the Budget Construction Source even offered to knock out our entire wall if he found more mold, even though the state requires you to have a mold contractors license for a job of that size.

Trouble Shooter Jaie Avila told Pena, "The substance you identified on the wall as being mold was actually nothing more than women's eye shadow.  Does that surprise you?"

Pena answered, "Yes, it does.  I didn't tell her for sure it's mold."

When we went back to our hidden camera, here's what he told our producer:  "I'm sure that's mold.  Just looking, I'm sure it's mold."

The Trouble Shooters asked him if he still felt qualified to go out and inspect for mold?

Pena said, "I guess not.  I guess not, you know."

Andres Magana, of AAA Painting, was more defiant, refusing to believe he identified women's make up as mold.

Trouble Shooter Jaie Avila asked him, "You say you have experience.  Shouldn't you know the difference between eye shadow and mold?"

Magana said, "Well, this is mold what she has."

Avila showed him, "It is eye shadow.  We put it on the wall, and we had the house tested before we did that.  Tell me, were you

just trying to make a quick buck here?"

Magana said, "No, I'm just trying to help the lady". 
   
People who are licensed with the state to assess or remove mold damage have to carry around a special ID that they can show you, and if you want to see a list of the companies that are licensed, you can go to the Texas Department of State Health Services website.  Just know, if you have a mold problem that's larger than a few square feet, it's illegal for anyone to repair it without reporting the job to the state and going through an assessment process.