Matt Kelly (the "Mold Man") responds to a homeowner (Christine) asking whether ducts and an HRV/ERV should be cleaned during mold remediation. He explains that contaminated air can travel through cold-air returns, HVAC coils, and ductwork, potentially spreading mold throughout the house; recommends inspecting the furnace coil and HVAC, testing register ducts (tape/swab/ERMI), and having ducts (including HRV/ERV) professionally cleaned with high‑volume HEPA suction during remediation.
Christine's asking about her remediation job. They didn't test first. They just had someone come in and deal with all the mold found everywhere. But then she asked at the end. My questions about the HRV exchanger never crossed my mind. Tells about turning back on. Do I need to worry about this? So I would reword that to do I need to clean my ducts during remediation. Because your HRV has its own ductworks, your own duct works has its own ducts that go back to your cold plenum and then go outside to do the air exchange. And those ducts can absolutely have an issue in them potentially if there was mold in the house. So I always tell people to address the ducts when they're doing remediation because no matter where the mold is in the house, say it's in our ensuite, the cold air return in our room or ensuite can suck those spores in and then it goes right back through the whole H vac and over the coil, which could have dampness in our furnace and potentially start a mold problem there, which then blows into each room evenly as the heating or cooling is on. So it's easy to get a problem in the ducts because no matter where a problem could be in the home, those spores end up going through all the ducts. Okay, so getting the, the coil checked on your furnace, in your H vac, getting it inspected. Well, getting. Some people will test the ducts on their own with a tape test, swab test, or ermi, just on the ducts going in from the register vents, not the cold air returns to get an idea if it could be contaminated on its own, because very often they're implicated as being part of the problem. So if you have not had all your ducts clean, including the HRV or erv, I would, I would have that done if you haven't turned it on yet. And have someone with the good suction truck, like I show a video on my moldproofyourhome.com mold course, I would consider getting that done just to get their agitators in there with the high volume HEPA sucking to get that cleaned out. And hopefully when they were doing remediation, they opened everything up. Check your ducts, check the coil, check your H vac, and it's not a problem. But very oftentimes they are because all the air is going through all the ducts with mold spores, mold fragments and mycotoxins. All right, I hope that helped.
Christine, do you have questions about mold in your home? Or body. Book a consultation with Matt, AKA the Mold man, to guide your home and body to the next level of healing.
