Program
April 2014
Segment Time 30 - 90 minutes (with activities); optional additional 15 min. topic
This lesson consists of 63 PowerPoint slides and divided into these 4 parts:
Part 1 – Mold Background – slides 1-14
Part 2
– Conditions for Mold Growth – slides 15-36
Part 3
– Dealing with Molds in Homes – slides 37-59
Part 4 – For More Information – slides 60-63
Depending the audience focus and interest the PowerPoint presentation may be shorten. To determine if all slides are appropriate for your target audience review this lesson guide and the
PowerPoint script as you plan your presentation, keeping in mind that all slides contain key information for your background and by eliminating slides you may exclude essential information. To shorten the presentation for a basic overview of molds, consider setting aside these PowerPoint slides:
Part 1
– Slides, 9-14
Part 2
– 21-30
Part 3
– 43-44, 52, 54-59
Part 4
– 60-63. Handout copies of these publications,
Help
Yourself to a Healthy Home and A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture and Your Home – to obtain see “Participant Materials”
Purpose
Audience
Learning
Objectives
To provide basic overview of mold and home moisture control concepts and methods.
Training for Extension educators, general consumer audience or home restoration volunteers.
Participants will accomplish the following:
Knowledge: Identify health effects of mold and excess moisture in homes.
Comprehension : Describe conditions that cause mold growth.
Application: List basic types and limitations of mold testing and diagnostics. Describe strategies that are low-cost, easy-to-implement and/or are most effective to achieve mold clean-up guidelines and to control moisture in the home.
1

Instructor
Lesson
Materials
Participant
Materials
(select most appropriate materials for your focus or audience)


Mold and Moisture Control Lesson Guide

PowerPoint with speaker notes

Help Yourself to a Healthy Home booklet

Healthy Homes: Assessing Your Indoor Environment
(recommended)

Publications/Handouts of choice (optional: see below for suggestions)

Name tags/tent cards for each student

Evaluation form for each student

Sign-in sheet, pens/pencils for participant

Selected supplies for demonstration activities (see below)

Help Yourself to a Healthy Home booklet (Extension/HUD publication available in several languages)

A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture and Your Home booklet . U.S. EPA
20 page publication available from http://www.epa.gov/mold/moldguide.html

Mold Removal Guidelines for Your Flooded Home fact sheet (LSU
AgCenter 2-page publication on do-it-yourself steps available at http://www.lsuagcenter.com/NR/rdonlyres/5D6C9914-4392-4D31-
AC61-052CEB205445/52063/Pub2949BMoldRemovalFINAL1.pdf

Mold: Important Questions, Objective Answers fact sheet available at http://www.lsuagcenter.com/NR/rdonlyres/A0A6FAB4-4C1F-
40DB-80E1-52205D3E55CF/12484/Moldfactsheet.pdf

Hiring a Mold Remediation Contractor fact sheet (LSU AgCenter and Cornell 4-page publication available at http://www.lsuagcenter.com/NR/rdonlyres/9EC675F2-3E81-4A68-
86AF-
E86D10CEDED9/88122/pub3242HiringaMoldRemediationContract or.pdf
Equipment

Evaluation sheets

Laptop

LCD Projector

Extension cord and power strip (plus tape to tape down cords)

Microphone (if you are inviting a guest speaker or have a large group)

White board or flip chart and markers
2

Helpful websites
Optional
Publications and Resource
Materials
(select most appropriate materials for your focus or audience)

US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Healthy homes: www.healthyhomes.hud.gov

US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): www.epa.gov/mold

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): www.cdc.gov/mold

Energy and Environmental Building Association, www.eeba.org
.
Information on energy-efficient buildings, humidity/moisture control/vapor barriers

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), (800) 621-
FEMA (3362). www.fema.gov/hazard/flood/index.shtm
, publications on flood proofing, etc.

"Mold Remediation in Schools and Commercial Buildings" EPA
HTML PDF (56 pp., 1.6 M) EPA 402-K-01-001, Reprinted
September 2010 http://www.epa.gov/mold/mold_remediation.html

EPA Mold Course "Introduction to Mold and Mold Remediation for
Environmental and Public Health Professionals" This course provides an overview of mold prevention and mold remediation. It is based on EPA's voluntary March 2001 guidance document Mold
Remediation in Schools and Commercial Buildings . Public health and environmental health professionals who are involved with mold issues may be interested in this course. Building managers, custodians, remediators, contractors, and other professionals who respond to mold problems may also want to refer to this course. http://www.epa.gov/mold/moldcourse/moldcourse.pdf

"Building Air Quality: A Guide for Building Owners and Facility
Managers - Appendix C: Moisture, Mold and Mildew", EPA.
http://www.epa.gov/iaq/largebldgs/pdf_files/iaq.pdf

WHO Guidelines for Indoor Air Quality: Dampness and Mould (PDF)
(248 pp., 2.65 M) World Health Organization, 2009 http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/43325/E92645.
pdf

EPA's Office of Research and Development Fact Sheet: The
Environmental Relative Moldiness Index http://www.epa.gov/microbes/moldtech.htm

CDC's National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), (800)
CDC-INFO (232-4636) Questions and answers on mold - www.cdc.gov/mold/faqs.htm and Stachybotrys chartarum and other molds - www.cdc.gov/mold/stachy.htm
3

Suggested
Supplies for
Demonstration
Activities
(optional)
Preparing for this Session

2 drinking glasses, source of water and ice

Moisture meter

N-95 respirator

Goggles, rubber gloves

HEPA filter for a vacuum cleaner

Small (4x4 in.) samples of various house materials (carpeting, carpet pad, washable olefin rug, drywall, solid wood, tile, sheet vinyl, solid vinyl, fiberglass insulation, rigid foam board insulation, glass or plastic, etc.)

Cleaning bucket and trash can lined with garbage bag
This lesson assumes that an Extension educator will be the facilitator for the session. If an alternate facilitator or co-facilitator is used, be certain they have reviewed the material and are clear that Extension is tasked with presenting non-biased material.
Before the Training:
1. Several weeks in advance: a. Determine appropriate training location and time. b. Contact Extension educator or guest speaker(s) at least a month in advance. if using speaker, use Guest Speaker
Confirmation form. For this subject area, consider supplementing lesson with comments from a professional home inspector, water damage restoration or mold remediation contractor. c. Send out notices to promote the training. d. Select and order or print handouts/reference materials
(especially those from EPA).
2. At least one week before training: a. Review the curriculum materials, handouts, and supplemental material. Contact an Extension housing or healthy home specialist with any questions in advance. b. Review the optional activities and obtain supplies. c. Prepare sign-in sheet and assemble audience materials for transport.
3. Day before Training: a. Assemble refreshments. b. Load slides on computer/thumb drive; package materials/supplies.
4. Day of Training a. Arrive at least 45 minutes in advance b. Set up A/V equipment and teaching aids. Tape down cords.
Test projection (focus, etc.). c. Set up registration table and set out audience materials.
4

Important
Instructor
Notes
1. Use activities and demos for a variety of teaching methods and to reinforce learning. It’s best to not rely entirely upon the PowerPoint slides.
2. Encourage participation and questions throughout the presentation.
Be interactive with your learners.
3. Provide personal stories, when possible. People tend to remember better when stories are shared either by you or other participants.
4. The adult learner brings a background of experience that contributes to learning. Many will have experienced mold in their own homes.
5. The purpose of this lesson is to empower people with knowledge so they will minimize exposure to mold hazards and take low-cost action steps to prevent and solve mold problems.
6. Emphasize the vulnerability of children, elderly and those with reduced immunity for environmental health concerns. These are important concepts to remember: a. Children are not just little adults. Their organs (especially the brain) and immune systems are still developing, especially until about age 6. Their metabolic rates are faster. Poundper-pound children drink, eat and breathe more than adults. b. Children’s behaviors keep them closer to the floor—where pollutants may collect.
5

Segment Time
Lesson
Objectives
1 minute
Activity
Review lesson objectives
Introduction 5 minutes
Ask and list responses on board:

What have you heard about mold?

What have you heard are good and bad ways to deal with mold in a home?
During the session, refer back to the list and label each fact, fiction or both as you cover the concepts in this lesson.
Mold
Characteristics and
Health Effects
Key to Control
Moisture
Sources
10 minutes
5
5 minutes
Discuss mold characteristics, purpose in nature.
Describe proven and potential health effects and factors that influence effects and severity. Briefly show slides illustrating types of common molds and effects without reading their listed health effects.
Ask: “ How many of you have family or household members with allergies or asthma?
”
Discuss conditions for growth to reveal why moisture is the key to control.
Write in big bold letters on board :
The Key to Mold Control is
Moisture Control!
Explain the moisture criteria to prevent mold growth.
Say: The goal is to “keep it dry”, but in the real world, wet happens!
Ask: “What are sources of excess moisture in homes?
”
Show images and ask audience to identify various liquid water and water vapor
(humidity) sources.
Materials
PPT slide 2
White board or flip chart and markers.
Ppt slides 3-4
Ppt slides
5-14
Ppt slides 15
White board or flip chart
Ppt slide 16
Ppt slide 17
Ppt slides
18-19
6

Understanding
Moisture
Principles and
Dynamics
Dealing with
Mold and
Mold Myths
Mold Clean-
Up Guidelines
15 Clarify basic concepts of moisture, liquid water flow, and relative humidity.
Activity: Pour tap water in a glass and ice water in another glass. Discuss result and reason for it (moisture in air condenses when cooled below its dew point by cold glass)
Discuss conditions and effects of condensation and high relative humidity.
Invite participants to share examples they have seen.
Explain the most critical home features to prevent high indoor humidity.
Ask participants to identify others.
10 minutes
30 minutes
Discuss the common fallacies and facts of each Mold Myth.
Describe basic types, purposes and limitations of mold testing. Explain why testing is typically not useful or recommended “since regardless of type, the next step is the same – fix the source and safely remediate”. Show sample EPA publications.
Demonstrate moisture meter as useful tool
(optional, but encouraged).
State
: “Mold remediation pros with special equipment and training can provide safest and most effective clean-up. Whether using a contractor or not, knowing the following guidelines help ensure as safe and effective a clean-up as possible.
”
Mention remediation contractor certification and protocol sources. Show publications.
Show and discuss personal protection equipment. Fit respirator, goggles and gloves onto a volunteer and ask her/him to exercise until winded and share experience; cite alternative types.
Ppt slides
20-31
2 drinking glasses, water, ice
Ppt slides
32-35
Ppt slide 36
Ppt slide
37-38
EPA pubs.
Optional: Mold sampling kits or reports to show
Moisture meter
Ppt slides
39-40
Hiring a Mold
Remediation
Contractor and EPA pubs.
Ppt slide 41
N-95 mask, sealed goggles, rubber gloves
7

Discuss lead poisoning hazard and precautions.
Explain clean-up guidelines: Isolate and
Ventilate, and Encapsulate Mold.
Activity: Divide into teams; give each team some material samples. Have each team decide and toss each material into the
“discard” trash can or “clean and keep” bucket if moldy from clean water, then again if moldy from flood water. You may wish to score teams or just review each item and show slide 45.
Explain remaining guidelines: Clean,
Disinfectants, Consider, Speed Dry, Remain on Mold Alert
Ppt slides
42-43
Ppt slides
44-46
House material samples, bucket, garbage bag
Ppt slide 46
Ppt slides
47-53
Restoration of
Flooded
Home
(optional)
Learn More
15 minutes
If addressing issues of flooded homes, also review mold-, flood- and storm-resistant restoration suggestions to reduce damage and mold risk from future natural hazards.
Show additional sources of information.
Ppt slides
54-59
Evaluation
5 minutes
5 minutes
Ask all to complete feedback questionnaire, including what they plan to do as a result of this session.
Ppt slides
60-62
Publications
Opt. websites
Evaluation sheets
Prepared by
Claudette Hanks Reichel, EdD
Professor and Extension Housing Specialist
Director, LaHouse Resource Center
Louisiana State University AgCenter (Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service)
April 2014
8

Everyone needs a healthy home. However, did you know that some of the most serious health problems may start at home? Did you know that mold can cause health problems? In the U.S., most people spend over 90% of their time indoors. We need to be aware of the health and safety of our indoor environments.
There are steps and resources that can help us address mold and moisture in our homes. (agency name) is sponsoring a program at (time) on
(date) at (location) . This program covers the health effects of mold in the indoor environment, conditions in the home that can cause mold growth and ways to reduce indoor mold. Additional helpful resources will be given. For more
at information or to register for the program call or email (agency name)
(phone number) or (email address) .
9