For some people, yes. The CDC says being around mold can cause a stuffy or runny nose, sore throat, coughing, wheezing, and itchy or watery eyes, and that people with asthma or a mold allergy may react more strongly (CDC, About Mold). Others in the same house notice nothing at all. If someone is feeling sick, start with your doctor. The mold in the house is the part we handle: whole-home disinfection is $0.30 per heated square foot with a $200 minimum, and air duct cleaning and treatment is $50 a vent on the same visit, or $399 minimum booked on its own.
See your price
- Whole-home disinfection: $0.30 per heated sq ft ($200 minimum)
- Clean the vents on the same visit: $50 each (no extra minimum)
- Both include Bactronizing with BactroKill Plus + 12-month written guarantee
Not sure what you need?
Start with the vents
A smell that rides the air is growing in the duct work. We scrub each vent and return with a rotary brush, clean the registers, the coil and the outside of the air handler, then treat them. $50 a vent, from $399 on its own. Spores travel on the air, so most people add the whole-home disinfection on the same visit, and then the vents carry no minimum. 12-month written guarantee.
Start with the whole home
A smell that sits in the rooms, or came with the last people, is on the surfaces, not only in the air. Whole-home disinfection sprays every surface in the house, closets included, plus the duct work and the drain pan: $0.30 per heated square foot, $200 minimum, about 30 to 75 minutes, and you can stay home. Dust or growth in the vents needs cleaning first, so add the air duct cleaning at $50 each on the same visit if the vents are dirty. 12-month written guarantee.
We look first
Mold you can see gets wiped off, not sprayed over. Every one is different, so we look before we price it, and Greg puts the price in writing before any work starts.
Fix the water first
Mold is a water problem first. Wet material grows again, so the leak, the flood or the drain line gets fixed before anything is sprayed. Once it is dry we treat it, and if something is still wet we say so before we start.
Two ways to be sure
If you can smell it or see it, the CDC says you do not need to know the type, so most people skip the test and treat. To be sure anyway: while we are at the house we can swab a surface and read it on a hand-held meter, or send samples to a lab, $350 for two and $450 for four.
Request a window Or start with the treatment Call 843-282-7777
Open now. Closes at 4 pm.
Call 843-282-7777Request a windowGreg confirms it in writing.Do not know the square footage? Request a visit without a number. We work it out when we come out.
Veteran owned. Licensed and insured. EPA-registered product. 12-month written guarantee.
What a test can’t do is tie mold to an illness. The CDC says no test proves a link between so-called toxic black mold and specific long-term illness, and symptoms on their own don’t tell you what caused them. Pollen, dust and a plain cold give you the same stuffy nose, and two people in one room can react very differently.
A house that smells musty when the AC kicks on is pointing at the air system, because when mold grows inside the HVAC, every cooling cycle blows spores out the supply vents and through the whole house. That source is a set of surfaces, and surfaces can be cleaned and treated.
What symptoms can mold exposure cause in some people?
The CDC and EPA name the symptoms below, and they show up in some people and not in others (CDC, About Mold; EPA, Mold and Health). None of them proves mold on its own, since pollen, dust and ordinary colds cause every one.
- Stuffy or runny nose, and sneezing. The most common reaction, and easy to write off as a cold that won’t quit.
- Sore throat and coughing.
- Wheezing and chest tightness. People with asthma may react more strongly, the CDC notes.
- Red, itchy, or watery eyes. Both agencies list it.
- Skin irritation or a rash. Less common. It is on the CDC list.
A list like this isn’t a diagnosis, and a medical question belongs with your doctor. If the house smells musty when the AC runs, the air system is worth checking for mold.
Why do my symptoms get worse when the AC is running?
Because the fan carries the spores to you. Mold on the cooling coil or on the duct near the air handler sits right in the airstream, and every time the AC runs it pushes air across that growth and out through every vent.
Lowcountry humidity keeps the mold fed. The EPA recommends keeping indoor humidity below 60 percent, ideally between 30 and 50 percent (EPA, A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture and Your Home). Charleston and Summerville stay humid about six months a year, with relative humidity about 72 percent on average (WeatherSpark climate summary for Charleston). Cold duct metal sweats in that air for half the year.
Are children and older adults more sensitive to mold?
They can be. The EPA lists infants and children and older adults among the people who may be more sensitive to mold, along with people with respiratory conditions or a weakened immune system, and the CDC adds that people with asthma or a mold allergy may have stronger reactions (CDC, About Mold; EPA, Mold and Health). That means more sensitive, not in danger, and the CDC does not support claims of a specific toxic-mold illness.
Watch for someone who feels worse indoors and better outside. That pattern makes the HVAC system a fair place to look for mold.
How do I tell if the mold is in my ducts and not just a dirty filter?
Change the filter first. It costs a few dollars, and if the musty smell is gone in a day or two, the filter was the problem. A dirty filter and mold in the system smell alike at the vent, so if a new filter doesn’t fix it, two more checks will tell you more:
- Look at the vent covers. Black or gray specks fanning out from the supply registers suggest mold growing in the system, not dust on a filter.
- Notice when it smells. A filter smell stays fairly steady. A musty smell that’s strongest in the first minutes after the AC starts points at the coil or the ducts.
When the smell outlasts a new filter, the coil and the ductwork are the next places mold hides. How duct mold starts and what to look for is on mold in air ducts.
What does the EPA say about moisture and indoor humidity?
The EPA’s guidance comes down to moisture. It recommends keeping indoor relative humidity below 60 percent, ideally between 30 and 50 percent, fixing leaks and condensation promptly, and cleaning and drying anything wet within 24 to 48 hours before mold can establish (EPA, A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture and Your Home).
The EPA also warns against fogging chemical biocides into dirty ductwork. That’s why, on the air system, the cleaning comes before any product goes on. A system that keeps sweating needs its humidity dealt with as well as the mold.
When should I call a professional instead of cleaning it myself?
Call when the mold is inside the system and not just on the cover, when the musty smell is back within days of a cleaning, or when you can see growth on the coil or in the ductwork. A rag can’t reach any of those, and the system keeps spreading the mold until it’s cleaned and treated.
A single vent cover with a little surface growth is a different story. The EPA says you can often clean a small area yourself, generally under about 10 square feet, with the windows open and a mask on (EPA, A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture and Your Home). Wiping down a register is a reasonable job to do on your own.
What actually happens in the house?
BactroKill Plus, an EPA-registered product (EPA Reg. No. 82972-1-90746), goes on room by room with an electrostatic sprayer, and when you add the vents they are cleaned before they are treated. Bactronix calls that process Bactronizing. You can stay home while we work. Keep people and pets out of a room while it’s sprayed, and it’s yours again 15 minutes later.
Nothing needs rinsing afterward. The product does not stain or bleach materials or fabrics, and it will not harm HVAC system components.
What does it cost, and how long does it take?
Whole-home disinfection is $0.30 per heated square foot with a $200 minimum, the same rate for a cottage or a four-bedroom. Air duct cleaning and treatment is $50 a vent on the same visit, as many vents as you have, with no extra minimum, and $399 minimum booked on its own. A 1,500 square foot house takes about 30 minutes, 2,500 takes 45, and 3,500 takes 75.
Your heated square feet is on your tax record or your listing, and you see the whole number before anyone comes out. The details:
- The vent job covers the registers, the duct work, the coil and the outside of the air handler.
- The 12-month written guarantee goes on the invoice. If what we treated comes back inside the year, we come back and re-treat it at no charge. The one exclusion is an area where new water has come in since, because new water grows new mold. There’s no trip charge, and you pay on the day.
The room-by-room job is set out on whole-home disinfection, and the air system on its own is on air duct cleaning and treatment.
What does that price cover, and what is quoted separately?
It covers the surfaces the smell is coming off: the rooms inside the heated square feet you give us, and the air system when you add the vents. Two things sit outside it.
Mold you can see on a wall or a ceiling gets looked at and quoted on its own, since no two are alike. Porous material that got wet, like soaked drywall, wet insulation or a carpet pad that stayed damp, gets replaced, not sprayed.
This is mold treatment, not structural mold remediation, and it won’t fix an active leak. Stop the water first. The EPA says the key to mold control is moisture control (EPA, A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture and Your Home), and anything still wet can grow mold again.
Where we work
Cane Bay, Nexton, Carnes Crossroads, Summerville, Goose Creek, Moncks Corner, and the wider Charleston Lowcountry.
Frequently asked questions
Can a test tell me whether the mold is making us sick?
No. A sample shows what was on a surface or in the air when it was taken. It can’t show that the mold caused a symptom, and the CDC does not support claims of a specific toxic-mold illness. If you want samples taken anyway, mold testing is $350 for two samples and $450 for four. For symptoms that concern you, your doctor is a better call than a lab report.
Will the musty smell stay gone?
It stays gone as long as the moisture that fed the mold stays under control. The product works by oxidation rather than by masking odors, so it deals with what the smell is coming off instead of covering it. Keep indoor humidity below 60 percent (EPA, A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture and Your Home). A duct that keeps sweating brings the smell back no matter who sprays it.
Request a window
Put your heated square feet in above and the price comes back. Pick the day and window that suit you, Monday to Friday 8 to 4 or Saturday 8 to 12, and we call or write back to lock in the time.