Standing Out in Ohio Podcast
Brought to you from Ohio based home inspection company of Habitation Investigation. Information helpful to agents and buyers. Conversations with professionals and entrepreneurs regarding their stories and what makes their companies and themselves stand out and gain competitive advantages. Listen to stories from Ohio real estate agents and related businesses to help you know how to improve and who to consider using for yourself or friends. Created by the owners of a highly rated home inspection company in Ohio and the Winners of Best Home Inspection Company in the Midwest https://homeinspectionsinohio.com/
Standing Out in Ohio Podcast
Stop Using Ozone For Mold And Start Fixing Moisture
Think the crisp post-storm smell means ozone can fix mold? We challenge that assumption with a clear, practical breakdown of what ozone does, where it fails, and how real mold remediation succeeds. We start with building science basics: mold is a symptom of moisture. If humidity, leaks, or poor ventilation remain, colonies rebound no matter how clean the surface looks. That’s why “blast it with ozone” doesn’t solve the root cause and often leaves hidden hyphae alive inside wood and drywall.
We dig into the biology—hyphae, mycelium, and the way colonies anchor into porous materials—and explain why oxidizers that don’t penetrate can fragment spores without removing the reservoir. You’ll hear why the EPA and restoration standards don’t endorse ozone as a primary fix, and how fragmented particles still trigger allergies unless you use true HEPA filtration and thorough cleanup. We also raise smart questions about mycotoxins during slow-kill scenarios and why speed, containment, and source control matter more than gadgets.
Then we share a proven, step-by-step plan. Fix the moisture. Contain the workspace. Remove or treat contaminated materials. HEPA vacuum and air-scrub. Use targeted antimicrobials and, when appropriate, apply protective coatings like Concrobium or Superstratum to resist regrowth once conditions are kept dry. We cover when an ozone pass might help with odors only after proper remediation, the safety risks to lungs, pets, plants, and finishes, and how to vet contractors who lead with ozone instead of fundamentals.
If you’re weighing options for a damp basement, a musty attic, or a recurring bathroom bloom, this guide gives you a science-first roadmap to a healthier home. Subscribe for more straight-talk building science, share with a friend who’s battling mold, and leave a review to tell us what topic you want next.
To learn more about Habitation Investigation, the Three-time Winner of the Best Home Inspection Company in the Midwest Plus the Winner of Consumer Choice Award for Columbus Ohio visit Home Inspection Columbus Ohio - Habitation Investigation (homeinspectionsinohio.com)
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Hey everybody, let's let's talk about ozone today.
SPEAKER_02:Ozone in regards to what, honey?
SPEAKER_01:Wow, some people think like ozone, what the he who cares? What are they talking about? So ozone is it's three ox oxygen molecules together. It's like that smell you get after a really nice thunderstorm. Because lightning produces ozone. But we Laura and I taught a class, I think it was maybe yesterday or last week we taught a class about air quality and ozone as a treatment for mold came up, of course. So Laura, what is I I guess the question is, is ozone a good treatment for mold?
SPEAKER_02:No.
SPEAKER_01:Alright, and and and why what what are some reasons it will kill mold though, won't it?
SPEAKER_02:It does, but the problem is in a residential setting, the level that you need for the duration that you need is not feasible. The EPA has actually come out and said that ozone as a treatment for mold is not a viable option. So, for example, we did an inspection yesterday, and on the disclosure from three years ago, they said, Oh, hey, we had a mold problem and they treated it with ozone. And as we're doing the inspection, there's mold all over the place. So, of course, we had to do mold testing again. So the problem with ozone is that it doesn't penetrate into wood and things like that deep enough to actually kill the whole mold. So if you don't get rid of the condensation problem, if you don't get rid of the moisture problem, you haven't done anything.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so mold, mold is to us, it's it's a symptom of a moisture issue. Right. Which could be a water leak, roof leak, it could be humidity, condensation, condensation, uh, which can be affected by uh ventilation in an attic space or in a basement, wherever you're at. But the ozone it like you said, it does not penetrate. So when molds grow, they have roots. Of the roots what do they call hyphae?
SPEAKER_02:Hyphae, and then is the mycelium like what groups them all together, like they grow and they spread into each other.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, they're a couple different things, but basically they got something called that are roots.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_01:And ozone will not penetrate to the wood or the drywall, whatever the cellulose material is that it's growing on. So it's kind of like cutting your grass. Yeah. You're using ozone to cut your grass if you're seeing the mold as as the grass you're growing, but you don't kill the roots, it's just gonna go right back, given the right conditions, such as moisture and and of course it still has that uh cellulose now for food.
SPEAKER_02:Several years ago, we were also told that another reason ozone is a bad idea, is so basically how it kills the mold is it kind of like blows up that mold cell. What and it divides it into like smaller pieces, it's an oxidizer. Yeah, so it for lack of a better description for people to it it blows up that cell. It breaks it up, it breaks it up, and so you've got smaller pieces of mold that even if they're dead, you know, if I've got allergies and I'm in that house and I'm still breathing in those small pieces of mold, I'm still going to have an allergic reaction. But now I have small pieces of mold that I have to get rid of. And so I guess they have done studies since the last time, you know, we talked about this with that microbiologist. And so a lot of them can still be caught, but it has to be a very good HEPA filter. It can't be an electromagnetic one, it it has to be a very good, legitimate HEPA filter.
SPEAKER_01:Because the HEPA filter they go down, I I think I saw like 0.1 microns or something like that. 0.3 microns, yes. HEPA filter. So the and so far there are no studies that show that the particles are broken out in the part and the little tiny parts are smaller than that.
SPEAKER_02:Right. That's what the studies are showing.
SPEAKER_01:Why it doesn't, I don't know. Maybe you've had small particles that get further exposed, maybe it does, but it looks like right now your HEPA filter will get rid of those particles, but still, you gotta shit down the particles floating through the air that are gonna cause allergy, you know, out allergic responses to yourself. And I don't know if ozone, when the mold realizes it has ozone attacking it, will it produce mycotoxins? Because it's not dead yet. And how fast does it produce mycotoxins?
SPEAKER_00:Habitation investigation is the way to go for a home inspection in Ohio. Trusted licensed home inspectors for your needs. From radon to mold to warranty. For a great home inspection, you really can't go wrong. Visit home inspections in Ohio.com.
SPEAKER_01:Then also, let's say you do a treatment, an ozone treatment. You kill the surface spores, okay? And the molds. The roots, the hyphae, start growing back because you never fix your moisture issue. Right. And of course, the ozone did not penetrate. When the molds are regrowing, do they know that they were damaged by something? Are they gonna automatically start making micro toxins? Because they were damaged before.
SPEAKER_02:And another question is if I have mold spores in the air and I've got ozone running, is the ozone gonna break that mold spore up into even smaller pieces eventually? Like if you let it run for a longer period of time, how where where does ozone stop at blowing it at breaking down those mold pieces? Yeah, it might does it continue to do that even if you've got like a cell that's been disrupted. Is is ozone gonna continue to attack that would be one of my questions.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I don't know. And then it is hard to get ozone, apparently, it is hard to get ozone levels high enough in the house to actually do that, yes. Because you gotta pretty, I mean, pretty good equipment to get the ozone levels high enough, and then to do ozone treatment in an attic, which naturally is supposed to have ventilation, you're not gonna get it. You're not gonna get it high enough. So if somebody offers you ozone treatment, say no. Yeah, tell them no. I mean it's good for getting rid of odors.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_01:But if the odor is coming from molds, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_02:You need to get first of all, you need to take care of what's causing the mold to grow, get rid of that moisture problem, and then have a legitimate remediation company come in. If they're coming in and going, hey, you know, pay us 500 bucks and we'll throw an ozone generator up for 24 hours, that's not gonna cut it, which by the way, that was on the bill for this one. So that's how I knew that specifically.
SPEAKER_01:It's not expensive to do a mold treatment, but if it's not a treatment and mold treatment, what's the point? Plus, ozone, there's nothing ozone, it's just a gas, it's three oxygen molecules, they're gonna break down over time anyway.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_01:There is no lingering like residual effects, like a lot of chemicals they spray on to kill molds, they stay there. And they want provide like a six months, a year uh prevention, like concrobium does.
SPEAKER_02:Concrobium super stratum does that?
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_02:Like superstratum has a a twofold thing. So the first one will kill the mold, and then they have a I I'm gonna call it a sealant for lack of a better word. Okay, and it will coat that area and it will prevent mold reed growth for like 10 years, they're saying.
SPEAKER_01:See, that's amazing, but ozone is not going to be a little bit more.
SPEAKER_02:But ozone doesn't do that. Ozone can't even guarantee that anything has been completely killed and that you're not gonna have it growing back because it doesn't kill the roots, especially in in porous materials or semi-porous materials.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, chlorine bleach doesn't penetrate either. It's good for surface cleaning.
SPEAKER_02:You're you're just watering your plants at that point.
SPEAKER_01:Because bleach that we buy, uh, anybody can buy is it's mostly water, a little bit of chlorine in it. You wipe it on, let's say you put on on wood, you got uh two by four that's moldy. You wipe it on, you smell the bleach, that evaporates, but the bleach molecules do not penetrate deep into the wood.
SPEAKER_02:And all you're doing is making yourself sick at that point, because let's face it, bleach isn't good for us.
SPEAKER_01:No, no. And then the IICRC, which is some kind of uh residential construction standards. I don't know exactly what it's international standards. Anyway, they do not recommend ozone as a substitute for physically removing and cleaning your moldy uh items. The best approach is whenever you got mold issue, it's always gonna be you gotta you gotta figure out what your moisture issue is, fix that. It could be condensation because you pad ventilation, your shower vents goes up into the attic space, could be a leak from a pipe, who knows? You got fix a water source, and then get if you can rip out that moldy piece of wood or whatever, get rid of it, or kill it.
SPEAKER_02:Kill it first and then get rid of it. Just be on the safe side because if you're messing with it and it defends itself, it will release mycotoxins. Yep. So just kill it first.
SPEAKER_01:So stop the moisture, kill it and remove it, and then finish up cleaning with a HEPA filter.
SPEAKER_02:So you're gonna do like a HEPA vacuum, you're you're gonna do all of that stuff and just suck all of that up and throw it out of the house.
SPEAKER_01:And then make sure the area doesn't get wet again because the molds cannot grow if there's no moisture, not enough moisture for them.
SPEAKER_02:The IICRC is the Institute of Inspection, cleaning and restoration. Nothing to do with construction, nothing to do with construction, baby. Okay, so what uh all right, I'm thinking of some other, but I can't think of what the anachronym is for that. So many different oh it it's insane. I can never remember them.
SPEAKER_01:Organizations out there, it's it's amazing. Like we belong to C C P I P I A and then NACI. And you're part of NOMI.
SPEAKER_02:I I C R C NORMI, the IAC2.
SPEAKER_01:Um there's a you have you have a certification through II C R C and you forgot what it stands for.
SPEAKER_02:Oh no, I have to look it up all the time. Yeah, I really anachronyms. I just I that just I've got too many.
SPEAKER_01:You're so educated. Which I was telling the girls the other day when you and I can't think of words, I was like, dude, it's not that we're old, it's that we've got so much freaking knowledge in our head.
SPEAKER_03:We're trying to sift through it all.
SPEAKER_01:We gotta shift sift through all the file folders that we have in our brains because it's enormous.
SPEAKER_03:That's cra I I like that. I love that explanation.
SPEAKER_01:So you're everybody's free to use that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, feel feel free to borrow that.
SPEAKER_01:So I think that's about it on this one. We'll just make certain that people know ozone is not effective, it's not a legit way to clean molds.
SPEAKER_02:No.
SPEAKER_01:It's a good thing.
SPEAKER_02:And if there's a remediation company and that's their first go-to, get a new remediation company. Call me, I'll give you a referral.
SPEAKER_01:Now, what now here's the thought. What if somebody said, hey, we're we will kill we're gonna do quarantine. We say quarantine that area so the multiples can't spread the other areas of the house. Okay. But what they're gonna say, we're gonna quarantine, we're gonna kill it, we're gonna rip it out, we're gonna take HEPA vacuums or whatever, air scrubbers, clean everything off. And then at the end we're gonna do uh ozone. Right as at the end, as a just just to help make sure there's no nothing surface anywhere. I don't see anything wrong with that. Of course, you want to have your plants and animals and everything out with ozone. Because ozone is an irritant, it will harm your lungs.
SPEAKER_02:Well, and it will kill plants, it will kill animals, it will kill fish.
SPEAKER_01:So if they did that as a after we're done everything properly, and say the moisture's already been taken or moisture is already been fixed, we're gonna do ozone just as an extra touch. I don't see anything wrong with that.
SPEAKER_02:I i i I guess it would depend upon how good the reputation is of the company. Because if you don't do ozone right, you can damage a lot of things. It acts as a bleacher. So if if you've got furniture, if you've got carpet, if you've got something that you care about and you've got a company doing ozone, it can lighten that, it can bleach that out, it can cause staining. And if that company isn't, you know, if they don't have very good reviews, like I mean, like a 4.9 or a five, I wouldn't be doing it. But that's that's just me. And I I yeah, yeah, I you know, I'd I'd rather I'd rather have them come in and put something like that sealant from superstratum or concrobium on it that's gonna keep stuff from growing back than it's.
SPEAKER_01:I'm just thinking, maybe. No, no, that's okay. But or or they use the ozone in a contained area to kill the mold before they go in and and do official cleanup.
SPEAKER_02:But once again, are they actually killing the mold or is that gonna be releasing mycotoxins?
SPEAKER_01:Does the mold because it's not penetrating anything, is it?
SPEAKER_02:Well, and and not only that, but does the mold realize that it's being attacked because it's basically being attacked by the oxygen molecules? And then is is that going to release the mycotoxins then? And if that's the case, that's a whole new ball of wax, and you don't even want to get into that one.
SPEAKER_01:How long does ozone need to be in the area to kill things? It's like it's it's a long period of time.
SPEAKER_02:Days was my understanding. Like, I don't I don't think anything that I've read has specifically said because they've said that you can't do it long enough in high enough concentrations, was what I've seen.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:So I I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:So so so here's my thought. If it's killing it slowly, that gives the molds more time to make micro toxins. Yeah. So you need something to kill it fast. So forget that idea of using using it to kill things immediately to clean it up. I think it's a good thing.
SPEAKER_02:No, I would use some I would use something from time, like a time uh type spray on that kills mold. Uh the super stratum kills mold. There's a couple of other products out there that are pretty good at killing mold. I would do something like that and then start taking it down and cleaning it up and and making sure that that all gets removed.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, I just I just asked Professor Grok. Um moderate to severe case. If it's a short little area, you just take care of yourself pretty quick.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Four to twenty-four hours or up to 48 hours. So it seems too slow.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I don't think it's fast enough. I think it needs to be an immediate hit and done. Because otherwise, I think you're going to have mycotoxins released, and that's a whole other podcast we should do.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, and that mycotoxin is stuff that most mold immediately companies do not want to admit or discuss. They want to do that.
SPEAKER_02:Or people that are concerned about that, they're just crazy.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, they want they don't want to touch out a three, seven and a half foot pole because it's something they're not aware of. But we we can test for it and show if mycotoxins actually are present in a house or wherever we're at. So anyway, I think that's it for here. Bottom line no, ozone is not a viable, good treatment for for molds.
SPEAKER_02:No.
SPEAKER_01:Find something else. All right. Thanks. Bye bye.
