What is mildew vs mold? In general, mildew is a type of mold, and both can be found through K-12 school facilities. Failing to detect and treat mold growth that occurs over a humid summer when the buildings are empty can lead to back-to-school complaints, concerns from your staff, and valuable educational time lost to inspections and treatment.
Attune has the indoor air quality (IAQ) monitoring for school districts you need to keep mold and mildew from becoming problems in your educational environments. We'll help you plan out how to respond to concerns about mold in schools, stay on top of mixed-age buildings in a single facility, and keep parents and staff happy.
Mildew vs. Mold: How the Two Compare in Seriousness
So, is is mildew the same as mold? The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) describes mildew as a generic term for many types of flat and surface-level growth. That's really the only difference between mold and mildew. Molds are all microscopic fungi, capable of growing on many materials as long as moisture is present.
Mildew often appears as a precursor to more extensive mold development. That further growth penetrates porous materials and becomes harder to remove. Mold and mildew can pose similar risks to the health of staff and students, with mold growth posing a higher threat than mildew for property damage.
MildewMoldFlat, limited in growth.Often fuzzy or raised.Often appears faint or powdery.Can come in gray, white, green, black, and other colors.Irritating spores and musty odors.Potentially dangerous spores and strong musty odors.
That doesn't mean that minor mildew growth is safe to clean up by hand or ignore. It still produces spores, can irritate existing allergies, and tends to indicate the risk of further mold growth. Treating surface growth seriously can prevent more damaging and penetrating forms of mold from growing.
What Mildew and Mold Look Like in School Buildings
What does mildew look like? Keep an eye out for powdery, light growth on surfaces that are often wet, such as restrooms, locker rooms, ceiling tiles, window frames, and storage rooms. As it develops into mold, you're likely to see raised and fuzzy patches that can come in almost any color.
Many school facilities management teams panic and confuse early spots of mildew for more serious black mold growth. Or they take the opposite approach and assume mold growth isn't that serious. Appearance alone isn't a reliable diagnosis, and only a professional can determine the exact type and threat to health. Watch out for early warning signs like:
A musty odor, like the smell of damp socks
Slimy or damp patches
Water intrusion damage like sagging ceiling tiles, discoloration, and streaks on walls.
Conditions That Let Mold and Mildew Grow in Schools
Moisture is what leads to school mold growth. Unfortunately, most schools in America are built with limited ventilation, often utilizing concrete block materials that can form condensation from temperature differentials. Combine that with summer shutdowns leading to limited HVAC runtime and overlooked leaks, and you have a recipe for extensive mold.
In particular, relative humidity above 60% can trigger mold growth. Temperatures above 60 degrees Fahrenheit also accelerate growth, but wet conditions can trigger mold growth at any temperature above freezing. School districts making the most of mixed-age buildings often see varying problems from building to building due to uneven ventilation and leaks that are hard to detect. Humidity management and reduction is the core step to preventing mold growth, and our guide on ways to lower indoor humidity can help.
Responding to Mold and Mildew Complaints Step by Step
You suspect or have discovered mold in your school facilities. Take these steps next.
1. Isolate the affected areas and bring in a professional mold inspector. File any necessary reports with the school district for maintenance requests.
2. Search for the source of the moisture and fix it, whether that's a leak, a need for increased ventilation, or roof repairs. Cleaning alone won't stop regrowth.
3. Start mold remediation. If you're dealing with confirmed mildew vs black mold and the affected area is under 10 square feet, you can use EPA-approved cleaning agents like various fungicides to instantly kill it, but keep in mind that many are only available to remediation professionals. Areas over 10 square feet or with certain types of dangerous mold growth will need professional treatment.
5. Follow isolation and containment procedures as recommended by the EPA. Add continuous indoor air quality monitoring to verify efficacy.
6. Remove and replace any porous materials that aren't treatable, such as fabrics, upholstery, and books.
Talking with Staff and Parents About Mold Concerns
In addition to dealing with HVAC humidity control issues and taking other mold and mildew prevention steps, you'll need to address concerned staff members and parents. Communicate calmly and clearly about the issues in the facility, including sharing documentation on the type of mold and the risk it poses. Schedule open meetings or office time to discuss concerns, and explain what remediation and prevention steps are planned to deal with the issue. Be wary of overpromising quick results or specific timelines, especially if remediation and repairs are needed.
Spotting Moisture Problems Early with Humidity and Temperature Data
Knowing your indoor humidity levels is the only way to know where you're at risk for mold growth. In a large school facility spread across multiple mixed-age buildings, moisture control can seem impossible. But constant humidity monitoring provides the data you need to spot trends, such as areas with risky conditions without visible mildew. The facility management team can act early, fixing ventilation issues, tackling leaks, and scheduling dehumidification as needed.
Monitoring humidity and temperature for spikes above 60% Rh and 60 degrees F won't replace mold inspection and testing, but it does support it. Tracking IAQ parameters quickly demonstrates how monitoring can warn of mold risk factors and provide an early warning system once you know the numbers to look for.
Turning Humidity Data into Fewer Mold Complaints
Monitoring across a school district's many buildings helps facility management teams see what's actually happening. They can catch moisture issues early, maintain higher indoor air quality in schools, and spend time on real problems instead of repeat complaints about musty odors. Attune is a building IAQ monitoring and intelligence platform with the tools necessary to track IAQ parameters across school buildings. Stay on top of mold issues with our education solutions, or talk with our team today to get started.
