The ozone treatments, must be something new (last 20 years or so?), I hadn't heard of it before. FWIW, 30 seconds on Google led me to numerous websites opposed to the use of ozone for mold (of course the internet is going to contain websites opposed to just about anything and everything) - some websites compare ozone treatments to "snake oil" which serve to separate consumers from their money - but so far I've only skimmed some of the articles so I don't know if there's anything to their position. And of course anyone who can type can put articles on the internet, so who knows the accuracy of the objections to ozone. I would automatically be suspicious if the ozone-opposition contingent was trying to sell some other product instead, but that didn't seem to be the case on at least some of the pages I've seen so far, unless I just didn't read far enough. I would have to research it more thoroughly.
Here's an example of
one of the many anti-ozone websites I found today - I don't know how many of such websites are reputable but here's what it says:
"Ozone Generators are another futile attempt to "kill" mold instead of cleaning it up. This "magic bullet" approach does not work and can destroy some building materials as well as the health of building occupants.
"Because of the trouble and cost of performing an effective mold cleanup in buildings, some vendors offer what sounds like an attractive alternative, offering to "kill all building mold" using ozone.
"One Midwest company offers to tent the building and follow a mold extermination procedure.
"It would be silly to leave Aspergillus sp., a problematic and easily-airborne mold, in place on this subfloor, trying to "kill it" with a sterilizing gas or spray.
"Killing mold is not the same as "removing" problem mold: As with the "bleach" and other "kill the mold" approaches we described above, this process fails to remove the problem reservoir from the building, leaving toxic or allergenic particles, even if they are no longer viable.
"Trying to kill mold with ozone risks oxidizing other building materials: One of our clients, in an effort to remove odor and mold problems from their building, rented a commercial ozone generator ran it aggressively in closed rooms in their home.
"The ensuing odors, which we tested and traced to oxidized carpet padding, were so severe that the building was no longer habitable. Carpeting had to be removed as well as other oxidized rubber and foam products which had been "ozone treated."
"Worse, the underlying cause of the original complaint, which we traced to a history of flooding basement and wet building materials there, had gone unrecognized and still needed to be addressed.
"There are valid applications of ozone as a disinfectant but it is not a valid treatment for mold in buildings."
But, that's possibly an entirely different scenario that merely neutralizing an odd smell in a musical instrument.
As to houses and other buildings, in earlier years the standard advice from the health experts of that time, was to rip out all the mold-damaged content and replace it with new, otherwise the mold would just grow back. I've personally seen people I know disregard those instructions, with disastrous and even more costly consequences. (They didn't have ozone though, maybe that would have helped - or not. Who knows.)
I'm not currently facing mold situations, but if it ever crops up (ha! no pun intended) again, I will do some extended research on the ozone treatments to try to sort out the truth. So, thank you for the info! Always good to have options.
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