In 2017 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers field-tested the two-stage process behind VaPURE™ in two mold-affected buildings at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and published the results. Here is what that study measured, what the treatment uses, and how an independent lab checks the result in your home.
Before we treat anything, we find where the moisture is coming from, because mold comes back where water keeps getting in. VaPURE™ then runs in two stages. Our equipment applies a fine sterilant vapor to treat mold on surfaces throughout the treated space, and a second application adds an antimicrobial protectant that helps resist regrowth. Afterwards, air samples go to an independent lab.
The Army's field test is the independent study behind the process, and the full report is public. Below we summarize what it measured, including the limits its authors noted. Then we explain what goes into your home and how your own results are tested.
A six-month demonstration in two vacant, mold-affected buildings at Fort Campbell, Kentucky: a dining facility and a barracks administration wing. Researchers took air and surface samples before treatment, straight after it, and again at one, three and six months.
The Army wanted to know whether the process could handle mold on its installations and whether the results would last. The Engineer Research and Development Center picked two vacant buildings known to have high mold levels, treated each one in a day, and sampled the indoor air against outdoor air on every visit.
Six months later, total indoor spore counts in the air were down 95.2% in the dining facility and 99.5% in the barracks wing, while outdoor counts had gone up.
The report is also candid about its limits. Hyphal fragments rose at two sample points in the dining facility by the six-month visit, the barracks wing was being renovated between the three- and six-month visits, and the authors recommended longer studies of 12 to 24 months. Read it in full and judge it yourself.
The report is public in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers digital library. The Army does not endorse commercial products, and the report is a record of one field test.
A study tells you what happened in someone else's building. Your test results tell you what happened in yours. On our mold jobs we take air samples before treatment and again afterwards, from the same locations, and send them to a third-party lab. The report comes straight from the lab, so you can read the numbers yourself.
This is the evidence that matters most for your decision. The Army study shows what the process did in two buildings in Kentucky. Your follow-up test shows what it did in your home, measured by a lab with no stake in the result.
Mold spores are always present in outdoor air, so the useful comparison is your indoor air against the outdoor sample from the same day. The lab report shows both.
If the follow-up test shows the treatment didn't take, we re-treat at no charge.
Stage one applies a fine sterilant vapor to treat mold on surfaces throughout the treated space. Stage two applies an antimicrobial protectant to treated surfaces to help resist mold regrowth. Neither one replaces fixing the moisture problem, which is why we start there.
The sterilant. The active component of the sterilant is on the EPA's Safer Chemical Ingredients List. That listing covers the ingredient, not the product: the product itself is used under its own EPA registration and label. It breaks down shortly after treatment into acetic acid (white vinegar), oxygen and water.
During treatment. People and pets stay out of the property while the treatment runs. Your technician will tell you when you can go back in.
The protectant. Applied after the vapor stage, it helps treated surfaces resist mold regrowth. It works best once the moisture source is fixed, and we'll show you any we find.
Less tear-out. Because we treat mold on surfaces throughout the treated space, most jobs need little or no demolition. Where material is too far gone, we'll tell you before we start.
The first step is a free telephone consultation with a specialist. It helps you understand why you have mold, the causes, and what can be done about it — including Pure Maintenance of Utah services, availability, and pricing.