If you find mold and it's not an entire wall or attic space, it should be cleaned off using a detergent, not bleach, which can be very toxic itself. Afterward, check in a few days and if the mold is back, you might need professional help, Cole said.

Getting good professional help can be tricky. Cole has encountered so-called mold-removal experts who have suggested such things as knocking down walls and blowing the space out with leaf blowers. That's a bad plan guaranteed to spread mold spores everywhere.

Big jobs require experts. Cole said they should be certified by the Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification, which sponsored creation of the peer-reviewed cleanup guide, or its sister organization, the Association of Specialists in Cleaning and Restoration. A certified expert will have passed a test and understand moisture, mold contamination, building sciences and more. It screens out fly-by-night outfits that led to the phrase, "Mold is gold."

There's no reason to panic. If you have a little mold under the baseboard, clean it up. "You don't need to evacuate."

He cautions against taking a heavy-handed chemical approach, which trades a biological problem for a chemical one.

Besides checking foundations and keeping an eye out for water leaks, make sure that carpet cleaners extract water so the carpet will dry within 24 hours. Carpets should be vacuumed regularly. Even in a very well-maintained carpet, 100,000 spores of mold per gram of carpet dust are found. That's normal.

But mold can take root and multiply in carpets and fabrics, bathrooms, pet areas, crawl spaces, food storage areas, heating and air conditioning systems, window frames, wall cavities and attic spaces. Once there, it can dine on wood, wallboard, wallpaper, ceiling tile, insulation, concrete, fireproofing and glues and sealants that are used in home building.

Cole presented the new guidelines earlier this month in San Diego to mold removal professionals, insurance adjusters, attorneys and others. The guidelines were co-sponsored by the Air Quality Association and Indoor Environmental Institute.

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E-mail: lois@desnews.com