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Mold Remediation in Houston, TX
Morning relative humidity in Houston averages 89 percent (1969–2018), and the area takes 57 inches of rain a year — conditions that let mold spread quietly after any leak. One call reaches vetted local mold-remediation pros.
Harris County has drawn 41 federal disaster declarations — 24 of them hurricanes or floods — in an area averaging 57 inches of rain a year. Hurricane Harvey flooded nearly 136,000 structures across the county in 2017, and Tropical Storm Allison flooded 73,000 residences in 2001. Mold growth follows that water, taking hold in wall cavities, insulation and subfloors that stay wet after a storm passes.
Mold risk in Houston
57"
average annual precipitation (NOAA)
85%
of Harris County's 41 declared disasters were floods, hurricanes or storms (FEMA)
2024
most recent flood/storm declaration: Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding (FEMA)
Sources: FEMA OpenFEMA — federally-declared disaster history (county FIPS 48201) · NOAA NCEI — 1991–2020 Climate Normals (HOUSTON HEIGHTS, TX US)
Recent events in Houston
- Tropical Storm Bertha Jul 29, 2026
- Tropical System Bertha Jul 24, 2026
Live from the DisasterStatus event tracker — Houston is named in each event's affected area.
What makes Houston a mold-prone city
Mold work here is a licensed trade with a hard size threshold. Texas Occupations Code Section 1958.102 exempts mold remediation only where the contamination affects a total surface area of less than 25 contiguous square feet; at or above that line the owner-and-tenant exemption falls away and licensed assessment and remediation are required. Under 16 Texas Administrative Code Section 78.150, the remediation contractor must deliver a Certificate of Mold Damage Remediation — signed by both a licensed mold assessment consultant and the contractor — within ten calendar days of the project stop-date, and an owner who later sells the property must give the buyer every certificate issued during the preceding five years.
What keeps that threshold in play is water plus an aging building stock. Harris County has drawn 41 federal disaster declarations, and the area takes 57 inches of rain a year, so wall cavities and subfloors are wetted repeatedly in a climate that dries them slowly. Census 2000 counted 782,378 housing units in Houston, 217,658 of them built between 1970 and 1979 and 152,681 between 1940 and 1959.
For a homeowner, the practical line is measurement rather than appearance. Below 25 contiguous square feet no license is required; at or above it, a licensed consultant writes the protocol, a licensed contractor performs the work, and the certificate joins the property's disclosure record for five years. The mold remediation guide covers that sequence.
Mold remediation rules & licensing
Mold work in Houston is governed almost entirely by state law. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation licenses mold assessors and remediators under Occupations Code Chapter 1958 and 16 TAC Chapter 78, and those rules bind every qualifying job in the city: advance notification to the state, a written work plan issued to the client, posted containment signage, a clearance assessment by an independent consultant, and a certificate the owner must hand to buyers for five years afterward. No city or county permit addresses mold directly. The local layer is the health department's minimum housing standards, which reach the moisture conditions behind mold in rental housing rather than the remediation work itself.
| Permit / inspection | When it applies |
|---|---|
| Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation — Mold Assessors and Remediators program (Occupations Code Ch. 1958; 16 TAC Ch. 78) | State-level, binding on all work in the county. Anyone providing mold assessment or remediation services must hold the applicable license; the program covers assessment technicians and consultants, remediation contractors and workers, companies, and analysis laboratories. The assessment consultant who writes a project's protocol may not also perform the remediation on that project, with a narrow exception for school districts working on their own buildings. Areas of visible mold under 25 contiguous square feet may be cleaned by unlicensed people. |
| Mold Remediation Notification (16 TAC §78.110) | State-level. Required when mold contamination affects a total surface area of 25 contiguous square feet or more and remediation will be conducted. The licensed remediation contractor or company files it online at least five days before work begins, with a $25 fee. An emergency notification, also $25, may instead be filed no later than the working day after the emergency is identified. Moving a start date earlier requires five calendar days' notice; amendments and cancellations carry no fee. |
| Minimum work practices and procedures for mold remediation (16 TAC §78.120) | State-level. The remediation contractor must prepare a project-specific work plan and give it to the client at least one calendar day before preparation work starts, then perform the job in accordance with it. Signs reading "NOTICE: Mold remediation project in progress" — at least eight by ten inches, black on yellow, legible from ten feet — must be posted at all accessible containment entrances while remediation is underway. |
| Post-remediation assessment and clearance (16 TAC §78.140) | State-level. A licensed mold assessment consultant — not the remediation contractor — conducts a post-remediation assessment by visual, procedural and analytical means, confirming the work area is free of visible mold and wood rot and that the work followed the protocol and work plan. A passed clearance report goes to the client with observations, temperature, humidity and moisture readings, sample results and photographs. |
| Certificate of Mold Remediation (Texas Occupations Code §1958.154) | State-level. No later than the tenth day after remediation is completed, the license holder must give the property owner a certificate stating that the contamination identified for the project was remediated as outlined in the mold management plan or remediation protocol, and whether the underlying cause was addressed. An owner selling the property must furnish the buyer copies of every certificate issued during the preceding five years. |
| Houston Health Department — Pollution Control, minimum standards (Code of Ordinances Ch. 10, Art. IX, Div. 4) | City-level and the only local hook on mold. The department does not conduct mold inspection or testing and does not regulate assessment or remediation contractors; it refers those matters to the state licensing agency. What it does enforce, through code enforcement officers and environmental investigators, are the minimum housing standards that reach contributing factors in residences, apartment units, hotels, motels and other multifamily housing. |
Mold disclosure & remediation standards
- Seller's Disclosure of Property Condition — Texas Property Code §5.008
- State-level. Sellers of single-family homes must give the buyer a written notice disclosing known previous flooding, previous water penetration into a structure from a natural flood event, present flood insurance coverage, and whether the property lies wholly or partly in a 100-year or 500-year floodplain, floodway, flood pool or reservoir — the water history behind most mold claims in Houston. Foreclosure, court-ordered, estate and family transfers are exempt.
- Landlord's Duty to Repair or Remedy — Texas Property Code §92.052
- State-level. A landlord must make a diligent effort to repair a condition that materially affects the physical health or safety of an ordinary tenant, which is the hook renters use for persistent leaks and resulting mold. The tenant must be current on rent and give notice to the place where rent is paid, in writing if the lease requires it. Conditions caused by the tenant or by normal wear and tear are excluded.
- Consumer Mold Information Sheet — 16 TAC §78.70(c), Responsibilities of Credentialed Persons
- State-level. Before mold work starts, the licensee must give the client and the property owner, if they differ, a copy of the state Consumer Mold Information Sheet — on first contact or at least one calendar day before any mold-related activity begins, whichever comes first. For an emergency under §78.110(e), delivery is allowed no later than the calendar day after the licensee identifies the emergency. Reports, work plans, contracts and estimates must also carry the department's name and complaint contact details.
- Conflict of Interest — Texas Occupations Code §1958.155
- State-level. A license holder may not perform both the mold assessment and the mold remediation on the same project, and no person may hold an ownership interest in both the assessment firm and the remediation firm working that project. The rule keeps the party writing the work plan and the clearance opinion independent of the party paid to do the removal. School district employees working for their own employer are excepted.
Local mold notes
- Houston Health Department — Pollution Control, Indoor Air Quality — The health department's Pollution Control division responds to indoor air quality complaints only for apartment units, hotels, motels and other multifamily housing sites, enforcing minimum standards through a certified code enforcement officer or environmental investigator. It states that it does not conduct mold inspection or testing, and directs residents to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation instead. Complaints that unlicensed persons are performing mold assessment or remediation are also filed with TDLR rather than with the city.
- Houston Pollen and Mold Report — The health department laboratory measures air samples and publishes a daily pollen and mold spore count, made available Monday through Friday except for city holidays, with monthly archives posted as downloadable spreadsheets and the counts also carried on a recorded message line. It is outdoor-air surveillance, not an indoor or property-specific measurement, so a high spore day does not establish growth inside a given building and does not substitute for a licensed assessment.
- Hurricane-Associated Mold Exposures Among Patients at Risk for Invasive Mold Infections — CDC MMWR, 2017 — The CDC surveyed 103 immunosuppressed residents drawn from three area hospital systems between October 21 and November 8, 2017, after Hurricane Harvey. Among the 37 whose homes flooded on the first floor, 28 (76 percent) reported seeing or smelling mold inside the home after the hurricane. Fifty of the 103 took part in cleanup, but only 10 of the 23 doing heavy cleanup wore a full-face, half-face or N-95 respirator, and only 2 of 27 doing light cleanup wore one. One participant wore all the protective equipment recommended for otherwise healthy persons.
- Houston Hurricane Harvey Health (Houston-3H) Study — Baylor College of Medicine — Researchers led by Baylor College of Medicine surveyed 347 residents of flood-affected areas at two points after Hurricane Harvey: within about a month, starting September 2017, and again roughly 12 months later. In the first round, 79.1 percent reported hurricane-related home flooding, 82.0 percent saw signs of household mold, and 79.4 percent reported at least one allergic symptom. A year on, 66.7 percent still observed mold inside their homes and 68.4 percent still reported an allergic symptom, indicating that mold after a major flood persists well past the initial cleanup window.
Cleanup & recovery services nearby
- City of Houston Environmental Service Centers — drive-through drop-off for household hazardous waste (latex and oil-base paint up to 25 gallons, solvents, motor oil, antifreeze, batteries, acids) plus residential e-waste, at 11500 S. Post Oak Rd. and 5614 Neches St.; entry requires a current Texas ID and a matching city utility bill or lease.
- Harris County Household Hazardous Waste Facility — appointment-only chemical and hazardous-item disposal at 6900 Hahl Road for county residents who live outside city limits and do not receive city water, trash or recycling service, open Tuesdays and Wednesdays and the 2nd and 4th Saturdays.
- R&L Dumpsters — locally owned roll-off rental in 20, 30 and 40 cubic-yard sizes on a 14-day standard rental, plus full-service junk hauling, covering the metro area including Cypress, Katy, Sugar Land and Pearland.
- Big Tex Self Storage — six climate-controlled self-storage facilities (River Oaks, the Heights, Garden Oaks, Montrose, Museum District and Uptown-Tanglewood) with units from 5×5 to 10×30 for contents moved out during repairs.
- Tommy's Tree Service — tree and stump removal from a bonded and insured crew operating in the area since 1987, with an ISA-certified arborist on staff for tree-health assessments after storm damage.
By the numbers
- Average morning relative humidity — NOAA's comparative climatic data for the 1969-2018 station record pairs this with a 59 percent afternoon average, so wet materials dry slowly year round.
- 89%