The VaPURE™ technology Pure Maintenance Mold Removal uses has been studied by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and its chemistry has been tested in independent GLP-compliant laboratories. Below are the three papers behind the work we do in your home, with a link to each PDF.
Three works document the technology: a field test by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a compilation of independent GLP laboratory reports, and the technology provider's white paper.
The particle size separates the two approaches, and it decides where the treatment can and cannot reach.
Positive air pressure disperses the sterilant through the treated space as a vapor. The particles are roughly 7.5 microns across. Instead of settling on the first surface they meet, they rebound off it and keep moving, so the vapor disperses throughout the treated space and reaches surfaces, porous materials, soft furnishings, and voids as it goes.
Because the particles keep moving through the treated space, the process usually avoids demolition. There is no need to open a wall to reach what is inside it.
Surfaces are left dry. Nothing in the house gets wet.
Conventional remediation leans on containment, demolition, disposal, and rebuild, with a ULV spray application over the top. The spray produces much larger droplets.
Larger droplets settle quickly, so coverage depends on where the spray reaches, and the containment approach tears out what it cannot reach.
The process runs in two passes with two different products, and each does a different job.
The first application is the sterilant vapor. It treats the mold it reaches, on surfaces and in the air. The active component of the sterilant is on the EPA's Safer Chemical Ingredients List. After treatment it breaks down into acetic acid, which is white vinegar, plus oxygen and water.
This is the pass that deals with the mold load the house already has.
The second application leaves a residual layer bonded to the surfaces it lands on. Under a microscope it is a field of spikes, a bed of nails at cell scale, and it helps the surface resist regrowth.
Pure Maintenance Mold Removal is a licensed Pure Maintenance operator, owned and run by Mike Pierce. The research on this page concerns the licensed technology.
The Army's Engineer Research and Development Center evaluated the VaPURE™ application system in two occupied buildings at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, over six months, looking at how well it worked at first and whether the mold came back.
The U.S. Army needed a way to remediate mold inside occupied barracks without removing structural materials or relocating soldiers. The Engineer Research and Development Center evaluated the vapor-based application system across two buildings that stayed occupied the whole time, and compared spore counts before treatment, immediately after, and again six months later.
The full ERDC technical report is hosted publicly by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers digital library.
A compilation of independent laboratory tests of vapor peracetic acid (VPA), the chemistry behind the VaPURE™ process.
"Good Laboratory Practice" is the standard regulators apply to safety and efficacy studies. The compilation sets out the method, the organisms tested, and each lab's report.
S. Jankoski's white paper looks at three variables: a 7.5μm particle size, the change from liquid to vapor, and dwell time.
Working together, those three make the treatment behave like a gas rather than a liquid.
Particle size. At 7.5μm, each vapor droplet is roughly 1/9th the diameter of a human hair. That is small enough to stay suspended in air and travel with it into wall cavities, ductwork, the space behind cabinets, and porous building materials.
Phase change. The treatment is delivered as a liquid that flashes to vapor on application, dispersing throughout the treated space instead of coating only the surfaces a sprayer can hit.
Dwell time. The vapor stays in suspension long enough to reach mold on surfaces and in the air.
Call or send the form with your question about a study, and we'll go through how it applies to your house.