Mold Removal 101

Article by David Selter

If you see visible mold, signs of chronic moisture, and/or have a strong musty odor in your home or business, call a mold remediation company. They will come out and give you a free evaluation of the situation. Before you start spending any money on mold testing, call one of these mold removal companies. They have remediated many cases of mold contamination and can tell you whether or not you have a problem, and if so, how extensive it is. Then, if it is warranted, they can advise you to hire a mold assessment consultant to do a mold inspection and collect samples for mold testing. There are a number of remediation companies that provide this free evaluation service.

By Texas law, the company doing the testing cannot be the same company who will do the actual mold removal. That is because the mold inspection company will also do the final testing and clearance after the mold cleanup is done. You don’t want the company doing the work to clear its own work. You need the mold inspection company to be the independent third party protecting your interests. Also in Texas, mold remediation companies and mold assessment companies must be licensed by the state. This is also for your protection to ensure that remediation and testing are done according to accepted standards by companies in good standing with the state. It also ensures that you the property owner get a Certificate of Mold Remediation stating that your property has been successfully remediated. The mold assessment company also writes a protocol describing the scope of the work needed and specifically how the remediation company is to remediate the mold problem.

Mold remediation itself basically consists of tearing out mold contaminated materials in the affected areas, vacuuming with hepa vacuums, heavy cleaning, sanitizing, and sealing affected materials. BUT, all of this must be done in a walk-in containment under negative air pressure to prevent the spread of mold spores during the mold removal. Without the negative pressure containment, during demolition microscopic mold spores would become airborne and eventually settle on other surfaces throughout the home or business. Besides being an allergen in their own right, with a little moisture, maybe from high humidity, these spores will grow and compound your mold problem. During the remediation dehumidifiers will be used inside the containment to remove the moisture that caused the mold problem. Also in the containment hepa air scrubbers will constantly scrub the air of mold spores during the cleanup. All debris removed from the contained area will be double bagged and tied off with a gooseneck knot, and the outside of the bags will be hepa vacuumed before they are removed from containment.

When the mold removal, cleanup, and disinfecting is complete, the inside of the containment itself is hepa vacuumed and the containment sealed. Hepa air scrubbers will continue to operate inside the containment until the mold assessment consultant arrives to take samples for the clearance testing. If any part fails the testing it has to be recleaned under the same contained conditions. Once final clearance is given the containment is removed and the property owner receives a Certificate of Mold Remediation filled out by the mold assessment consultant and the mold remediation company within about 10 days.

Above we tried to offer a brief outline of what mold remediation consists of so that you can be armed with the basics before talking to a mold service company. But for more information about mold remediation and the Texas Mold Program go to: www.dshs.texas.gov/mold/default.shtm.

Need more help? Contact DryMore Mold Removal today for your mold removal needs.