Mold remediation and what it is, Home flower mound advice, Property maintenance guide

Mold Remediation – What is it?

6 February 2023

Do you sneeze a lot or have skin rashes accompanied by a headache when you use the air conditioner? Do you smell a musty odor around your moist living space? Or is your kid always wheezing, and you don’t know why? Mold could be a threat creeping in from your basement or hidden corners of your home, causing health issues.

In these scenarios, do not undermine the symptoms and immediately call a mold inspection team to carry out a mold remediation process in the zones of contamination.

Mold remediation is a procedure that involves assessing the right source, detection, and containment, accompanied by safe disposal, cleaning, sanitizing, and continuous post-remediation monitoring of the surface for early detection.

When Do You Really Need Mold Remediation?

As you know, prevention is better than cure; you must not neglect the early signs of mold growth as you have a smaller damage.

Surprisingly, your indoor activities can also be a root cause of mold growth because even when you breathe, shower, or wash clothes, your body produces water, which is released into the atmosphere. Your bathrooms can be another major source of mold and any damp place in your home is bound to have mold growth if it is exposed to water.

Essentially, you must note that mold remediation is necessary through the hands of experts when mold grows in an area of 10 square feet or more. Don’t ignore these signs, as mentioned below.

· Visible signs of mold

You may have visible signs of mold growth, like patches on the walls, or have rooms with poor ventilation that can lead to moisture accumulation around the corners. Additionally, you may observe discolored walls or ceilings, which is also a sign of mold. As molds have colors based on the organic matter that they consume, they can not always be black. You should not ignore the dusty-looking sand granules, which may be brown, red, or white.

· Moldy Smell

Whenever you enter a room, a basement or open your drawers, you might smell musty even when you don’t observe a prominent mold growth anywhere. Just having a smell does not always necessitate you to hire a professional, as other dead organic matter or bacteria may also be responsible for such a scent. However, If you have a strong smell and feel the need to inspect, you can always go for it.

· Water Damage

If your basement or rooms had water damage recently, there are high chances of mold growth, as small microscopic spores can easily be the cause of the huge spread of mold around the house.

Your basement might have water intrusion due to trickling water from cracked drainage pipes, snow, broken windows, flood, or any other reason. This water intrusion triggers moisture to accumulate and grow around the house. In such a situation, the mold remediation team can help you restore the area as they have the right training and credentials to mend the situation.

· Past Experience

As a homeowner, you may have observed mold growth in the past and may have used some home remedies. Now, you experience it again as you are unable to control the moisture, thus requiring professional assistance. To get effective solutions for mold remediation, you need to hire trained individuals who will eliminate the problem from the source and prevent it with better temperature control.

Mold Remediation Process

The overall detailed process of detecting mold, finding solutions to cure them, and ensuring that they do not revert to the same area again. You can follow four major steps of remediation as follows:

· Mold detection and type identification

First, you should identify the type of mold and its source of contamination after which you take them for testing. Source detection of mold is the most essential step that you need to take to make the overall remediation process successful. In this process, you need to hire a certified specialist so that they can properly assess the hidden mold growth on the nooks and corners of your home.

· Isolation of mold

Next, you need to safely isolate and dispose of the growing mold in a sealed container and ensure that further it does not spread and there are no spores released into the atmosphere. But you should also protect yourself and the remediation team by wearing goggles, suits, boots, and respiratory masks so that contamination is minimal.

· Cleaning and Sanitation

Once you isolate and discard the mold from your contaminated area, you should clean and sterilize them. You should also make sure that the tools and equipment used for sanitizing are not further in contact with other household electronics and textiles. Once everything is cleaned well, you can also talk with the mold remediation team to get you an environmental hygienist if you have a larger contaminated area. In this scenario, you will get a final clearance report, which will give you peace of mind that the mold will not revert again.

· Periodic checks

Once everything is done, you must periodically check the areas on a regular interval so that you get an early signal about moisture infiltration which ultimately leads to mold growth within 24-72 hours.

Mold Remediation: Is it the same as mold removal?

Mold remediation is often equated with mold removal. However, there is a big difference between the two concepts.

On the one hand, mold removal is just about the process that involves ejecting mold from the contaminated area without making efforts to identify the source of it. On the other hand, remediation is about identifying the source of mold, testing it, cleaning and sanitizing, and, in the end, constantly inspecting and controlling the growth, if any. Indeed mold removal is a part of the mold remediation process, but just removing the mold doesn’t mean that there has been a remediation and the mold does not come back again. When you follow a complete process of mold remediation, you can ensure that the harmful mold will not creep in back.

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