How SERVPRO Responds When Monroe Properties Have Mold Damage

4/5/2023 (Permalink)

Containment barriers protect unaffected areas of your Monroe home from mold damage.

Why Is Inspection Essential in Monroe Homes Before Mold Restoration Procedures?

Mold is an insidious problem, especially when it proliferates in hidden areas rather than openly. The response needed to counter such contamination is unique to the affected individual or property. SERVPRO tailors solutions to meet the expectations of the Monroe homeowner while ensuring we address all aspects of mold damage.

Once your Monroe home develops mold damage, the outcome depends on your efforts to remediate the problem. For instance, leaving the contamination unaddressed for long creates the perfect opportunity for it to spread throughout your home. Once we arrive at your property, expediting the remediation is one of SERVPRO's main objectives. 

Inspection is crucial for faster remediation because it helps identify: 

• Moisture sources and contamination spread patterns
• Level of soiling from mold
• Deterioration levels in materials

It is easier to avail sufficient resources for the job with the right information. For example, if there is an active leak causing water stagnation in open or hidden areas, a restorer can avail appropriate extraction equipment. Our SERVPRO technicians use powerful extractors to remove surface water. Special extractors such as drying mats are necessary for water trapped in concealed areas beneath tiles or wooden floorboards. Otherwise, demolition is required to open up such spaces.

Timing Mold Remediation

An inspection helps improve the scheduling of the different mitigation tasks necessary to combat mold. Remediation involves several procedures. Some can run concurrently, while others have to be scheduled consecutively for the best outcome. For example, cleaning before doing demolition is a waste of effort. You can only plan for a task if you know it is necessary.

Everyday mold remediation tasks:

• Setting up containment 
• Controlled demolition of materials
• Cleaning mold colonies and residues
• Drying and deodorization

Containment is necessary when contamination is significant in one area of your home. Containment takes different forms, including sealing HVAC ducts, setting up plastic sheet barriers, and establishing clean rooms or decontamination areas. The inspection done by our Applied Microbial Remediation Technicians helps establish which of these tasks to do or what to omit. 

Clean rooms are essentially mold-free zones that you can safely occupy while the rest of the house is undergoing remediation. When our SERVPRO technicians set up barriers isolating the contaminated areas from the rest of the house, we establish negative air pressure to keep all residues within the contained area. We also use manometers to inspect the barrier to ensure airtight seals. We also use an air filtration device with HEPA filters to remove particulate matter that might cause problems in the clean rooms.

After containment, we can do the necessary demolition and cleaning. We make precision cuts to remove drywall, insulation, and other heavily contaminated porous materials during demolition. Cleaning requires a thorough method that does not introduce moisture in the structure. Methods like vacuuming or damp-wiping with antimicrobial detergents are sufficient since mold colonies are usually limited to the surface. If we need to clean semi-porous surfaces such as the solid wood within the structural supports, we can opt for more aggressive alternatives like wire brushing or sanding. The extra effort is necessary since the mold has root-like hyphae that leave it embedded in surfaces.

SERVPRO of Monroe / West Monroe can help find the right solutions for your property after mold damage. Call us at (318) 345-5121. We're Faster To Any Size Disaster.