Mold is a serious health hazard for many homeowners in Georgia. The state’s humid sub-tropical climate makes both residential and commercial buildings throughout the region susceptible to the threat of mold growth. For the sake of health and well-being of the occupants, delaying preventative or remedial action is never a salient idea.
In this guide, we will explain everything you need to know about effectively handling a mold infestation on your property. Learn all about the basics of Mold Remediation, how to prepare for it, and why you should seriously consider hiring professionals instead of going the DIY route for mold inspection Savannah, GA.
Why You Need a Professional Company to Handle Your Mold Problem?
Mold is not something you should take lightly as a property owner in Georgia. If left unaddressed even for a few days, it can make your life uncomfortable in more ways than one. And if you are interested in taking a DIY approach to mold removal, we can say with utmost confidence that in 99.9% of cases of significant and visible mold damage, that's not a stellar idea.
The best option for mold removal, be it from a practical, financial, or personal safety perspective is to call in the professionals. If you need more convincing, here are five reasons why mold remediation is best left in the hands of professional cleaning companies like Bio-One Savannah:
Mold is a Known Health Hazard
In the popular video game/TV series The Last of Us, the main villain is a fictionalized version of a real world fungi/mold called Chordyceps. While mold capable of turning humans into undead zombies doesn’t exist in real life, many species of mold can release deadly toxins harmful to human health.
Stachybotris chartarum, a species of black mold commonly found inside homes and buildings with water damage, can cause serious health risks in children, the elderly, and individuals with a compromised immune system.
Due to the risk of severe adverse health effects in the long run from mold infestation and its impact on indoor air quality, it's best not to take a casual DIY approach in handling any instance of suspected mold infestation. Trained and experienced mold removal teams can guarantee dependable service and peace of mind.
Mold Can Ruin Your Property’s Resale Prospects
Real estate is widely considered as a reliable hedge against inflation. But getting a good price for your residential property is next to impossible if it has any visible signs of a mold infestation. Most buyers will back out of a deal at the first sign of mold.
And people these days are mindful of the risks of black mold when buying a home. They will call in professionals to conduct a thorough inspection of your property for signs of health hazards like lead paint and hidden mold damage before going ahead with a sale.
If you are planning to put the property on the market any time soon, it is in your best interests to call a professional clean-up company for a thorough mold inspection. If they don’t detect any signs of mold damage, you can get that in official writing to reassure prospective buyers.
And if they find traces of mold, you can get it removed and get official documentation to prove that you have done everything possible to remove the threat. For landlords looking for a quick, hassle-free sale, a professional mold inspection is well-nigh essential.
Mold is Not Easy to Detect
Unless you have a severe case of infestation with considerable water damage on your walls and ceiling, a mold infestation is not that easy to detect. If in the early stages of the infestation, there may not be any visible signs of mold damage.
Mold Remediation experts know how to look for the tell-tale signs of a mold infestation, even if it is buried deep inside your walls, floor, or ceiling. The professionals have the experience of tackling mold in a wide range of scenarios, in different types of buildings.
Special Equipment and Protective Gear is Required
Given the serious health risk posed by mold, full personal protective equipment is essential for anyone attempting to tackle a mold infestation. This includes gloves, masks, respirators, goggles, and full-body coveralls. On top of that, you need to isolate the affected area using plastic sheets.
Any mold remediation process also requires industrial-grade vacuums with HEPA filters to capture spores that are released into the air. You also need special anti-bacterial solutions to kill the mold growth. Cobbling together all that gear is not easy for the average landowner.
Mold is Stubborn and Not Easy to Remove
All it takes is the spread of a few errant spores through the air for a mold infestation to start anew from a different location in your house. If you try to tackle a mold remediation project on your own, there is a high risk of not completely eradicating the fungus from your home.
Apart from cleaning out and replacing any surfaces with visible external damage, you may also have to treat surfaces that are not readily visible, inside floorboards or drywalls. A mold remediation company knows all that and usually does a deep cleaning to prevent regrowth.
What is the Process for Mold Remediation?
Mold Remediation is a step-by-step process by which the Bio-One cleaning teams professionally detect and eradicate the presence of any potentially dangerous mold infestation inside your home or business premises.
People usually call professional mold remediation teams when they detect (or suspect) a mold infestation in the building. Here are some of the signs that you need to call Bio-One Savannah for professional Biorecovery mold remediation:
- You can visually see signs of mold infestation on parts of your walls, ceiling, or floor/basement.
- You have serious concerns about the indoor air quality in your home.
- You can sense a damp, musty, rotten odor emanating from your floors or walls.
- Your family experience frequent allergy or asthma flareups.
- Your home/building has suffered significant water damage through floods, water leaks, sewage leaks etc.
If you see or experience any of the situations mentioned above, it is time to call in some assistance from a professional mold removal company like Bio-One Savannah. Time is of the essence here – particularly in a warm and humid climate like Georgia, mold spores can grow and proliferate within 24 hours.
If you delay the Biorecovery mold remediation process by weeks or even days, it will lead to greater damage to your home and increased repair costs. If you have never called in professional mold removers, here is a quick guide on how the entire process works:
1. Call the Clean-up Company
If you spot or suspect a mold infestation, it is vital that you call professional mold removers and not the local handyman. With a professional entity like Bio-One Savannah, you get the assurance of a skilled team of experts, armed with all the safety equipment and gear.
Our teams follow EPA-mandated safety protocols while removing any mold from your property. You can expect reliable and effective mold remediation, undertaken within the shortest possible timeframe, and minimal impact on the unaffected areas of your home/property.
As the first step of the Biorecovery mold remediation process in Savannah GA, give us a call at 912-755-1211. Our services are available 24/7 – just put in a service request with the relevant details and we will take care of everything.
2. Schedule an Initial Assessment Visit
Before any kind of mold remediation, you have to perform a thorough assessment of your property to gauge the severity and extant of the mold infestation. Our mold removal experts will visit your property on an appointed time and perform an in-depth assessment.
Professional mold inspections typically include a visual inspection, as well as the use of specialized equipment like thermal imaging cameras and moisture meters. These allow the experts to gauge the severity of the problem – if the house is very warm and humid, with high moisture content in certain surfaces, chances are you have a severe mold problem.
The process will go a lot quicker if you already know the location of mold infestation. The experts will assess the visible damage, and fan out to look for potential spread of the problem to other hidden corners of your home.
Once we get the full picture, we will give you our estimate regarding the time and costs involved. After the initial assessment, our team will schedule a convenient date at the earliest for the Mold Remediation process and give you further instructions on preparing the property for mold removal.
In normal situations, we typically do not request a mold test using air samples collected from your home. Mold testing is done when a customer wants to know for certain that dangerous species of mold is not present inside their homes.
3. The Actual Clean-Up and Mold Removal
On the scheduled day of mold remediation, our team of Bio-One Savannah cleaning experts will come with all the equipment and materials necessary to eradicate mold from your home. Before our arrival, you can prepare your property for mold remediation by doing the following things:
- Removing as much furniture and other large items from the area affected by mold (take care to ensure that you only remove objects that are not already affected by mold).
- Removing objects from your front entrance to the affected areas, creating better access to the cleaning teams.
- Sequestering any dogs or other pets you have in a different part of the home, or out in the backyard.
- Moving any cars from the garage and driveway to provide unfettered access to the cleaning team van/truck.
On the appointed time, our team will arrive, unload the equipment, and gear up with PPE kits for the mold remediation process. Depending on the severity and complexity of the infestation, it could take our teams anywhere from 1 to 3 days to remove all the mold and make your home safe for human inhabitation again.
How Does Bio-One Savannah Clean Up Mold in a Home?
Our fully trained experts follow a strict protocol when performing a Biorecovery mold remediation of your home. It involves the following steps after arriving on the site and getting fully suited up:
Containment of the Affected Area
The team will use plastic sheets to create a secure zone around the mold affected areas. The process of cutting and removing damaged surfaces will release fungal spores into the air. Isolating the area with secured plastic sheets will minimize the risk of spores spreading to other parts of your home.
We also use powerful vacuums with HEPA filters to ensure that any spores released into the air during the cleaning process is promptly captured and not allowed any time to escape.
Removal of the Source of Humidity
The first order of business is to stop the supply of water to the mold. If there is a leak or some other kind of plumbing or sewage issues, our team will rectify that first. If the moisture source is not identified and removed, the mold will return within a few days.
Removal of Contaminated Materials
When mold takes hold of porous surfaces inside your home like drywall, plaster, clothing, fabric covered surfaces (like sofa furniture), or carpeting, we have no option but to remove these contaminated materials. Items once damaged by mold are usually not recoverable and cannot be cleaned.
Our team will cut away all affected dry-wall, plaster, and so on from the interior walls and securely collect them in air-tight plastic waste removal bags. We will handle the safe disposal of these contaminated materials in line with the local laws and regulations on the handling and disposal of biohazardous waste.
Cleaning Along With the Application of a Mold Killer
Once the severely damaged surfaces are removed, the team will scrub away all physical manifestations of growth from the remaining areas. Then, they will apply an EPA-approved chemical called a biocide – this is a special chemical that is designed to kill all mold spores and growth.
The substance is sprayed on all affected surfaces. The biocide needs some time to get the job done – the team will leave the work area after applying the substance. It could take anywhere from a few hours to a day the biocide to work. We also have to wait for the affected area dry up for the final step.
Encapsulation of Remaining Spores
Our team will spray the treated surfaces with one final coating of special paint or whitewash. This will ensure that any surviving spores are trapped and has no way to grow. With this step, the Mold Remediation is complete.
For a Lasting Solution to Your Mold Related Issues, Call Bio-One Savannah GA Today!
Bio-One Savannah is the trusted name for mold remediation and biohazard decontamination in Savannah, GA, and nearby locations like Brantley County, Bulloch County, Camden County, Liberty County, and Toombs County.
To schedule an initial assessment of the mold problem in your home, or to find answers to any other queries you may have about our services, give us a call at any time at 912-755-1211. Alternatively, you can fill out the service request form available on the Contact Us page of our official website using this link. To read more of our content, visit our Blog Page!
