Mold Damage Removal: 7 Things You Need to Know
According to some statistics, 70% of homes have mold in them. If you’re in that percentage, you might want to focus on mold damage removal.
But how do mold damage restoration and removal work?
We have the perfect guide for you to handle mold in your home, so make sure you keep reading.
1. Learn About Mold
First, you’ll need to learn as much as possible about mold. You’ll need to figure out why it’s growing in certain areas, and it’s most commonly grown in corners or walls.
It can be invisible at first, and sometimes it can even grow behind walls so you can’t see it. In that case, information is power.
First, you’ll have to understand water and moisture are almost always the main cause of mold growth. Because of that, you’ll have to learn a lot about moisture.
You’ll need to identify where the moisture is coming from and why it got into your home. This might be easier to identify in some cases, but it’s not always visible.
If you have water and moisture growing in your home, it could start growing in just 48 hours.
The mold spores can’t be seen by the naked eye, and they’ll float along. They could enter your home through an HVAC system, your pet, doors, windows, or even bathrooms that aren’t ventilated well.
When these mold spores come into your house, moisture will make them grow quickly. If you have a colony of black mold, then it’ll start to cause irritants for other people.
2. Identify the Source
Now that you have some information on the mold, you’ll need to figure out where the mold is coming from.
Look at areas that have a lot of moisture. You can look in sing cabinets, window sills, basements, bathrooms, and showers.
If you can’t visibly see any mold in your house, you can find a mold specialist who can use tools that use thermal imaging to find where the moisture is coming from, which could be where the mold is.
3. Identify the Cause
Next, you’ll need to identify why your mold is growing. Anything like a roof leak, sewer backup, appliance leak, broken pipe, flooding, or a poorly ventilated shower could cause mold.
You can try and use a HEPA air filter to get the spore-sized particles out of the air before they land somewhere and start growing.
Even clean or treated water can make mold start growing. However, if the water is more contaminated, it’s more likely that the fungus will start growing in that water than in clean water.
4. Contain the Mold
Now, you’ll need to contain the mold. You’ll have to start by isolating the area that’s contaminated.
Close all of the windows and doors to trap the mold in one area and avoid letting it spread to the rest of the house.
For a serious mold problem, you’ll need to cover all the doorways and any of the openings. You should seal the seams of the sheeting with slip openings. You can enter the contaminated area into the slip opening.
Next, you’ll have to get rid of any of the dust. You can do this by using some mist in the area that’s contaminated.
After you’ve contained it, make sure that you clean the rest of your some as well. Wipe down any surface that isn’t moldy with disposable wipes.
5. Filter Air
When you’re removing mold, it’s best to filter out the air as well. You should get negative air machines that have the ability to vacuum out high-efficiency particulates.
These filters will run through the air and make sure to suck out dust and other spores. If you don’t vacuum these out while you’re trying to get rid of mold, it’ll be even more difficult to actually get rid of them.
6. Remove the Mold
Next, start removing all of the moldy and wet materials.
The best way to remove the mold is to just get rid of all of the affected materials. This means you might have to take out furniture, carpet, wood trim, insulation, caulking, or anything else that the mold infected.
Make sure that you remove all of it or it will come back.
You may even want to check with a specialist and reference documents from the Environmental Protection Agency. This will tell you which areas of mold you’ll need to remove by law.
When you start removing the materials, you can put the materials into a plastic bag. You should make sure that the bag is very sick, and then tie the bag closed.
You can get rid of the bag as if it’s regular trash. Wipe the outside of the bags with a damp cloth to make sure you don’t leave any other spores in your home as you take them out.
7. Replace
Now, you’ll need to find a mold damage specialist like Z PLUMBERZ of North Fulton. They will help you restore the area that was affected.
In this situation, you’ll need restoration services that will make sure that you use the proper and new building materials.
Learn More About Mold Damage Removal
These are only a few things you can do for mold damage removal, but keep in mind that it might be best to have a professional handle the removal.
We know that dealing with water damage and mold removal can be stressful, but we’re here to help you out.
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