You Have Mold, Now What?

1/15/2020 (Permalink)

Water damage in this condo has caused mold to develop behind the vanity

Picture this. You wake up, walk into your bathroom and find a puddle on the floor. Immediately you contact SERVPRO of West Pasco to come out to your home to start drying it out. While inspecting the area they notice some microbial growth behind the vanity. WHAT NOW?  

This is the same scenario faced by one of our clients in her gorgeous waterfront condo in Dunedin, Florida. Luckily SERVPRO of West Pasco arrived quickly and – as a firm licensed by the State of Florida as a Mold Remediator – we knew exactly what to do. Microbial growth and the dreaded threat of mold sounds ominous, but with a team of trained professionals behind you, it doesn’t have to be scary. Our technicians and project managers are trained to handle such threats so its “Like it never even happened.” 

Here’s a play-by-play of the process we use when dealing with any kind of microbial growth. Our No. 1 priority is safety. This is not only for our technicians but for our clients as well. We protect onsite workers with proper PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) first. One of the most important next steps we take is placing containment to separate the uncontaminated area from our work zone and minimize the opportunities for spores to spread. Next we detached all affected material such as the vanity, bathtub, and even the mirror mounted to the wall. It’s crucial to remove anything that could be affected, and if being saved, we clean and treat it before placing it back. It’s worthy to note that while working with mold in any situation we always have air scrubbers in place and negative pressure to ensure that we don’t contaminate anymore of the space. Drywall was then removed, all studs and framing treated and wiped, and the air scrubber was left overnight to get anything that may have been left behind. The final step in treating this kind of disaster is an independent clearance test, in which an independent environmental hygienist collects air samples to confirm any issues have indeed been remediated. This step provides a confirmation that the property is safe for occupancy and that the procedure was successful.  

So while mold might seem like a reason to panic, rest assured when you use a firm like SERVPRO of West Pasco.