Mold Removal
Mold Removal is the fourth step necessary to restore your home back to normal. After an inspection, testing, and remediation, then comes mold removal.
Mold Removal:
What is Mold Removal?
Mold removal and mold remediation are technically two very different things. Typically when a person uses either term, what they are really talking about is both mold removal and mold remediation. Meaning, they want to reverse or stop the damage being caused by killing and denaturing the mold; AND they want it to be physically removed.
Methods for Removing Mold
There are only a few ways to remove mold. The most common ways are:
Demolition and disposal
Rip and tear out affected materials that are no longer salvageable, then throw them away.
Blasting with abrasives
There are several types of blasting, but dry ice blasting is the only practical one for indoors, because the dry ice pellets turn into gas and leave zero mess. This method is mostly used on concrete, brick or in attics to remove mold from trusses and the underside of roof sheathing.
Wipe and paint
Complete and total physical removal is unnecessary when what remains is harmless. This is why wipe and paint works, and can sufficiently remove the mold and make a wall look brand new without any tear-out.
Some companies will remove first, then kill what’s left of the living mold. We remediate first. This allows us to create a safer environment and in some cases reduce costs. For example, killing, then wiping, then painting is less costly than unnecessarily ripping out the sheetrock or other wallboard, then rebuilding.
Which Molds are Bad for Your Health?
There are over 100,000 types of mold and fungi, and if you breathe in spores from any one of them in high enough concentrations, they can be bad for your health. Some are extremely mild, and pose imperceptible harm. For others, if you were to attend a professional mold remediator training, you would learn that they can be extremely harmful to your health. Six families of mold are particularly problematic and known to be allergenic, toxigenic, and/or pathogenic.
It is important to remember that mold spores are found in every breath we take; indoors and outdoors. A low count = fresh mountain air, while a very high count of that same type of mold = toxic air. It is the mold spore count per cubic meter that matters. Getting the count, down to acceptable levels over the long-term is the ultimate goal and result that we deliver at Pure Maintenance.
All Molds Are Either: Allergenic, Pathogenic or Toxigenic
A mold can possess one, two, and in rare cases all three of these characteristics. Just like everything that affects our health, how our bodies react to different molds is dependent on the strength of our individual immune systems and genetic makeup.
Allergenic Molds
These are molds that cause and produce allergies and allergic reactions such as asthma attacks. Like any allergy, the onset of symptoms can be very fast and affect only those who are susceptible.
Pathogenic Molds
These are molds that cause disease and infection are pathogens. Chronic sinus infections, aka sinusitis, can be caused by mold. Yeast infections, bronchopolumonary aspergillosis, certain pneumonia and thrush are examples of some of the many mold-induced infections. Fortunately thes are extremely rare for those with strong immune systems.
Toxigenic Molds
These are molds that produce VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds). These VOC chemicals are called mycotoxins, and affect everybody negatively. Breathing these is akin to being breathing in smoke, aerosol sprays or gasoline vapors. They are bad for the healthiest, and for the severely immunocompromised, can be deadly.
Note: You may hear of a fourth category of mold called “Cosmetic Molds.” For us, the only accurate definition of a cosmetic mold is one that is fully remediated: denatured and dead.
The Six Families of Mold with High Probability of Making You Feel Sick
Stachybotrys
Rip and tear out affected materials that are no longer salvageable, then throw them away.
Chaetomium
There are several types, but dry ice blasting is the only practical one for indoors, because the dry ice pellets turn into gas and leave zero mess. This method is mostly used on concrete, brick or in attics to remove mold from trusses and the underside of roof sheathing.
Aspergillus
Complete and total physical removal is unnecessary when what remains is harmless. This is why wipe and paint works, and can make a wall look brand new.
Fusarium
Complete and total physical removal is unnecessary when what remains is harmless. This is why wipe and paint works, and can make a wall look brand new.
Penicillium
Complete and total physical removal is unnecessary when what remains is harmless. This is why wipe and paint works, and can make a wall look brand new.
Alternaria
Complete and total physical removal is unnecessary when what remains is harmless. This is why wipe and paint works, and can make a wall look brand new.
Areas We Service
Duval County
Jacksonville
Jacksonville Beach
Neptune Beach
Atlantic Beach
Baldwin
Nassau County
Yulee
Ferandina Beach
Callahan
Hilliard
Nassau Village-Ratliff
Amelia Island
St. John's County
Nocatee
St Augustine Beach
Hastings
Fruit Cove
Vilano Beach
Crescent Beach
Palm Valley
Butler Beach
Saint Augustine Shores
Saint Augustine South
Sawgrass
Putnam County
Palatka
Interlachen
Crescent City
East Palatka
Ponoma Park
Welaka
Bardin
Jacksonville County's Best Restoration Solution
We guarantee you will get the best possible results, while paying less per square foot than you would with any other provider in Florida.
