CASE STUDY

Why Many “Professional” Central MA Mold Remediators Are Mere Amateurs

How To Spot The Posers Who Will Take Your Money While Providing Lackluster Results.

BY DAVID MYRICK, OWNER

Mold remediation is part of an industry called restoration. Restoration companies in Northern VA typically do water damage, fire damage, mold remediation, and biohazard cleanup. Each of these services is loosely related, but the big money-maker is water damage restoration.

So guess what these companies do 99% of the time? Yep, water damage restoration.

Here’s the problem. Since they can pull out the certifications that show they’re trained in mold, they claim to be mold experts as well… despite having done very few actual mold-remediation jobs.

As I’ve talked about many times on this website, doing mold remediation the right way is tough, labor-intensive, and requires serious experience. Not just anybody can come in and remove the mold in your home correctly.

To prove this to you, let me share a few examples of restoration companies pretending to know what they’re doing when it comes to mold remediation.

Amateur Hour #1: “Not A Fan”

A homeowner in Falls Church called a local well-known restoration franchise for a mold project. The company came to her home, set up fans, and tore out her mold without building a containment barrier. Those are two HUGE mistakes.

Fans are great for water damages. But fans in a mold-infested area is a huge no-no. Mold remediation kicks up thousands of mold spores. Having a fan blasting while remediation is going on is going to blow those mold spores every which way.

The REALLY big mistake, however, is not setting up a containment barrier. The mold spores kicked up from remediation can travel all around the house. And with a FAN BLOWING, it’s going to make things even worse.

Amateur Hour #2: “The Fourth Time Is NOT The Charm”

The project manager of a well-known restoration company complained to the local supply store representative about how a mold tester had failed them 3 times in a crawlspace they were remediating. The store rep sold the project manager 5 gallons of hydrogen peroxide guaranteeing “they’ll pass this time.”

There are 3 things wrong with this scenario… and all of them leave the homeowner holding the bag:

First, testing the air for mold in a crawl space is pointless because it will fail every time because the floor is made of dirt. Dirt has countless mold spores in it. I mean, it’s DIRT!

Second, the homeowner was getting charged for each failed mold test. If the “remediator” knew better, they would have protected their client from this shady mold tester who kept testing the crawl space.

Third, using that much hydrogen peroxide in the crawl space is a health hazard. The toxic hydrogen peroxide gas (which can cause headaches, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting) will rise through the crawl space and permeate the air in the home.

The mold-testing process in this situation is completely unnecessary. No matter what the “remediator” does to the crawlspace, he’s going to fail the mold test… for the fourth time… when there shouldn’t even be a test in the first place.

Mold Remediation Done RIGHT

We specialize in mold remediation. That’s it. It’s ALL we do. And we have the PASSION to make sure we do it RIGHT.

Here’s an example…

We had a client with 6 children. They had a severely moldy crawl space and huge levels of airborne mold in their home because of a pipe leak.

Our company went toe to toe with their insurance adjuster, who tried to deny their claim. We spent an entire night photocopying and highlighting pages out of the S-500 water damage standard to prove why proper mold remediation should be covered in their insurance claim.

Our work gave the client enough ammo to get a $42,000 insurance settlement!

Then the adjuster brought a well-respected mold tester in the area, who tried to scare my client and convince us to take massive short-cuts. This would’ve saved the insurance company money and made our work MUCH easier. However, the shortcuts would have meant that the mold would eventually come back and create a health hazard for the family.

So using the S-520 mold remediation standard, we were able to prove our remediation methods were sound and the tester was WRONG. We didn’t care if it took longer—we were going to remediate the mold the RIGHT way. That’s just the kind of company we are.

For more examples of how we’re the Northern VA (and Washington DC) mold remediator that does things right, explore our case studies.

After that, reach out to us if you think you have a mold problem. In addition to mold remediation, we also provide cutting-edge mold testing… for a price that won’t break the bank.

We look forward to speaking with you.