How We Saved Our Customer $30,000

There are occasions when receiving instant results will solve a mystery that would otherwise take weeks or months to figure out, if ever, with standard equipment. This case is one such occasion and why the InstaScope is an invaluable tool that helps make us the very best in the business.

A Call For Help

We received a call from a client who had moved into her home just a month prior but thought they had a serious air quality problem nonetheless. She couldn’t see any visible mold, and her house was neat as a pin, yet there was a persistent mustiness to the air. After doing her due diligence investigating mold remediation companies on the internet – reading reviews, checking industry sources, and learning about the process – Valor Mold Removal was her first choice.

Shocking Results

When we arrived, we noted that it was a new construction with a high-end HVAC system with excellent HEPA filters. However, as we performed our whole house inspection, we noticed that the readings from our InstaScope were through the roof, with results more likely to come from an abandoned home with a leaky roof, not a brand new luxury home.

No Proven Explanations

We asked her if she had observed the construction of her home, and she stated that she had rented the space next door during the build. She saw no signs of any flooding or any of the boneheaded mistakes builders can make, such as drywalling before the roof is in place.

We then asked her if she had opened any of her windows since moving in, and she said no. Our best guess was that, with the home shut tight since day one, the dust and debris of final construction had never been expelled from her home and was responsible for the extreme readings we were getting.

Her Best Options

We laid out the various actions we could take, such as:

“Burping” the house – this is a simple way of getting rid of leftover dust by having the client open all of her windows for two (preferably windy) days to purge the air in her home. We would then return in two weeks to retest the home. Cost: $0
Purchasing an air purifier for each of her 12 rooms at $400 each and buying a true HEPA vacuum at around $800. Cost: $5600+
Hiring us to run air scrubbers and do a fine particle cleaning of her entire home. Cost: $30,000

We advised her first to attempt burping her home since if it failed, we could then move on to more aggressive measures but, if it worked, she’d have saved herself between $5,600 and $30,000 in unnecessary expenses.

Success And A Mystery

When we came back, the main floor tested fantastic, as did most of the upstairs rooms. However, the Master Bedroom was still testing very high, more than ten times the numbers everywhere else in the house and well above what is considered safe. We were told that the upstairs had just been vacuumed that morning, which hinted that the problem had something to do with the flooring upstairs.

The InstaScope Proves Its Mettle

This is when the InstaScope really shined. With its ability to spot test and give instant results (instead of having to send samples to a lab like all other local mold companies), we were able to fluff the bedspread and pillows and test them in the moment. Both the spread and the pillows tested about the same as the room. But when we ruffled the area rug at the foot of the bed, it tested at an astounding 995,527ppm. That’s nearly pure mold spores vs air!

This area rug was a new purchase from a reputable dealer, yet it was almost as much mold as it was fibers. Well, not quite, but it was seriously contaminated and occupied a high traffic area at the foot of the master bedroom bed. Every time someone stepped on the rug, they created a cloud of mold spores that were then slowly circulated throughout the house.

We advised her to have the rug professionally cleaned using a full immersion process to eliminate the contamination. Due to its large size, she opted to dispose of the rug rather than search for a facility that could disinfect it properly.

An Excellent Result Impossible Without Our Equipment

The homeowner was displeased that her new rug was a disastrous purchase, but she was delighted that we had talked her out of spending $30,000 to solve her mystery. Without the incredible investigative power provided by the InstaScope, we would have had no choice but to recommend the $30,000 answer and still would have been left with no solution. There is just no substitute for the instantaneous spot-checking and reporting provided by the InstaScope when trying to solve a mysterious mold issue.

If you think you have a mold problem in your home, contact us at Valor Mold Removal and schedule an appointment. We’ll be able to give you answers within hours of arriving at your door.