BY DAVID MYRICK, OWNER
When I explain my company’s meticulousmold containment process to homeowners in Northern VA, Central VA, and Washington DC, I typically get one of two reactions…
Homeowners in the “that’s amazing” crowd may not always understand all the science behind proper mold containment. But they trust the process.
The “who cares” crowd is a little different—and I completely get where they’re coming from.
They don’t see why it matters if mold spores move from the project area to other parts of the home if those areas are dry. After all, if mold spores don’t have moisture, they can’t grow into a mold colony. So what’s the harm?
The logic seems sound. But it’s not actual mold you have to worry about.
It’s mold spores.
You inhale mold spores with every breath you take.
You just inhaled some reading that last sentence.
And you’re now inhaling more as you read this sentence.
Breathing in mold spores in small amounts like this won’t affect the average person. But breathing in the massive number of airborne mold spores caused by remediation?
That’s a different story.
When you remove or disturb a mold colony, it releases billions of spores into the air to take root somewhere else more friendly. And breathing in this large amount of mold spores is not good.
There are two harmful part of a mold spore:
Some people think chemicals will save the day but it doesn’t matter:
If you spray it with a chemical that breaks down the spore into a million pieces—now you have a million more pieces that cause a health reaction.
If you “kill” the mold with chemicals, now the spore can’t grow into a colony if it lands on a wet surface…but it still causes the same allergic health reaction to you personally.
Other harmful components of mold are fungal fragments (pieces of the mold colony that have broken into even smaller fragments), beta glucans, mVOC’s (microbial volatile organic compounds), and so on. These are all things you want to avoid behind exposed to if you can help it
Long story short…
Thinking of inhaling mold spores like drinking wine. Consuming a small amount at a time won’t harm the average person. Drinking 10 bottles at a time? That’s a health hazard to anyone.
When you kick a “fluffy” dandelion, it releases dozens of its seeds into the air. Mold colonies act much the same way as dandelions… except on a massive scale.
When a mold remediator is working, he or she disturbs the mold colony. As I mentioned a moment ago, this causes the colony to release hundreds of thousands of mold spores into the air. If the project area isn’t properly contained, those mold spores will spread to the rest of your home.
This is why we’re so meticulous with our containment process.
We go to extraordinary lengths to prevent mold spores from escaping the project area and permeating other areas of your household. If a mold remediator doesn’t do this, the entire project is pointless.
It’s that simple.
A company could have a painstaking containment process. They could meticulously erect the highest-quality barrier. They could use the greatest materials on the market.
And none of it will matter at all if they don’t utilize the Air Filtration Device (AFD) set up as a Negative Air Machine (NAM) during the removal process.
The truth is that even the best containment barrier on the planet is not airtight.
Why?
If the contained area isn’t under negative air pressure, these “vulnerability” points will let mold spores slip through and cause cross-contamination (i.e., other parts of your house that didn’t have a problem before, now have high amounts of mold spores).
That’s why Proper Containment + Negative Air Pressure is the proper equation during the demolition and mold-removal phase. I break it all down in this article: How Most Mold Remediators Botch Air Pressure [blog post: “How Most Mold Remediators In NOVA, Central VA & DC Botch Air Pressure].
If you’re in the “who cares” crowd I mentioned at the beginning of this article, I hope I’ve shed a little light on why containment is so important. It’s one of the most critical aspects of mold remediation… and it can make or break your entire project.
If you have a mold problem and are interested in discussing our containment process in detail, get in touch. We serve Northern VA, Central VA, Southern MD, and Washington DC. We’d be honored to hear from you, answer your questions, and provide you with expert advice.
Thanks!
Click To Enlarge.
We remove mold the right way… and it would be an honor to hear from you.
Your home is in the best hands—our chemical-free remediation has the highest success rate in the industry.
You get the answers you need—our special mold testing provides 99% accurate results on the spot.
You can trust our process—we’ve performed over 300 successful projects since we opened in 2006.
Fill out this form to contact us. We’ll follow up with 24 business hours.
Valor Mold Removal is a certified and experienced mold testing and remediation company. We are fully insured and fully licensed. We also provide crawl space encapsulation, soda blasting, humidity control, and air quality cleaning.
