Mold Remediation Blog

Why We Are Obsessed With Proper Workspace Containment

And What That Means For Your Family

One of the worst things you can do with mold in a DC area household is to disturb it by brushing at it or otherwise making physical contact with the colony. Every time you touch a mold colony, you cause it to release thousands of spores into the air, which will then travel throughout your home, searching for a new source of food and moisture.

As these spores travel, they can be breathed in by anyone in the home and cause health problems. Since our job is to remove mold colonies, we take precautions to keep the mold spores from moving freely in your home. Containment is always our first priority when beginning the mold remediation process.

The Danger Of Cheap Mold Containment Methods

There are several steps we take to achieve workspace containment and they need to be done properly to work. Too often, mold contractors will go cheap on this step and create a dangerous situation. They put up their inexpensive containment system and then get to work, thinking that the rest of your household is safe.

Sadly, your home is then in greater danger than if they’d built no containment system at all. Thinking all is well, they are less careful when removing the mold and end up creating huge, invisible clouds of spores that easily evade their sub-standard containment system and travel to other rooms and into your family’s lungs.

It’s a terrible problem in the mold removal industry and one that exists due to a lack of training and the urge to save on cost. Because they simply don’t know enough about mold and how it works, they treat containment more like a dog and pony show rather than an important step. They know containment is expected, but not why it is necessary or even how to achieve a truly sealed space.

Common Containment Mistakes

We aren’t saying that other mold removal contractors don’t care about the health of you and your family. We’re saying they let cost and convenience override safety. It’s the “good enough” factor. Some examples of good enough are:

Using thin plastic sheeting – thin sheeting is easily torn, which causes leaks
Using clamps on air hoses – these clamps can fail
Using air purifiers instead of negative pressure units – air purifiers don’t even come close to catching all the mold spores
Not controlling the entire workspace – pathways to and from the area of concern aren’t protected or contained

Most mistakes are fueled by a need to keep costs (and estimates) low and some come from simple ignorance of proper procedure. Regardless of the motivation, the results are the same — unsafe conditions in a customer’s home.

Proper Mold Containment Procedures

We didn’t spend our time and money getting every mold removal certification available just to get lazy and cheap about mold containment. We know how dangerous mold can be and simply refuse to put our customers at risk. So we go overboard with our containment methods to eliminate any chance of accidental exposure.

Ideally, the entrance to the workspace is part of the containment zone, but sometimes that isn’t possible. So our technicians always wear full protective gear and take the shortest possible route to and from the workspace to limit potential contamination.

Next, we set a containment space large enough to cover the entire area in which we will be operating. Then, we seal the space with plastic sheeting that is thick enough to stand up to abuse without tearing and set it in place with the best sealing tape available.

Next, we create negative air pressure with special equipment to keep all air particles from leaving the space in case of a leak. While air purifiers actually create positive pressure, encouraging particles to leave the space, our machines all but eliminate such movement.

We also use tape to hold our air hoses in place instead of cheap clamps. It makes setup and tear down a little slower, but clamps can loosen and pop off, which is unacceptable.

We take your family’s safety seriously, so we take every precaution possible and exceed standard procedure as a matter of course.

If you live in the DC area and think you have a mold problem in your home, contact us at Valor Mold Removal for a free estimate.