It is an undeniable fact that in Virginia and DC area homes, where there is mold, there is moisture. Mold can’t survive without a steady water source. While the source can be as minor as condensation or as major as a flood, mold will continue to appear so long as that water source remains intact.
And mold colonies in your home pose a serious health risk that must be handled as soon as possible. That’s where we and our mold remediation services come in.
All successful mold remediation efforts must begin with cutting off the moisture that mold needs to survive. If you can’t do that, then everything else you do will be a waste of your time and your customer’s hard-earned money.
Household mold doesn’t ask for a whole lot to thrive. A little water, a little organic material, and a little warmth are all it needs to take hold in your home. Contrary to popular belief, darkness is not a requirement, though lack of sunlight does encourage growth since it slows the evaporation of moisture.
And since mold is literally everywhere and in every breath we take, mold will colonize anywhere that supplies it with its meager needs.
The only way to halt this growth is to ensure that any and all water in your home is drained away and the remaining moisture allowed to evaporate quickly. When conditions arise that cause that process to fail, mold colonies won’t be far behind.
Because mold needs so little to grow, water sources aren’t always obvious, and finding them can be difficult.
Often, the source is easily recognized, like a leaky sink or a drain pan that got clogged. But other times, it’s not so obvious, and that’s when the fun begins.
Everyone likes a puzzle and our technicians are no different. Running into a mystery is the highlight of their week.
For example, Teddy, one of our estimators, was sent to a home where a 3rd party mold tester said all the perimeter of a basement room failed a moisture test and needed remediation. This is a common situation.
The foundation of your home contacts the dirt outside. It can easily develop cracks or seams that allow water to seep through into the home. If this goes on long enough, that water gets into the perimeter walls, carpet, etc… within a basement room and eventually grows mold.
So, our estimator retested the perimeter walls for moisture and, sure enough, every wall was wet from top to bottom, which made zero sense.
Why?
Because the top foot of the basement in this house was above ground level. Water follows gravity so it goes down. The only way an above-ground perimeter wall could test wet was if there was a leak from above. But a leak above each wall? Doubtful.
He thought about it for a bit then lit on an idea. He searched for a seam in the wall’s paneling and carefully pried back a panel to see what was behind. When he caught a glimpse of what was behind the paneling, he could only shake his head in dismay.
There was foil-backed insulation behind the panels.
See, moisture meters get fooled by metal. They read it as “wet.” And foil is like aluminum. So any moisture meter would pick up this foil behind the paneling and read the entire wall as wet. It fooled the tester…plus 3 other remediators that confirmed the findings and gave $5,000+ remediation estimates.
Some mold remediation companies might be OK with a slapdash investigation, but not us. In this case, we ended up saving this client at least $10,000 in unneeded home repairs.
We always search until we find the source of your moisture problem because we believe in what we do and refuse to accept half measures.
If you are worried about mold in your Virginia or DC area home and want a contractor that is thorough, contact us at Valor Mold Removal for a free estimate.
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.
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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.
