Mold remediation across Northwest Washington.

The cleanup and restoration process begins with your call. We will ask a series of questions to help us determine the equipment, resources and people the job needs. We are often out in the field during the day, but we promise to call you back within an hour or two.

Next we carefully inspect your property for visible signs of mold. Mold feeds on cellulose and water and can be hidden from plain view, so we use various technologies to detect it and to find hidden water sources. That inspection is where we plan the scope of the work, and we walk you through the where, why and how so you can ask us anything.

We use various containment procedures to prevent the spread of mold. That may be an advanced setup like a negative air chamber, which isolates the contaminated area with physical barriers and negative air pressure so spores do not spread during the cleanup. Fans and heating and cooling systems may be turned off for the same reason. This is usually the longest part of the job, and it needs to be done slowly and methodically.

Specialized filtration equipment lets us capture microscopic mold spores out of the air. We use powerful air scrubbers and HEPA vacuums to prevent the spread of those spores while the remediation is in progress.

The process depends on the amount of growth and the surfaces it is on. Porous materials like drywall, insulation and carpeting usually cannot be saved, so heavy growth means removing and disposing of them. What remains is usually non-porous, and we remove the mold by thoroughly scrubbing and cleaning with special solutions, then HEPA vacuuming, sometimes several times.

We use antifungal and antimicrobial treatments to eliminate mold colonies and to help prevent new colonies from forming. Many household items can be cleaned too, and we leave that decision to you. For clothing, fabrics, rugs, furniture and paper goods, we refer you to a contents cleaning company.

Finding and controlling the moisture has to happen. We work to identify the source and recommend how to have it repaired, because we cannot begin a remediation or cleaning without fixing what is causing it. Skip that step and the mold comes right back.

Depending on the level of damage, drywall, subfloors and other building materials may have been removed. Restoration can be minor, such as replacing drywall, painting and new carpet, or it can mean rebuilding whole areas or rooms. Contractors help with that part and put you back together.

A remediation is finished when the mold is out and the indoor levels are back to what we call condition 1, where the fungi in the affected area are down to levels similar to the rest of the indoor environment. Clearance, or post-remediation testing, verifies that the mold has been removed. On some projects we work with a third-party industrial hygienist who tests and writes the remediation plan.

We treat every project with the respect it deserves, and we don’t stop until you are satisfied. Then you get to come back to a clean, safe home. See, that wasn’t so bad.