Are you concerned about mold growth in your Middleburg, VA home? If you’re not, you probably should be. Mold colonies can take root, flourish and thrive in any dark, damp area. Unfortunately, most homes have at least a few of these, and worse. Those are typically places you seldom see, and seldom even think to check on from time to time.
Mold growth in Middleburg, VA homes rarely occurs in plain sight, and by the time you do see evidence of it, the colony is almost always well established and has spread far and wide.
Mold growth occurs via tiny spores which take to the air and can quickly spread to all parts of your home. While it’s true that there are a number of mold species that don’t pose a direct health hazard, many species do, and a few can even be deadly.
Even relatively benign mold species can make certain health conditions like asthma or COPD much worse, so if you or any member of your family has an upper respiratory condition, and you’ve got mold spores in your house, then every time the person with an upper respiratory condition draws a breath inside your home, he or she is inviting an attack.
Thankfully, the problem of mold growth in your Middleburg, VA home is an entirely avoidable one, and we can help.
The first step in helping you rid yourself of the problem is a careful, top to bottom inspection of your home, including all crawl spaces, basements, air ducts, and other hard to reach, seldom seen places.
When our inspection is complete, we’ll present you with a report detailing our findings and give you a free, no-obligation quote, so you’ll know exactly what it will take to be rid of the problem once and for all. Then, assuming you’re comfortable with everything, we can begin the work of stopping the mold growth in your Middleburg, VA home in its tracks and removing all traces of the colony.
While the particulars will vary from one home to the next, depending on where the mold is located and how widely it has spread, in general, the process looks like this:
If the problem is pervasive and the mold growth in your Middleburg, VA home is widespread, we may have to repeat these first three steps in multiple areas of your home to ensure that the colony has been completely eradicated.
Once that is done, however, there’s another problem to address. If we simply stop at this point, then the conditions are ripe for the mold to return, and before long, you’ll be facing a new round of mold growth in your Middleburg, VA home. Not a happy situation.
To make sure you never have to deal with again, we’ll need to change the conditions inside your house so that they’re no longer conducive to mold growth in your Middleburg, VA home. The best, most common, and most cost-effective means of doing that is to install a properly sized whole-home dehumidifier, which will extract the excess moisture from your home, making it more difficult for future mold colonies to take root and cause trouble.
A second step (not always necessary, but generally recommended) is to install an air purification system in your home that will filter the air, trapping mold spores, pet dander, dust, pollen and other pollutants in HEPA air filters, returning nothing but clean fresh air to your home so every member of your family can breathe easier.
As mentioned, this step isn’t always necessary, but if you or a member of your family has some kind of upper respiratory condition, it’s a good step to take, and will dramatically reduce the number of attacks those family members suffer going forward.
If you opt for one or both of these, we’ll work with you to ensure that the systems are properly sized. Big enough to get the job done without going overboard. Once they’re in place, about all you’ll have to do is change the HEPA filters at periodic intervals and keep an eye on the dehumidifier’s pump to be sure that the water it’s drawing from the air is pumped out of your home where it won’t cause any trouble.
We do a lot more than just handle mold problems, however. Your home and property may contain more hazards than you realize. For instance, do you know if you have any asbestos in your home? If it was built between 1920 and the late 1970’s, you may. Unlike lead paint, which sellers are required to disclose, there’s no legislation requiring the disclosure of the presence of asbestos.
If you do have asbestos present somewhere inside your home, it could take a variety of forms. Most commonly, the material was used in:
Testing is the only way to be sure, and depending on where the asbestos is, our removal strategies will change depending on the specific circumstance. For example:
Shingles – If you have asbestos shingles and it’s time to replace your roof, it may be possible to cover the shingles with a sheath and simply roof over them. Unfortunately, there are hard limits to how many times you can do that (generally no more than three) before you just have to rip everything down and start over.
Unfortunately, asbestos is quite brittle, and you don’t want to rely on a general contractor to do that kind of work, because, in the process of removing the asbestos shingles, a contractor not trained in the safe handling of the material will release potentially deadly particles into the air. Not a happy situation.
Our process for removing them is highly similar to the process of getting rid of your mold problem: Isolate, Remove, and Dispose.
Insulation – Asbestos insulation is generally quite easy to remove, and we follow the same basic protocols, getting rid of it safely and completely, then replacing it with a safe alternative.
Siding – Can be easy or complex, depending on the particulars of your situation. As with asbestos shingles on your roof, it may be possible to sheath the problematic siding and simply side over it. Again though, there are hard limits to how many times you can do that, and if it needs to come down, we’ll follow the same basic protocol we outlined above.
Flooring tiles – in a similar vein, rendering asbestos flooring tiles can either be a small or medium-sized project. In this case, it may be possible to “entomb” the problematic flooring tiles by covering them with a layer of concrete, then simply putting the flooring of your choice on top of that. But again, there’s only so many times you can do something like that, and if needs be, we can cordon off the area where your asbestos flooring tiles are, safely remove them, properly dispose of the material and thoroughly decontaminate the area so you won’t have to worry about it in the future.
Then, of course, there’s lead paint. Earlier, we mentioned that sellers are legally required to disclose the presence of lead paint, but of course, they can only do that if they know it exists, and they may not. Again, testing is the only way to be sure. If we determine that there is lead paint either in your house, on the exterior of your house, in an outbuilding, or in the soil around your property, we’ll use the same basic process outlined above to remove it safely.
The bottom line here is that whatever your needs are if you find yourself dealing with a hazardous material, know that you don’t have to go it alone. Help is just a phone call away.
About Envriotex Environmental Services
Established in Northern Virginia in 2000, Envirotex Environmental Services was founded on military service. While serving his country, the company's owner Mr. Freeman gained vast knowledge and experience in the environmental services field. His expertise in air monitoring and hazardous materials testing prepared him for his post-military career.
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