How to Remove and Prevent Additional Mold Growth in Virginia Beach, VA

We’ve all got those dark corners of our homes where we seldom venture, or even see. Unfortunately, those are the most likely places you’ll find mold growth in Virginia Beach, VA occurring. In fact, it might be happening right now. Right under your nose, without your even realizing it.

A mold colony only needs two things to firmly establish itself: Dampness and darkness. Unfortunately, those two things are quite easy to find in most homes. Here are some of the areas where mold growth in Virginia Beach, VA is most likely to occur:

• Crawl spaces – Unless your home was built on a slab, you’ve got one somewhere, and these areas are almost always both damp and dark, making them an ideal location for a mold colony to gain a foothold.
• Behind your walls – If you’ve got a leaking pipe somewhere, you’ve got more to worry about than just the water damage, which can be severe all by itself. Sadly, the introduction of water behind your walls sets up the perfect conditions for mold growth in your Virginia Beach, VA home.
• Your attic – If your roof is leaking, whether via the ravages of time or after taking a hit in a recent storm, that leak can lead to mold growth in your attic, which you probably seldom inspect from end to end, which means it may be months before you realize it.
• Your ductwork – This is one of the few areas of your home that you literally can’t crawl inside to visually inspect. Unfortunately, your ductwork touches every room in your house, providing warm air in the wintertime and cool air during the summer months. Of course, if you don’t have central heat or AC in your home, you’ve got relatively less ductwork to contend with, but you still may have some, and it’s an ideal location for a mold colony to take root.
• Your basement – This is a big one because many homes in the area have basements and even those that are finished and used for something other than storage on a daily basis have their share of dark, damp corners.

The list above is obviously not an all-inclusive one, but again, these are some of the most common areas where mold growth in Virginia Beach, VA will occur.

While it’s true that many mold species aren’t harmful to human health, a number of them are, and even the ones that aren’t can make certain health conditions like asthma and COPD worse, which means that if you or a member of your family suffer from some type of upper respiratory condition, any level of mold growth in your Virginia Beach, VA home is almost certain to make attacks more likely.

The good news is that we can help with all of the above! We’ve been proudly serving the region since 2000, and are the area’s most trusted, most respected hazardous materials remediation company. Whether you’re dealing with asbestos, lead paint, high concentrations of hazardous chemicals or mold growth in your Virginia Beach, VA, we can detect and remove it quickly and professionally.

Even better, our experienced technicians can help ensure that the conditions that allowed the colony to take root in the first place are altered, which will drastically reduce the chances that you’ll have to fight that same battle with mold again at some point down the road.

Getting rid of mold in your home starts as you might expect, with detection. If you even suspect you might have mold growth occurring in your Virginia Beach, VA home, don’t delay. Call us right away so we can come perform a thorough inspection of your home. By the time you actually see signs of a mold colony, you can be sure it’s already well established in those areas you can’t or don’t see and is rapidly expanding.

We’ll send one of our seasoned professionals out to your property to conduct a thorough inspection of your home. Using thermal imaging technology, we can quickly see behind walls and in places that people performing simple visual inspections simply can’t see. The technology not only allows us to complete the inspection of your home more quickly but also more completely.

It’s possible that our inspection will reveal nothing. If that’s the case, you can rest easy. There’s nothing to be found. If we do find something, we’ll be able to not only tell you exactly where the mold colony is centered but also zero in on what’s causing it. What is setting the conditions that made it possible for the colony to get established in the first place.

Regardless of what we find, we’ll provide you with a complete report, and if mold is found, we’ll also include recommended next steps as well as our own remediation plan, along with a free, no-obligation estimate so you’ll have a clear picture of what it will take to put the issue behind you once and for all.

Assuming you’re comfortable with our estimate, we’ll move to remediation, which, broadly speaking, can be broken down into four distinct steps, as follows:

Isolation

The first step in getting rid of your mold problem is to cordon off the area where the colony is centered, and any areas it has expanded into so when we proceed with the actual removal, we don’t wind up spreading mold spores through the rest of your house.

This is a crucial step because if the area isn’t properly cordoned off, then almost immediately, the surviving spores will entrench themselves in a new location, and you’ll have to fight the same battle again.

Removal

Once we’ve ensured that the area is properly cordoned off, we can begin with removal, deploying chemicals to kill the mold, and physically removing any materials that mold has invaded.

Decontamination

After we’ve completely destroyed the mold colony and removed all the materials the mold has gotten into and onto, the next phase in the cleanup is a thorough decontamination of the site designed to ensure that no trace of the offending mold remains.

Disposal

Finally, we’ll properly dispose of any and all contaminated materials, using a facility that’s properly licensed to handle those materials.

Next Steps

Those steps essentially amount to the end of the beginning, however. Having removed the mold colony from your home, the next hurdle is to correct the conditions that allowed the colony to get established in the first place.

This part of the process is highly dependent on exactly what we discovered when we performed our initial assessment. For example, if our discovery phase revealed the presence of a leaking pipe behind one of your walls, contacting a plumber to get that fixed will help ensure that the problem doesn’t crop up again.

If our assessment reveals a leak in your roof that has allowed a mold colony to establish itself in your attic, then contracting with a roofing repair company will prevent future colonies from becoming established. In a similar vein, if you’ve got water seeping into your basement, contracting with a landscaping or engineering firm to construct or repair a drainage system around your home is the right answer.

In other cases, it may simply be the case that you’ve got too much moisture in the air in your home. If that’s the root cause that has allowed the mold colony to get established, then the answer is the installation of a properly sized dehumidification system, which will extract the excess moisture from the air inside your home, making it unlikely that a mold colony can take root in the future.

Dealing with mold growth in your home is a major undertaking that has significant health implications for you and your family. The longer the mold colony goes unchecked, the more difficult it will be to completely remove it, and the more likely you, or a member of your family will suffer ill effects from the exposure to mold spores.

Your family’s health isn’t something you want to leave to chance. If you even suspect the presence of mold anywhere in your home, give our office a call today. We’ll be there when you need us.

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.