What’s the difference between mold removal and remediation?
You may have heard the terms “mold removal” and “mold remediation” thrown around when speaking to a mold specialist, but what does this mean? How is mold remediation different from mold removal? In this blog post, we’ll cover how these terms are used, who performs mold removal and remediation, the cost of mold removal and remediation, and more.
Mold Removal vs. Mold Remediation: What’s the Difference?
When a home has a mold problem, mold specialists use different methods to clean it up. Mold removal is removing the mold from a specific area. For example, if mold is growing on the ceiling in your home, that would be considered “mold removal.” On the other hand, mold remediation is a broader term that covers a variety of cleaning procedures.
Structured water damage, like from leaking pipes or other sources, can lead to mold growth throughout the home. In order to restore the affected area of your home to its normal condition, you may need to undergo mold remediation.
What Does Mold Remediation Include?
Mold remediation involves eliminating the mold spores and getting rid of any remaining moisture that could potentially lead to additional mold growth. The most common steps in complete mold remediation include:
- Inspecting the affected area
- Removing moldy materials as safely as possible
- Controlling moisture in the affected area
- Sanitizing and deodorizing the affected area
- Providing a written report on what was done
- Taking preventive measures to avoid future mold growth
In addition to these general steps, there are other specifics that may come into play depending on your situation. For example, if your house has experienced a flood or leaky pipes have led to water damage, the mold specialist you hire will have to take into account what caused the damage before beginning work. Complete removal of all damaged materials may be necessary before starting work on the rest of the affected area. Some mold specialists may even have to remove and replace carpeting or flooring in order to ensure that everything is properly cleaned and sanitized before returning your home to its normal condition.
Removing Moldy Materials as Safely as Possible
Mold can damage materials by slowly breaking them down. This usually takes several months or even years, but after a while, your carpeting and flooring may become unusable. If you hope to ever use these materials again, you’ll need to get rid of the mold first. However, removing moldy material also means removing healthy materials, which can make you feel as if you are losing a part of your home. If you’re dealing with a flood situation, then removing all damaged materials can drastically reduce the amount of time it takes to complete the cleanup process. Taking advantage of professional help through mold remediation is recommended when dealing with water damaged areas of your home for this very reason—something called “dry out” is not completely dry unless all damaged materials are removed and dried completely before starting work on your house.
What Does Mold Remediation Include?
Mold spores can live almost anywhere — they spread easily through the air and land anywhere they find organic material (like carpeting and flooring). From there, they start growing into colonies that can be seen easily with the naked eye within just 24-48 hours. This means that simply removing the visible signs of mold may not be enough to stop it from returning or spreading through your home, especially if you don’t take care of other issues like moisture or humidity problems as well. For example, if there was a leak in your ceiling that led to water damage in your ceiling and walls, simply cutting out the drywall where you see mold will not be enough. To fully eliminate any existing moisture problems that led to water damage in the first place, you’ll have to get up and look for leaks in your pipes and repair or replace anything that has become permanently damaged before starting work on removing mold from those areas of your home. As such, it’s important that you get help from an expert when trying to find and stop every potential source of moisture that can lead to additional mold growth. Whether you choose to deal with it yourself or hire someone else to do it for you, it’s important that all moisture problems are addressed before starting work on cleaning up the mold itself.
How Likely Is Mold To Come Back?
Unfortunately, once you try cleaning up a home with a significant amount of moisture damage through either leaky pipes or flooding (or both!), it’s almost impossible not to have some moisture issues return over time. It is therefore important that you make sure all steps are taken when dealing with a significant amount of moisture damage so that future mold growth doesn’t occur in other areas of your home even after thinking everything is taken care of at first glance.
Is It Safe to Live In a House After Mold Remediation?
In most cases, yes — especially if no one in your family has experienced any health issues directly related to breathing in mold spores or coming into contact with them (such as skin infections). However, if you are concerned about any immediate health issues that might arise from living in a house where there was some significant amount of moisture damage (for example), then it’s recommended that you stay somewhere else while taking care of things at first glance (including turning off A/C when needed) until it is confirmed by experts that there is no longer any moisture issues (and therefore no more possibility for future growth). This could take anywhere from several days to weeks depending on how much damage was done in the first place—which is why it’s best to hire an expert who knows what they are doing when dealing with moisture damage at first glance rather than hoping everything will work out on its own without causing any other problems later down the road. It may cost more upfront but less hassle and heartache later on if something unexpected happens (such as living with constant worrying about what could happen instead).
How Long Does Mold Remediation Take?
The answer depends on several factors as well as how bad your problem was in the first place (such as how much damage there was due to leaks or flooding) so it’s impossible to know for sure exactly how long it will take for someone who does not know what they are doing for this type of job. However, consider these ballpark numbers: getting rid of visible signs of mold from materials will likely only take 2-3 days on average with proper precautions taken while working in places where there was water damage done first due to all affected areas being dealt with properly beforehand (such as making sure all sources of moisture are taken care of first before moving forward with cleaning up any areas where there were signs of visible mold). Once all visible signs of mold have been removed (and not just covered up), taking care of any remaining moisture issues and drying everything out properly should take anywhere from 1-3 weeks depending on how much damage was done originally (with closer inspection done along the way). Doing all this properly without cutting corners takes time, which is why most people will hire professionals who know what they are doing when dealing with water damaged areas and whether or not they also have experience with other aspects such as odor control/air filtration services or structural support/repairs required at first glance during such a cleanup job are very important because trying to do all this alone when you don’t know what mark may cause an entirely new set of problems later down the road unless handled by someone who knows what they are doing from the very beginning…especially since serious health problems can result from coming into contact with toxic material like black mold spores! That is why hiring an experienced professional for both advice and help throughout this type job is highly recommended for anyone dealing with major water damage issues at least so you know exactly how much time may be involved depending on how bad your problem was in the first place! The longer it takes someone unfamiliar with doing this type job properly gets away from being able to properly solve more issues in addition to dealing with “mold removal/removal issues”…which can lead to completely new problems down the road! Which also means paying someone more money overall if every issue isn’t taken care of properly from start to finish! So hiring an experienced expert does save money overall at least when compared against potentially not getting everything fixed correctly still needing more repairs done plus constantly worrying about potential health problems later down the road!