Having your own home is most likely one of the most liberating feelings in the world. You don’t need to deal with monthly apartment rent payments, living with disturbing roommates, or having to follow many restrictions. But having a house includes responsibilities.
When you were renting, your landlord was responsible for almost everything. You only needed to clean and pay your rent on time. On the other hand, being a homeowner requires you to make several decisions to secure your home, including contacting experts, such as puroclean.ca, that offer mold remediation services when the need occurs. Throughout this process, should you stay or leave the house?
What Is Mold Remediation?
Mold remediation involves several steps to eliminate molds and restore the damage in your home caused by molds. It also targets the source of mold outbreaks to stop it from happening again. The following steps illustrate the basic process:
1. Assessment
The disaster restoration experts will thoroughly search for visible signs of molds. They will also take air samples to determine the type of mold, quantity of spores, and indoor air quality. Usually, knowing the mold kinds in your house enables experts to prepare for a suitable method.
On top of these, they will identify the sources of molds with areas of concern, such as basements, bathrooms, sink closets, and window sills.
2. Containment
They will secure all the areas with molds to stop infecting other areas of your house. This is done by putting physical barriers with negative air chambers and negative air pressure. Also, your HVAC systems around your home will be shut off since they can move spores to enable mold to thrive in other places in your house.
3. Air Purification
During the mold remediation process, spores can be disturbed and become airborne. Along with containment, the air inside your home must also be cleaned. They will use negative air equipment with high-efficiency particulate air filters to run continuously throughout the process.
This way, mold spores, microbial volatile organic compounds (MVOCs), and other airborne particles will be eliminated from the affected area.
4. Removal and Clean-up
Antimicrobial and antifungal compounds will clean the existing mold colonies and help avoid more molds from developing. The clean-up technique depends on where the fungi are reproducing. For example, non-porous and hard locations like bathtubs and sinks can be cleaned by wiping and adding safe, authorized biocide.
In porous locations, such as wood floors and walls, there can be a bigger problem since molds can quickly travel. Therefore, the deeper mold growth areas determined throughout the inspection will be removed and replaced.
5. Sanitation
As soon as remediation is completed, your whole house needs to be disinfected. Furniture, garments, curtains, and other similar things will be cleaned up. Then they will utilize fogging devices to deodorize all your belongings, as well as the air. Learn more about property restoration services here.
What to Do During the Mold Remediation Process
Many house owners wonder if they can stay home throughout the removal process. The answer relies on how big the problem is and the location of molds in your house. While you do not usually need to leave home for small projects, the best option would be to leave during the process.
Staying may be an option if the mold is included in just one area or space, wherein you could still use your bathroom and kitchen without passing through any contaminated area. However, in the case of several rooms, hallways, and living with kids or elderly family members, it’s strongly recommended to find alternate housing temporarily.