What To Do After Finding Mold In Your Home

10/6/2020 (Permalink)

If you recently found mold in your house, you are aware that this is something to be taken seriously. Mold can be dangerous to your health, so it’s important to take the necessary steps in handling mold right away. Here are some tips on what to do after finding mold in your home.

Have your home tested by a trained mold tester; many people make the mistake of cleaning up the mold without testing. It is important to know the type of mold you are dealing with and how bad your problem actually is. If it’s a small problem, a professional may recommend that you clean the mold up yourself, and they can give you advice on best practices to use in removing it.

Cleaning up mold yourself may be a good idea if:

• The mold only covers a small area.
• The mold is growing on easy-to-clean surfaces like glass, metal, tile, tubs, or sinks.
• The mold is growing on hard-to-clean materials, like carpet, that are easy to remove and replace and you know how to do it properly.
• You don’t have any health problems likely to be made worse by increased exposure to mold (check with your doctor if you’re not sure if it’s safe for you to clean up a mold problem yourself).

If it is a large job, however, you will need to contact a professional mold remediation company. (Before any work is done, contact your insurance company and find out if mold removal is covered in your policy. In many cases it will be, although it often depends on the cause of the mold.) A professional will oversee the proper, and thorough, cleanup and removal process. When the job is done, they will come back and test again to make sure the removal was properly completed. 

Cleaning up mold yourself is probably not such a good idea if:

• The mold covers a large area.
• Mold develops after flooding with water that might be contaminated with sewage or other potentially hazardous substances.
• There is mold in your heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system.
• You aren’t sure how to do all parts of the job correctly, For example, if there is mold in your wall interiors and you don’t know how to remove and replace drywall or if you don’t have all the tools required to do the job.
• You have moldy wood that cannot be removed and replaced, so the moldy area needs to be sanded and encapsulated instead (it’s recommended that only mold remediation professionals sand moldy wood since it significantly increases one’s exposure to mold, which can lead to potentially serious illnesses).
• You smell mold but can't find it. Mold can hide in the subfloors, attic, inside walls, under carpets, or crawl-spaces.

Identify the cause of the mold, and make sure that any issues are fixed so that the mold will not re-establish itself. For example, if you find that there was a leak in the roof that led to optimum damp conditions, make sure that leak is repaired. Another issue could be that the humidity level in your home is too high, so you may want to get a dehumidifier to bring it down to the proper levels. 

If you are going to hire a professional mold remediation company, make sure you get a few estimates and choose a company that you believe will do a thorough job. Be sure to check with your local Better Business Bureau or Health Department to find out if the company has a good reputation here in the Huron and East Seneca area.

Here at SERVPRO of Huron/East Seneca Counties, we maintain the training and equipment that are necessary to handle a mold infestation. Call us today if you need help with a project of this kind, no matter the size. We are fire damage and water damage experts, too, and we are committed to getting your home or business Certified: SERVPRO Cleaned!