Can Mold Return After Mold Remediation?

To better understand whether mold can return after mold remediation, you need to understand more about mold, how it gets to your home and how you get rid of it. Mold is a fungus that grows in hyphae form. There are certain conditions which need to be met for mold to grow including a source of food such as wood or drywall, warmth, darkness, moisture, and oxygen. Time is also required, but moisture is the key element.

The Causes Of Mold

There are many causes of mold with humidity being the primary one. High levels of humidity will act as food for mold and mold is unable to grow without it.

Leaking pipes are another cause of mold. When you have a leak, mold will grow around the moisture and will worsen the longer the leak remains. This cause can be very dangerous as the mold will start to grow before you are aware of the leak.

Another cause is condensation. Condensation can occur in your home when there are cold surfaces in the property. Metal pipes and concrete floors can form condensation in the cold. Condensation may also occur under carpets which will lead to mold growth because multiple growth conditions are met.

The last cause you need to know about is poor ventilation. When your home is poorly ventilated, the air will become stagnant. This will increase humidity which results in mold growth.

The Mold Remediation Process

A mold growth assessment will go beyond black or green spots on the walls. Mold could be growing behind different parts of your home. This is why the first step in the mold remediation process is to understand the cause of mold and becoming knowledgeable about moisture.

The next step will be to document all of the mold problems. This will help you create a clear remediation plan. When creating your documentation, you need to document all mold occurrences in writing, photo, and video.

Once you have the documentation, the contamination extent can be calculated. Mold will spread to several places in your home which is why you need to know the extent of the contamination you are dealing with. The spread of the contamination will impact the approach you use to remove the mold. The primary aim of mold remediation is to remove any mold to stop human exposure.

The last step in this process is the containment and remediation of the mold. Remediation will involve the cleaning up of the mold and avoiding further exposure for the homeowner. There are 2 divisions for remediation guidelines and this will depend on the size of the area. If you have a small area, level 1 remediation guidelines should be used. If you have a larger area, level 2 guidelines should be used.

The clean-up of the mold is done using the same process regardless of the size of the area. The steps of remediation are:

• Repairing the cause of leaking water to prevent the growth of new mold spores.

• The isolation of the contaminated area.

• Suppression of dust.

• The removal of any wet and mold damaged materials.

• The cleaning of damp items and surfaces.

• Drying the materials to remove any moisture left on them.

Why Mold Can Return – There is a chance that mold will return after remediation has been completed. This is possible for a number of reasons including the underlying moisture problem returning.

Tips To Prevent Mold Returning – The first tip to stop mold returning is to properly ventilate the house. You will need to vent out the items in your home that cause the most moisture. This will include stoves and clothes dryers.

You also need to dry any part of your home which is wet immediately. If there is a water leak in a dry house, there is a chance for mold to grow again.

The Importance Of Hiring A Professional – Mold remediation should be performed by a professional to ensure that it is effective. There are a number of other benefits that come from hiring a professional to handle this process.

Assurance Of Thorough Removal Of Mold – Mold can grow anywhere in your home as long as there is some moisture for it to feed on. When you hire a professional and certified mold remediation company, you will be assured that all mold has been removed. This is something that might not occur if you handle the removal of mold yourself.

Mitigating Mold Spread – When you carry out mold clean-ups on your own, there is a chance the spores of the mold will enter the air and spread around your home. Versatile Restoration Pros has the right equipment to avoid this and in-depth knowledge of mitigation and remediation.