Mold Removal Answers for the Baltimore Maryland Area 

                                            Introduction

Mold is found both indoors and outdoors. Mold can enter your home or office through open doorways, windows, vents, and heating and air conditioning systems. Mold in the air outside can also attach itself to clothing, shoes, bags, and pets can and be carried indoors.

Indoors, mold will grow in places with a lot of moisture, such as areas around leaks in roofs, windows, or pipes, or where there has been flooding. Mold grows well on paper products, cardboard, ceiling tiles, and wood products. Mold can also grow in dust, paints, wallpaper, insulation, drywall, carpet, fabric, and upholstery.

Mold growth, which often looks like spots, can be many different colors, and can smell musty. If you can see or smell mold, a health risk may be present. You do not need to know the type of mold growing in your home, and the Center for Disease Control does not recommend or perform routine sampling for molds. No matter what type of mold is present, you should remove it. Since the effect of mold on people can vary greatly, either because of the amount or type of mold, you can not rely on sampling and culturing to know your health risk. The best practice is to remove the mold and work to prevent future growth.

                                    Finding the Mold Source

Finding the source of the moisture that helps mold grow is important in defending against mold damage and potential heath risks.

Water damage on a wall or ceiling is a good indication that there may be mold growth on or behind dry wall.  As a result of excess moisture in bathrooms, mold is commonly formed around and behind sinks, toilets and showers.  In kitchens and laundry rooms, slow leaks behind sinks, refrigerators and washing machines may cause excess water, crating a breeding ground for mold.  Mold growth may be found near leaky water heaters and other HVAC equipment.  When near HVAC equipment, the problem may increase.  The HVAC unit can spread spores through the rest of the home or office through the ventilation system.

Determining the source and having a professional fix the leak source is important to reduce possible re-growth around your home or business. Plumbers and roofers have the proper skills to make sure the issues are resolved correctly.

Some people have the misconception that mold can just be scrubbed away, but the spores spread when attacked and if a proper containment area is not set up properly, it could lead to a larger and more costly project than expected.

Once the issue that caused the mold is resolved, it's time for SI Restoration to come in and remediate the mold in your home or business. Our experienced, highly- trained, certified technicians follow the IICRC S520 Remediation standards.  We build a sealed containment barrier and negative air pressure to remove it without spreading the spores in the inhabited areas.

What Does The IICRC S502 Guidelines say about removing mold ?

                                                              Who is The IICRC ?

The IICRC S502 is the world leading guide and guidelines to instruct professional mold removal and mold remediation companies especially in Baltimore Maryland how to correctly remove mold growth .

The IICRC S502 guidelines do not speak about mold testing , but concentrates on mold removal and remediation and protecting the health of occupants of homes and properties .

                                                                         Containment

I believe that containment is one of the most important parts of the IICRC S502 Guidelines for removal mold in Baltimore Maryland and other areas around the world. Without proper containment , mold spores would spread through the house and property when mold was either touched or drywall is removed . Building a plastic containment ( see www.iicrc.org ) with negative air pressure keeps any active mold spores inside the contained area and forces the spores to HEPA vacuumed out .

                                            Contained area must free of dust and mold

Just because you remove any signs of mold in your contained area , doesn’t mean it’s a healthy environment . The contained area must be free of any dust and debris .  Think of a hospital room before surgery .

                                                                                  Testing

The IICRC S520 Guide Lines do not make recommendations of mold testing , but never should a IICRC certified company make claims that because they followed the IICRC S520 Guidelines . To be 100 % sure that the area that was mold removed in Baltimore Maryland , it should be tested by an independent Indoor Environmental Professional and not the same company that removed the mold . hat would be a conflict of interest .

Additional sources for mold removal, mold remediation and mold clean up 

https://www.epa.gov/mold

https://www.cdc.gov/mold-health/about/index.html

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/mold-allergy/symptoms-ca…

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