Mold Awareness Month - Containment

8/11/2023 (Permalink)

Zipper doors and window seals help keep the outside air out during the job.

We're in the second week of Mold Awareness Month! You know what that means! It's time for us to take a look at the right way to restore your home or business from mold damage. That all starts with employing the use of proper containment.

Containment is the act of creating a decontamination (or decon) chamber around the affected area using various methods. We'll discuss those methods in depth, but first we need to think about why a decon chamber is necessary.

You might think that you can remove mold by simply removing moldy materials or cleaning surfaces. While these are both necessary to completing remediation, there are other crucial steps required to do so safely. When mold is disturbed through cleaning and demolition, spores aerosolize and disperse throughout the air. They will then seek another environment suitable for further growth. Yes; improperly removing mold can actually cause it to spread! Aerosolized spores also pose a health risk to susceptible individuals as allergic reactions to mold happen when the spores are inhaled.

How do we solve the problem of aerosolized spores? Containment. Things like sealing windows and putting up transition chambers are especially key to this process. By sealing off the area, we ensure that spores are not able to spread beyond what is already affected. Meanwhile, our dehumidifiers and air scrubbers cleanse the air of spores and return the environment to a normal fungal environment. By the time the job is done, we can remove containment with the confidence that the once contaminated area is now back to normal.

With SERVPRO's expertise and training, you can be sure that we will make mold Like It Never Even Happened.