6 Steps for Recovery From Mold

4/26/2019 (Permalink)

Black mold can start to grow in your commercial building within 24 hours of the onset of water damage.

Black mold can start to grow in your commercial building in Oklahoma City, OK within 24 hours of the onset of water damage. While you may not be able to avoid mold altogether, you can keep it from spreading by calling mold mitigation experts as soon as you suspect it's a problem. Here are the six steps they can take to rid your building of fungus growth.

1. Containment

Technicians start by setting up a seal around the perimeter of the infestation. This keeps spores from detaching and flowing into other areas of the building while cleanup is in process.

2. Protection

Another way experts keep from spreading spores while protecting themselves during mold cleanup is by wearing personal protective equipment. They cover themselves from head to toe with goggles, face masks with filtered respirators, protective suits, gloves and boots.

3. Removal

All material infested with black mold must be removed from the building. Because mold tends to branch down into porous surfaces, many items will need to be replaced rather than cleaned.

4. Disinfection

The surfaces that can be cleaned are disinfected. Some surfaces can be cleaned with a detergent while others may require treatments such as ultraviolet radiation.

5. Drying

Mold is attracted to moisture. You can't get rid of the mold spores in your building, but you can find a way to keep it from settling in one spot. Anything remaining that still holds excess moisture must be dried to keep mold growth from returning.

6. Restoration

To return your building to its original state, everything that was torn out or thrown away during mold remediation must be replaced. Restoration experts can replace walls, ceilings and floor and make them look as good as new.

You may not catch water damage early enough to keep black mold from growing. If you catch it early, however, the process for mitigating the mold problem should be pretty straightforward.