When Do You Stop?
Sunday, February 19th, 2017 | Categories: Children and Mold, Commercial Building Inspections, Indoor Air Quality, Mold Lab, Mold Solutions, Sick Building, Toxic Mold | No Comments
A customer of ours recently called us in a historic home that he was remodeling that had a long-term water leak in the bathroom. It turns out the sub-floor was fairly well rutted out and absolutely saturated moisture.
This leak had probably gone on for well over a few years only to be discovered when the toilet collapsed through the floor.
He had a well-meaning remodeler come in and remove all the material. We were quite alarmed when we got to the house and saw all the black, slimy mold on the material that he had removed from the bathroom. After testing, it was revealed to us through the lab work that this was Stachybotrys mold. Now, the worst part of the story is this was done in a house where there was a small child living and the entire family was ill. There was no effort to do any type of containment or follow any professional mold protocols. And as a result, the microbial contamination in the house spread throughout the entire building, sickening the home and contaminating every indoor surface and all the air in the house.
This was a totally unnecessary event. And the answer to our question today is: when the moisture damage was spotted and the first part of flooring was removed, they should’ve called us to get a professional assessment on the proper way to remediate this.
A lot of home remodelers think that they’re professional remediates, and they think that they could spray bleach on stuff and just pull things out without any regard to the indoor ecology of the home.
If you’re having a moisture issue in your home or attempting a renovation, call us before you start at 865-385-0170.
