Before

After

Clearwater Home Needs Mold Remediation Assistance from SERVPRO

Florida is known worldwide for having Summers that are both hot and humid. These conditions can create the perfect environment for mold damage to occur, particularly in attics and crawlspaces with poor ventilation. The moist air gets trapped, and if an airborne mold spore is in the vicinity, it can germinate and begin to grow and spread. 

The Before Photo shows this Clearwater home with mold damage in its crawlspace that required remediation. SERVPRO technicians inspected the entire space and found significant infestations on the boards, as seen in the photo. The raw, untreated floor joists are a favorite food source for mold colonies. Until stopped and preventative measures taken to avoid the return, mold damage can set up a home in almost any area of a Florida home that has raised interior humidity and something organic to consume. 

Removal of the Mold Colonies in Clearwater Properties

This crawlspace did not have adequate ventilation. SERVPRO technicians set up drying equipment to get the boards within the space dry. This part of the mold remediation process involves both air movers and dehumidifiers as the poor ventilation in the crawlspace needed assistance to dispel the interior humidity levels. Additionally, this location can offer encapsulation for the crawlspace. Once the remediation efforts are complete, the entire crawlspace can get covered by 6 to 10 mil thick polypropylene sheeting that goes on both the walls and floor of the crawlspace. This encapsulation service stops water from affecting the area by slowing the moisture migration from the soil into the building materials and inhibiting mold growth. 

Removal of Mold Damage 

Once the technicians dry the crawlspace, they use technicians such as hand scraping bare floor joists to remove the dried colonies. Other methods that work well for removing stuck-on matter are sandblasting, soda blasting or the use of dry ice pellets. 

The After Photo does not show the encapsulation procedure for this crawlspace, but it does show floor joist boards clean and dry post-mold remediation. These removal methods work similarly with a technician holding a tube delivery system that shoots high-velocity ice, soda, or sand at stuck-on dried mold colonies. These abatement substances get chosen carefully, and none of them mar surfaces during the removal process under the trained. The technicians, in this case, used spray antimicrobial cleaning agents to treat the boards and remove any remaining mold damage. Afterward, the techs treated the boards with a sealant that did not allow mold spores to attach and grow. 

SERVPRO techs can inspect crawlspaces and recommend steps for Clearwater properties owners to negate the presence of active mold growth. In Florida, encapsulation is a very common method for preventing the building up of water and humidity within crawlspaces.