Venice Fl Mold Removal Sarasota County and Manatee County by ServiceMaster SRQ which includes surrounding areas.

One day we got a call from a condominium owners neighbor that checks on there unit from time to time.  Apparently when Susan went next door to check on the unit she was amazed at the strong musty odor of emitting from the front door opening.  She did a quick walk through and noticed mold growing on all of the surfaces including walls, counter tops, furniture, drapes, and bedding.  It seemed rather strange to her as to how this could have happened considering the air conditioning seemed to be working just fine.  The thermostat was set at 80 degrees so she slid the setting lower until she heard the air turn on.  Which it did.  Strange she thought it was even more when she looked closely throughout the entire residence and did not find any type of water damage or intrusion.  Time to call Allan she thought to herself knowing he was not going to be happy.  How could this have happened?  She quickly walked out and closed the door behind her and headed over to her place to make the call.  After explaining everything to Allan they decided that they needed a Mold Remediation company to come and inspect the damage and hopefully answer some questions about the cause and the source of the mold growth.  She contacted several contractors but none would show up.  This had gone on for a week before she was talking to another neighbor of hers and was told about ServiceMaster SRQ and how they did a great job for their boss at work when he had a water damage in his home in Englewood.  So she asked her friend if she could get the number and call her with it when she went to work the next day.  Susan’s friend obliged and call her the next day with our number.  I will never forget the happiness in Susan’s voice when I spoke with her on the phone and told her that I would drive out immediately to inspect the damage and speak with the homeowner up in New Jersey.  Susan was a bit set back surprised because, after all it was Friday at 3:45 p.m. and it would take us at least an hour to get there from Bradenton that particular day.  Here at ServiceMaster SRQ we realize the importance of your home or office and understand your need to address this emergency as soon as possible and that is exactly what we were doing.

Traffic was horrible that day and the condo was literally on Venice Island all the way down by the beautiful beaches.  I figured I might stop off for dinner at Sharkys restaurant on 41 after my visit at Allan’s place.  Once on site Susan was very pleased to meet me and thank me for coming on such short notice and at such an inopportune time of day.  I assured her that it was in fact no problem at all and that I was happy to assist her.  Once I did a quick walk through I came out to explain to Susan what had happened.  You see as the owner of ServiceMaster SRQ Restore I have, pretty much, seen and heard it all in my industry field of play.  There is surface mold on every single surface and content in the entire place.  It was not any type of black mold that many people are, rightfully, so scared of.  Nope.  This was mold of the most common mold penicillium aspergillus among other common molds.  This type of mold causes health problems as well but only to high content exposure over time.  If you get run down by being in contact with this type of mold you will get better if you remove yourself from the infected environment.  Which is why Susan had said that she did not feel good for quite a few hours after she first inspected the unit and did not want to go back in the place until it was fixed and cleaned up.  That is where we came in.  After speaking with Allan on the phone we received a deposit and permissions to begin work immediately.

Our first call was to the dry cleaning company that picks up, cleans, and returns linens, clothing, etc..  They came out right away and cleared the items we needed removed so that we could start top down microscopic cleaning of the condo.  We used hepa-vacs, air scrubbers, blowers, towels, respirators, suits, filters, negative air, barriers, plastic, and many other products and services.  Detail, detail, detail.  As I say to all customers on how we clean up mold “We clean, clean, clean, and clean.  Then we clean it again.”  That is when you will know we are done.  In many cases a post test will provide documentation of our job well done.

A post test is a test taken by a licensed mold assessor that is a separate entity from the mold remediation company.  While your remediation company may take the pre-test and protocol please make sure it is a company you can trust.  It would be more prudent to have a separate mold assessor company due initial testing and protocol and post testing to avoid contractor conflict of interest.  Pre and Post testing should be in the hands of a separate vendor than your mold re-mediator.  Some cases you will not need a pre-test as the visual inspection will dictate moving forward with obvious remediation without pre-testing.  In this case it was predetermined that the mold existed and that the humidistat device was not in working order as well as the temperature on the hvac thermostat was at 80 degrees.  The rise in humidity over the summer months without proper air conditioning caused a rise in humidity and became a perfect environment for mold growth.  Since the food source was high humidity and not straight up water at saturation points it was not growing from or into the structure at this time.  So most of this mold is removable by a thorough cleaning.  Unfortunately the cleaning has to be done without the hvac and that means its gonna be hot and the environment inside the unit will have to be controlled by a commercial dehumidifier until such time as the hvac can be fired back up.  The hvac indoor air handler and duct systems or network will have to be thoroughly cleaned by our professionals.  They will not be able to be cleaned until the other contaminated areas are taken care of first.  When you clean the ducts you must put them under negative air and push a cleaning brush inside the ducting to loosen up dirt and spores for removal be the air scrubber.  The air you pull from the ducts must have clean “make up” air for proper cleaning.  This is why you must remediate the air inside the unit before you clean the ducts.

So sealing the ducts and pulling the air handler for a thorough cleaning was the second thing we did.  It’s amazing how many steps we have to take before we even start to clean.  Once the clothes were out and the ducts were sealed we began.  We treat every job the same way.  We clean our way in and clean our way out.  So the first thing is the floors then the ceilings, contents, walls and then the floors on the way out.  It is a lot more methodical than many may recognize.  But when done right and complete it is always a successful post test and green light for reconstruction.  It is what it is and will be what it will be.  The sooner we get done the sooner reconstruction ends bringing on the resolution of the whole event.  We are happy to be apart of this process.