Investigating Nashville Mold Damage Risks and Infestations

4/25/2017 (Permalink)

SERVPRO's Quick Response After Damage can Minimize or Prevent the Spread of Mold

Fire and Flood disasters not only have their related problems, but each one also puts a home, apartment or condo at risk for mold infestation. Excess moisture from a storm or a fire hose provides the environment needed for spores to expand and grow. Determining the extent of the growth colony and how to clean and remove it needs a professional restoration service.

Combating mold damage in Nashville is more than just wiping spores off kitchen counters and pulling down infested drywall. SERVPRO interviews you and performs a complete inspection of your home before we pull a cloth out of a cleaning kit or grab a crowbar from a tool box.

Mold is not always visible, so our first question is “Why do you think you have mold”? The answer is usually, “I can smell it.” The musty odor that normally accompanies mold is a good indicator and helps our inspectors determine its location. Not all mold has a distinctive odor though, so our restoration teams use special air content meters to determine how many spores are in each part of the house.

If the answer to the question is “I can see it in my laundry room,” then our inspection becomes much easier. The same goes if the mold is in the kitchen or bath. Our inspectors start there and follow the line of mold growth up into the ceiling or behind the drywall; anywhere that excess moisture might be trapped. Almost as important is the question is “Have you had problems with mold before”? If the answer is yes, we look there first.

Next are the water questions “Where did water come into your home” and “When did this happen”? These apply to flooding, broken plumbing, and the response of the fire department. They let us know where to look for damage that goes unnoticed otherwise. If water drained from the first floor, down into the basement, that is just as important as the bathroom that has a streak of mold along the baseboard.

If we do not find and eliminate every source of excess moisture, then no amount of cleaning and removing the damaged structural property (drywall, baseboards, and under the sink cabinets for example) prevents mold from growing again within hours after we leave.

Responding quickly to remove mold is a task that SERVPRO of Madison / Goodlettsville has decades of experience in accomplishing. That same experience taught us that we have to get every piece of information possible and that you are the best source to point our inspectors and technicians in the right direction. If you suspect a problem with mold in your home, contact us today at (615) 868-5324.