HOW DO I CHOOSE A MOLD REMOVAL COMPANY?

Many companies market themselves as mold contractors. How can you really know if they are in fact professional mold removal contractors?

When hiring a company for mold removal, consider the following:

Does the company have liability insurance for mold removal? Their policy must clearly state that they are covered for working with mold otherwise they are not carrying the right coverage.

Is the company an IICRC Certified Firm? If the company is an IICRC certified firm they should have a certificate issued by IICRC, The Institute of Inspection, Cleaning, and Restoration Certification, with the company name clearly stated. This certificate confirms that the company has technicians who are properly trained and tested on mold removal protocols.

Does the company encourage you to use a 3rd party for job clearance? When a customer requests a clearance following the completion of mold removal it should be done by a third company, a company other than the one who performed the removal. There is a conflict of interest when a company checks its own work and you, the customer, should be provided with the option to have a third party check the work and be protected.

Does the company provide you with a copy of the mold cleanup protocol and scope of work detailing what will be done in your home to remove the mold?

Is the company offering to remove the mold or just cover it up? Ensure that the company is not going to “seal” or “encapsulate” the mold, this just means that they will cover it. To rid your home or building of mold it has to be physically removed under mold removal protocols.

Will the company provide you with a written work guarantee on the mold removal?

All professional and certified mold removal companies should be able to provide you with all the criteria above.

How to Find the Best Mold Removal Company

Have you been agonizing over that unsightly mold in your home? It is time to get rid of it, but what is the answer? Should you clean it up yourself or hire a company to help you?

With so many mold removal companies to choose from, how do you decide?

Hiring the right company is necessary, yet a difficult decision… especially when it comes to the health and safety of your family.  You can’t afford to cut any corners.

Mold remediation companies are specialized in safely removing contaminated mold in until the home is once again safe to occupy.

Mold remediation companies do not rebuild your home after the mold has been removed, but they may recommend or arrange for a company to help you with that.

Restoration companies rebuild the home back to its original condition after the home after the mold has been removed. Many of these companies will remove the mold as well

How to Choose the Best Mold Remediation Company for Your Home

Once you discover mold in your home, there will only be one thought on your mind – getting it out of the house as quickly as possible. The presence of mold is a serious problem, and it threatens just about everything you have come to love about your home. It may not be safe to live in your home as long as the mold is present, and the value of your house could decrease if there is serious damage. Any way you look at it, getting the mold out right away should be a top priority.

Licensed and Insured

There is simply no excuse for a mold removal company not to have the appropriate licenses and insurance for your area. Ask for this documentation right up front, and if it is not provided, move on to another option. You shouldn’t accept any kind of excuse for the lack of these items, as any reputable company will have them in place. There are too many good companies available to take your chances on one that is not licensed and insured.

Collect at Least Three Quotes

While you do want to have this work completed quickly, you don’t want to rush into the job so fast that you hire the first company to come along. Make it a goal to ask for quotes from at least three different remediation companies. Most contractors will be happy to provide you with a free written estimate for their services. You don’t necessarily want to go with the lowest quote every time, but price is obviously a factor which will be taken into consideration, as well as the timeline which is offered.

Ask for References

As a last step before you make your choice, ask all contractors you are considering for references from past customers. Any good contracting company will have at least a few references which you can check on to make sure they live up to their promises. Don’t just ask for the references and then let them sit on your desk – actually make a few phone calls to gather opinions. Also, you can check reviews which have been left on the web to get an idea about the reputation of each remediation company in the running.

No one wants to have to hire a mold remediation contractor, as doing so means there is already a serious problem in your home. However, this is a problem which will not go away on its own, so taking action right away is your best bet. Use the points above to pick the right contractor for your needs and look forward to putting this problem behind you as quickly as possible.

How to choose the right mold remediation company

Finding mold in your home is scary. We like to think our home is safe – and it should be. What if I told you that mold doesn’t have to hurt the value of your home, or cost thousands in repairs …and that getting rid of mold isn’t hard when you have a blueprint?

My parent’s home burned down in 1950 before I was born, so my dad and grandfather built a new one.  Our new home set on a river lot in rural West Virginia with all the amenities – natural gas furnace, cistern water and one indoor bathroom for a family of five.

Our home was built with cinderblock and had a pink stucco finish. The windows were single pane and the only insulation was in the attic. In the hot, humid summers we would open the windows and doors. During thunderstorms, we’d rush to close them…. hopefully before the house flooded.

The freezing winters were the worst. Our home was so drafty, our gas floor furnace could not keep up with the bitter cold that blew down the valley. One of my favorite pastimes was writing my  name  on  the  frost  of  my  bedroom  window  and  playing  tic-tac-toe  with  my  brothers. Whenever we ran out of frost, we would blow on the glass to make more and continue our games.

they became very, very tight: designed to have thick insulation in the walls, floors and ceilings, double and triple paned windows, energy efficient HVAC systems, caulking, weatherstripping and on and on to a point where our homes and buildings don’t “breathe” like they used to, causing dangerous mold concentrations to build up in the air

MOLD REMEDIATION COMPANIES

Mold remediation companies provide a number of services necessary to deal with the problematic growth of mold in the home – mold inspection, mold removal, repair of household damage due to mold. Some mold removal companies are certified in mold remediation, though certification is not required of mold remediation contractors so that’s something you want to inquire about when selecting a company to take care of your mold problem.

Why Hire Someone?

Some people decide to just handle their mold problems on their own, and in some cases that might work out fine. However, the Environmental Protection Agency recommends not attempting to clean up a mold problem on your own if the mold covers more than ten square feet. The thing is, even though you may only notice a few square feet of bathroom tile affected by mold, mold spores spread easily through the air and mold can hide in many places, including your heating vents and air ducts. You probably won’t see it there yourself, but certified mold remediation contractors know how to track it down and take care of it

Something else to consider is that there are different types of mold, and different techniques are used to thoroughly remove different types. If mold is not thoroughly removed, it will continue to grow and spread, putting you and your family at risk for all sorts of health problems.

The picture below shows a bad case of black mold in an attic. Attic mold removal is usually a difficult job because it is hard to remove mold from porous surfaces like wood, and sheetrock and insulation usually need to be replaced.

Choosing Among All the Different Mold Remediation Companies

Unless you live in a very small town, you probably have several mold remediation companies from which to choose. Don’t just settle for the one with the biggest ad in your local yellow pages. You can call your local Department of Health for suggestions, or check with the Better Business Bureau. The important thing is to make sure you choose a company that will do the job right.