Once mold starts to thrive in your home, you need to quickly remove them. You can surely hire a restoration service, but you can also do it yourself. We’re sharing with you a guide on how to repair mold damage. By doing this, you’re preventing further damage to your home.
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Mold grows in dark moist areas like your basement, bathroom, and duct works. They grow on organic porous materials like wood and cork. If you let them grow, they can destroy the structure of your house while causing allergies to you and your loved ones.
What do you need to prepare for mold damage repair?
Before cleaning, you need to protect yourself from molds. They cause respiratory problems when you inhale their spores. To protect yourself from these fungi, here are the mold cleaning tips you need to prepare:
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
This includes your gloves, goggles, mask, and N95 respirator. Take note, you can’t inhale their spores, otherwise, you can get asthma attacks and watery eyes. As you could see, mold damage restoration services are always in their protective equipment when it comes to dealing with problems
Rags, brush, vacuum, and knife
Prepare your cleaning tools for mold damage repair. This fungus is easy to scrub off from the surface, so you can use a rag or soft brush. If they strongly adhere to your walls or tiles, you can use a knife or stiff brush.
Vacuum
Remove fallen particles and spores of molds on the floor using a HEPA vacuum. This ensures you are leaving no traces of them on any surfaces.
Trash bag
All those materials that cannot be repaired from mold damage, throw them properly. After closing your trash bag, you can spray disinfectant on it.
How will you clean and repair mold damage?
Identify the affected areas
Locate those areas where mold damage is present. After doing that, inform everyone in the house to stay away from those places since you’re going to clean them.
Plan for a mold remediation
Once you’re done spotting them, you need to make an assessment. If you can do the clean-up and repair on your own, or you need to hire a mold damage repair company. At Royal Restoration, we offer a free consultation to help you assess the extent of mold damage. That way, you have a more accurate evaluation of the situation.
Once you’ve made your final decision, you can proceed to getting the materials you’ll need for mold remediation and repair.
Prepare your supplies and cleaning products
Assemble those materials we’ve mentioned in the previous section for cleaning and repairing mold damage. Make a checklist and see if you’re missing something or not. Remember, you need to wear your personal protective equipment before cleaning molds. You need to protect yourself from getting sick due to mold infestation.
Isolate and prepare the area to be cleaned
After spotting the area affected by molds, you need to remove those items that are not infected to prevent further mold damage. You can isolate the place with plastic cover and duct tape those holes and crevices where mold spores can come out.
This is done by most mold damage repair services to contain mold spread and damage. You also need to turn off your air conditioning system in that affected room, so that mold won’t circulate inside your HVAC system.
Set up negative air pressure
Setting up a negative air pressure inside the affected area can be challenging, especially if you don’t have the equipment. This process entails air suction out from the affected space and blowing them outside the house. That way, you are removing spores inside the house, so as to prevent the spread to other areas.
Alternatively, you can use a HEPA vacuum to suck all those spores inside the isolated space. That way, you are storing all molds in one container, preventing them from spreading across your house.
Mold remediation and clean-up
You can now start sanitizing your space where molds are growing. You can use your rag or brush to brush them off your drywalls, tiles, or carpets. Furthermore, you can use those commercial products for mold cleaning sold in stores and hardware. Otherwise, you can make your own. Baking soda and water are two common ingredients for your DIY mold cleaner.
If you use a rag, after wiping it, immediately throw them away. This is to avoid contamination. Disinfection is done after cleaning. It’s your final step for mold cleaning.
Remove materials that can no longer be salvaged
If your drywall or carpets having mold damage can no longer be repaired, you have to get rid of them. It’s better to be safe than to let this fungus grow on other organic surfaces. But if you can still clean and repair them, then that would be great. Still, you have to make sure that they’re sturdy to be recycled and reused. There are easy carpet cleaning tips that you can follow to do it safely.
Properly dispose waste and disinfect your tools
Secure your trash bag and spray disinfectant over it. Properly dispose of your waste to avoid re-contamination. After that, place all your cleaning products in one container for cleaning and disinfection. You can use bleach, hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, or detergent for it. But you can also buy mold disinfectants in stores.
Check it again
You need to inspect the area you’ve cleaned. This is to ensure no molds are left behind. You can also double-check if some things have been contaminated with molds, so you can still quickly clean and disinfect them. Make sure that you add this up on your house cleaning checklist.
How much is mold damage repair cost?
Mold is a nightmare for most homeowners. It’s detrimental to health and property. Most of all, it’s not cheap to do mold remediation and repair. The industry’s price for mold remediation is between $1,000 to $3,300. But it can vary depending on the extent of mold damage.
Here are some factors affecting the cost of mold repair
- Location
- The cleaning company
- Coverage of mold remediation service
- The area where mold remediation and repair is performed. The basement and HVAC system are the two expensive areas where mold cleaning and repair can be done.
- Types of mold infecting your home
When do you need to call a professional mold damage repair service?
Even when you have the proper tools, but you don’t have the skills, you’ll still have difficulty cleaning and repairing mold damages. If the extent of mold damage is alarming, it’s safer for you to let a professional do it. They have the proper knowledge and technology to safely and efficiently handle this concern. Such steps could also be a helpful and safer house cleaning tips and tricks that you can follow.
At Royal Restoration, we are licensed and bonded to clean and repair mold damages for residential and commercial clients.
Should you have any questions about our services, feel free to visit us on Instagram or contact us!
