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Want to know more about how to remediate mold? Follow these steps for quickly addressing mold problems in homes

Want to know more about how to remediate mold? Follow these steps for quickly addressing mold problems in homes

Mold has had its 15 minutes of fame over the last few years. Though the hype has died down, mold—and mold remediation—in homes is still an important issue. Customer complaints require home builders to have a fast action plan, both to clean up the mold problem and to show customers that a quality home builder (you) is looking out for their health and safety and the durability of their home.

1. Prevent it by doing things right the first time 

2. When you do face mold, take care of it immediately.

Ensuring your warranty team follows a process for mold cleanup and remediation will take care of the latter.

The following steps, which can be adapted to fit within your company's policy, serve as a basic process for quickly remediating mold problems.

Assessing mold growth involves more than just looking at what's visibly growing on the walls or in a corner. Mold can be an invisible intruder, growing behind and around what you first see. Such devious behavior requires inquisitive thinking.

First, understand that behind all mold growth is a water or moisture problem. Second, become a master of moisture — know where moisture comes from and how it gets into the home. The ultimate goal of these two steps is for warranty representatives to identify a moisture source and use its location to help locate all mold growth, not just what's immediately visible.

Before you begin mold cleanup and mold removal, document the mold situation with writing, photos, and video. The warranty team supervisor will use the documentation to develop a remediation plan, which typically answers questions such as when work is slated to begin, when that work is scheduled to be completed, who will be performing the remediation, any testing that should be done, and if homeowners will be temporarily relocated.

In the longer term, the documentation can help manage liability for your company or point to larger trends in mold growth.

Mold may not always grow in one area, so you need to figure out how much contamination you're really looking at. Calculating the extent of the contamination will impact how you approach mold removal and clean up. The goal of mold removal is to clean up mold growing within the home, and to avoid exposing homeowners to large amounts of mold.

The New York City Department of Health (NYC DOH) has developed guidelines for cleaning up mold contamination. These guidelines are widely used in the construction industry and recommend six levels of mold removal based on the square footage of the mold and whether or not the mold is located within the home's HVAC system. Following the NYC DOH's guidelines, available online, calculate the remediation level needed.

Mold removal and remediation will always involve cleaning up existing mold while avoiding exposure to oneself as well as homeowners, as well as preventing new growth by addressing the moisture source. Based on your calculation of the contamination area, determine if you're working in an area up to 30 square feet (approximately the size of a full sheet of drywall). If so, you'll be following the guidelines for remediation levels 1 and 2. Level 1 remediation is used for small, isolated areas of mold up to 10 square feet and Level 2 remediation covers square footage from 10 to 30 square feet.

The cleanup process is the same for Level 1 and Level 2 mold remediation and is comprised of these steps:

Reference the remediation plan during the actual remediation to make sure it's being followed. If additional mold is discovered during the clean up, the warranty supervisor should update the plan.

For contamination areas greater than 30 square feet, many builders hire outside mold removal firms to perform the clean up. In this case, you and your team switch from actually performing mold remediation to supervising a qualified contractor. Having a general understanding of the proper procedures an outside company should be following is useful. The NYC DOH guidelines address such procedures for Level 3 contamination and above.

Just because the mold is gone and there's no dirt or dust doesn't mean that you're done. Your last step is to determine if your clean-up efforts have been successful. While this last step is a judgment call, there are some options and guidelines to follow.

The EPA document, Mold Remediation in Schools and Commercial Buildings, is a great resource that provides guidelines for helping you complete your clean up efforts. Some of these guidelines include:

Depending on your company and the specific details of a mold problem, additional testing by an environmental testing company may be performed after the clean up to verify that all mold has been removed.

When it comes to mold, the key is to implement a comprehensive moisture management strategy. Potential liability and health issues from mold can be dramatically decreased by doing it right the first time. Clean up must be immediate and thorough, following a process like the above steps. It may sound over-simplified, but the primary failure in response to homeowner complaints is simply the fact that builders don't respond fast enough, or with the emphasis that the issue is potentially serious.

Minimum personal protection equipment for levels 1 and 2 remediation includes an N95 respirator, eye goggles without vents and rubber gloves that extend to mid-forearm.

Following an immediate and thorough remediation plan is essential for mold removal and showing customers you're committed to acting quickly.

Before entering a home to assess a mold growth situation, make sure you have the necessary personal protective equipment.

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