What Is Professional Mould Remediation?

Professional Mould Remediation Services - How Professional Mould Treatment Gets Rid Of Mould For Good

‍**It's important to note that we use mould remediation and mould removal interchangeably to refer to our full PureHome service. Other companies may use the terms to refer to different elements of their services. We have defined both as customers search both terms and we want to be clear on how we define each.**

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If you've spotted mould (meaning it's visible to the naked eye), it means a mould colony has been established in your home as individual mould spores are always invisible to the human eye. Mould is a health risk and needs to be dealt with urgently. Mould can commonly cause health problems like respiratory issues, and allergenic response symptoms like itchiness, lethargy and brain fog but can cause much more sinister health problems if the severity of mould growth within your property is particularly severe, as has been discussed with growing regularity on the news recently. As a professional mould remediation company we deal with the decontamination and cleaning of the mould in your home, thus eradicating the risk to health. That's where professional mould removal/ remediation comes in. Our PUREHome treatment deals with your mould issue as follows:

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(Step 1) Mould Survey: Determining The Causes Of Mould Growth

A Pure Maintenance UK professional mould remediation or mould removal service commences with our technician undertaking a survey to ascertain the specific cause of mould growth in your property. Our Dewpoint accredited, specialist technicians - using a variety of tools - gather a range of data points to inform the way they shape the mould remediation process to the circumstances in your property. Their findings will also be returned to you in the form of a Report after all mould removal and remediation has concluded and they've had a chance to write up their findings. Their report will discuss the variety of ways mould may have been caused to grow in your property. This includes; water damage, damp conditions, condensation and structural issues that can lead to water ingress and penetrating dampness. Their report will contain recommendations regarding how to reduce condensation and excess moisture.

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Mould is caused by condensation in the majority of cases. Condensation is water vapour which, when it comes into contact with a surface, condenses into surface moisture. It can saturate building materials like wallpaper and plaster, meaning walls, ceilings and windows become damp. The condensation itself is often caused by a combination of common human behaviours and inadequate ventilation. Drying clothes indoors, showering without opening the bathroom windows, cooking without using an extractor fan and even heating the home without allowing the humid air to ventilate or not heating the home enough, can all cause excess condensation and moisture. When a wall or ceiling is allowed to remain damp over a period of time, the damp wall or damp ceiling becomes an ideal breeding ground for mould.

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Mould can also be caused by structural defects within the property. Cracks and holes in the masonry, broken guttering and compromised or missing insulation can all cause dampness. Penetrating damp, structural damp and rising damp may all be terms you're familiar with. This is how your home (walls, ceilings, floors) can become damp unrelated to owner/ tenant behaviour and poor ventilation.

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Before beginning any remedial treatment, our technician will also take an air sample. They repeat this step upon concluding treatment. This is sent off to an independent laboratory for analysis. It tells us if mould is present and how severe the mould infestation is. It does this by identifying the species of mould detected in the property and the spore count per m3 (the number of spores/ amount of mould detected). These two metrics indicate the severity of the mould problem and provide a benchmark against which we can measure our after-treatment test. The type of mould discovered also gives clues as to potential causes and/or health implications.

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(Step 2) Pure Maintenance Patented Dry Fog: Comprehensive Mould Removal

Once the initial inspection has been completed, our accredited mould technician will commence remediation work. In order to get rid of the mould and improve overall air quality, they begin by identifying any mould colonies (visible mould). They begin by mould cleaning - wiping the mould colonies with InstaPURE, our sterilant, which immediately begins the process of lysis. This means the cell walls of the mould spores are eroded by the sterilant and the nuclei within are denatured. This renders the mould into 'inert nothingness'. Whilst it looks like the wipe-down is just to clean mould that's visible, it also removes the biofilm (biological material) coating your surfaces, allowing for deeper penetration when it comes to the next stage: the application of our patented dry fog.

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Our technician will then begin systematically filling your property with the first of two fogs that make our process unique. The first is the 'dry fog' you'll see across our website and hear about if you speak to any of our customer consultants. The unmatched ability of the first fog to eliminate mould is due to its characteristic 'dryness'. This is due to its inability to condense on surfaces at the particle size in which we force it. The fogger creates positive air pressure in a given room, meaning the fog is forced into every last nook and cranny. It dwells on all surfaces, penetrates soft furnishings and even gets under floorboards/ behind cavity walls. The fog consists of our sterilant, InstaPURE, whose mechanism of action we've previously described. It's unparalleled in its ability to remove mould; whether the mould is growing or dormant it'll be rendered inert by exposure to our sterilant. Airborne mould spores, due to the fog's inability to condense on surfaces, will also be systematically destroyed. Due to the condensed size of the sterilant, it can penetrate any space a mould spore has. Our sterilant will get rid of mould anywhere it exists in your property. All mould strains are destroyed by the sterilant (even the dreaded black mould - though there is no singular genus of mould known as 'black mould' - for more read our article here). After our professional mould removal.

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(Step 3) Antimicrobial Film: How We Stop Mould From Coming Back

Once the mould on your surfaces, in your air and in your soft furnishings and clothing has been eradicated, we begin the next step in the mould removal process; preventing it from returning. Our mould remediation technician will begin the application of EverPURE, an antimicrobial film. They do this systematically, moving from room to room. The antimicrobial film is administered as a 'wet' fog, as we need it to condense on surfaces. Once it comes into contact with anything solid, it creates a covalent bond. In simple terms, it becomes one with the surface. If viewed through a microscope, it would resemble a bed of nails. The nails are carbon spikes and the antimicrobial film works by electrostatically attracting any mould spores reintroduced to the property to it, puncturing their cell walls on impact - what's known as a mechanical kill. It is imperceptible to touch and sight and is completely family safe. Our mould removal technician, as mentioned above, will leave you with a report which contains, amongst many other findings, advice on how to minimise moisture and humidity in the home. If this is adhered to, there's no reason our antimicrobial film won't last for a very long time indeed, ensuring your home stays mould free and full of clean air. InstaPURE and EverPURE combined with the adoption of our specialist mould remediation technician's recommendations - as per their report - will help prevent mould from returning. Our ultimate goal is to make your home a safe space where any mould in your property is gone.

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Upon concluding the dry fogging of our sterilant to remove the mould and the application of the antimicrobial film to get rid of all the mould in your permanently, our technician finishes up by taking another air sample. This, like the first, is sent to an independent, accredited laboratory in the United States. The 'before test' and 'after test' form the quantitative, tangible proof that we've done what we said we'd do. This will also be returned to you in the form of a report, separate from the technician's mould and condensation report. Best of all, providing there are no ongoing leaks or structural/ ventilation issues, our technician will offer you a 1-year guarantee. If the mould comes back, so do we - for free.

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Conclusion: Do You Need Professional Remediation?

For the sake of your and your family's health and safety, any mould growth in your home needs to be addressed in a professional and careful manner. That's not to say it can't be done by you, but if you are going to be dealing with mould yourself the utmost care and attention needs to be taken to avoid simply making the mould contamination worse. Special care needs to be taken where exposure to mould is going to occur, to ensure minimal risk to health. You're dealing with a fungus which - at the level of the spore - is not visible to the naked eye, so if you want the peace of mind that the contamination will not be worsened and that your health will not be at risk, we strongly recommend booking mould remediation specialists to carry out the work. As part of our process, we first identify the likely causes of the mould, tailor a treatment plan around the unique circumstances in your home, take an air sample to measure the airborne spores and identify the genera (plural of genus) of the mould spores, our technician comprehensively eradicates mould on surfaces, in the air and embedded in materials and finally, applies an antimicrobial film to all surfaces to stop it coming back. When mould remediation is carried out by a Pure Maintenance UK technician, you can rest assured that they will eradicate the mould from your home and, coupled with applying any recommendations they'll leave you with, will ensure the mould is gone permanently.

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Get in touch if you'd like a quote for professional mould remediation treatment or to discuss your mould issue and ask any questions you may have about the implications and also our treatment process.