Mold Remediation in West Palm Beach, FL
In a West Palm Beach house, mold often starts
above the ceiling.
Wind that lifts a tile or a shingle lets rain into the attic. The water soaks the insulation and the top of the drywall well before a stain shows below. We remove mold across the Palm Beach area and trace the leak that fed it.
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Do air purifiers help with mold?
Only a little: a HEPA purifier can catch spores floating in one room, which may ease allergy symptoms, but it cannot touch the colony growing on a wet wall or ceiling. The mold stops when the wet material comes out and the leak gets fixed.
Mold in West Palm Beach Homes
Where mold starts in a West Palm Beach house
As Hurricane Wilma passed on October 24, 2005, the National Weather Service in Miami measured sustained winds of 82 mph and a gust of 101 mph at Palm Beach International Airport. The storm crossed back to the Atlantic near Palm Beach Gardens as a Category 2 hurricane. Damage across Broward and Palm Beach counties was heaviest on roofs.
Roofs Lifted by the Wind
When wind lifts a tile or peels back a shingle, rain gets under the roof covering and into the attic. The insulation soaks it up first. The ceiling below can take weeks to show a stain. In the meantime mold has time to grow on the drywall paper above it.
Plaster Walls in the Historic Districts
Plenty of 1920s and 1930s houses in Old Northwood, Flamingo Park and El Cid still have plaster walls, some over wood lath. Plaster hides moisture well. Mold on the lath behind it can stay out of sight until the plaster bulges, cracks or starts to smell.
Roof repair and mold removal: the order that works
After a storm opens a West Palm Beach roof, the roofer, the adjuster and the mold crew all want to start at once. Doing it in this order keeps anyone from doing the work twice.
- 1
Stop the water coming in
Before anything else, get a tarp over the damaged section or have a roofer put one on. Mold removed under a roof that still leaks grows back on the new drywall.
- 2
Photograph everything first
Take pictures of the ceiling, the attic and the roof damage before the roofer or our crew moves anything. Your insurer will ask what it looked like before the work began.
- 3
Get the wet material out within a day or two
The EPA says to dry water-damaged areas and items within 24 to 48 hours to prevent mold. Soaked insulation and ceiling drywall rarely dry in place, so they come out under containment while the roof is being fixed.
- 4
Let the roofer finish
Inside the city, roof work normally runs on a City of West Palm Beach roofing permit, with inspections before the permit closes. Keep the ceiling open until the roof is done.
- 5
Close up only when the framing reads dry
New drywall goes up once the roof is tight and the meter readings in the attic framing say dry. Closing a ceiling over wet wood is why mold keeps coming back.
Sources: EPA, A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture and Your Home; City of West Palm Beach Building Division, permits FAQ.
Our Process
How we remove mold in West Palm Beach
- 1
Find the Moisture
We walk the whole house with a moisture meter, including the rooms you did not call about. Mold grows where water sits, so we find the water before we cut anything out.
In an older West Palm Beach house we also go into the attic above any ceiling stain and take extra readings on plaster along outside walls and around old window openings.
- 2
Contain the Area
We seal the work area with plastic sheeting and keep it under negative air through HEPA filters. Spores stay inside the work zone and out of the rest of the house.
- 3
Remove Damaged Material
We cut out moldy drywall, insulation and carpet and bag it inside the containment before it leaves the room. We clean the hard surfaces worth keeping instead of replacing them.
- 4
Treat and Fog
We treat every exposed surface with an antifungal and fog the AC ducts to reach spores the air handler has carried through the house. A new AC filter goes in before we leave.
- 5
Stop the Water
If the water came through the foundation, we waterproof the block in the same job. A roof, a pipe or a sweating AC duct needs another trade, so we show you where it is and name who to call before the walls go back up.
When you want the job cleared, the clearance test comes from an independent licensed mold assessor. Under Florida Statute 468.8419, a remediator or its company may not assess a house it remediated within the past 12 months, so that sign-off should never come from us.
Mold Remediation Questions From West Palm Beach
How do I know if a roof leak has caused mold?
Is mold in the attic a problem for the rest of the house?
How much does mold remediation cost in West Palm Beach?
Do you do mold remediation in historic homes?
Should I replace the roof before mold remediation?
Our mold work runs under Florida mold remediator license MRSR5565. Our foundation waterproofing carries a lifetime warranty against water coming through the section we treat.
MRSR5565
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