DIY Mold Mitigation?

10/3/2023 (Permalink)

It only takes 24-48 hours of dampness to create a mold outbreak.

The humidity in Shreveport puts residents at risk for mold growth and damage to their homes. If excess moisture is able to collect or saturate structural components, it can lead to serious problems for the homeowner. Even those who regularly clean and are proactive about preventing mold can still miss a microbial threat. 

It only takes 24 to 48 hours of dampness to create a mold outbreak. If a water event moistens areas of your home and you do not remove the moisture, expect mold. A weekend away is enough time for spores to spread if an open window lets in rain or if a pet knocks over a water bowl.

While removing water and drying out surfaces quickly can help prevent a mold outbreak, water damage can be tricky for a homeowner to manage if it reaches behind walls or occurs in low traffic areas of your home. When a mold outbreak does occur, trying to clean it up yourself can lead to even more problems. When bleach is used to attempt to remediate an infestation, it will not kill the mold but will only lighten the staining. Common household bleach is primarily water and will soak into the affected area and feed the mold rather than killing it. 

Professional mold remediators have the training and job experience to meet the challenges mold damage brings. SERVPRO® mold remediation crews rely on a range of techniques and products to remove mold colonies. Some of these include EPA registered antimicrobial agents, scrubbing and scraping techniques, and soda blasting to restore porous surfaces.

Trying to remove or mitigate mold on your own generally only makes the problem worse. Making mold a problem best left to the experts. If you suspect or are experiencing a mold problem, SERVPRO® of South Shreveport is poised to remediate any size mold damage outbreak in your home. Contact our experts at (318) 865-4655 for a mold abatement plan that clears away the current mold with an eye on eliminating the moisture mold must have to reproduce and multiply.

Removing Water Is the First Step in Water Restoration for Shreveport Homes

2/21/2023 (Permalink)

After water removal in your Shreveport home, SERVPRO provides a large inventory of drying equipment.

Immediate Removal of Water in Shreveport is the Best Water Restoration Course of Action

Water restoration of Shreveport homes after a storm involves many steps leading to fully restoring your home to its preloss condition. Mitigating the damage is one of the highest priorities of our SERVPRO team. Removing water immediately from floors, walls, and ceilings can significantly reduce the secondary damage caused by moisture absorption and mold.

SERVPRO sets priorities, develops a plan, and focuses initial water restoration efforts in your Shreveport home to minimize total damage after a storm:

• Assess the damage, water, and debris penetration and safety issues
• Install temporary protection – tarps on roofs, board up of windows and doors
• Initiate water removal – pumping, weighted extractors, vacuum wands
• Remove debris, begin disinfection and cleaning
• Install high-capacity air movers and dehumidifiers to begin drying the home

Once we have removed all the water and debris, humidity has returned to normal levels, and your home has been cleaned and disinfected, it is time to focus on restoration activities. Our building services crew can begin repair and restoration, coordinated by SERVPRO. Building services that may be required include:

• Repairs to the roof, windows, and other outside areas, in addition to general exterior cleanup
• Controlled demolition of structure permanently damaged, e.g., flooring, walls, cabinets
• Restoration, including – electrical, plumbing, HVAC, walls, floors, and cabinet installation
• Painting, flooring installation
• Return your contents that were cleaned and dried and held in a safe environment

Don’t hesitate to discuss any special concerns your family may have concerning valuable contents, heirlooms, or working with your insurance company. Our SERVPRO colleagues can answer these and any other questions you may have while they remove water, clean, repair, and restore your home after a major storm damaged it.

Call SERVPRO of South Shreveport for water restoration services. We provide service to Shreveport and nearby areas. We can help 24/7. Call (318) 865-4655.

Moldy Camping Trip? Call SERVPRO for Remediation of Fungus in Your Shreveport Property--Even Your Tent

10/3/2018 (Permalink)

SERVPRO Says Protect Your Shreveport Property from Mold After a Camping Trip

Damp Hiking and Camping Equipment Can Cause Mold Damage to Your Shreveport Hom

Enjoying family time in the great outdoors, either near Shreveport or in other locations can help bond with your family and relax from the stresses of normal routines. Wet and rainy nights while away from home can soak your gear and leave it in need of serious drying out time. Neglecting to let things completely air out before storing them away for next year can create problems in your home.
 
If your Shreveport home contains areas with elevated moisture, mold damage can occur there and in nearby locations. Leather hiking boots may seem dry long before all of the moisture from walking through mud evaporates. Tents that you rolled up too soon after a stormy night can slowly seep water vapor into the air. Not only can these items become moldy themselves, but they also provide the moisture that microbes need.
 
When the time comes to place these items in either the garage, shed, or attic, moving them can disturb any mold spores already present. These now-airborne spores enter your home's air currents and soon settle in other regions, waiting for moisture to start their growth cycle. One way we protect our customers' homes is by using air scrubbers that eliminate these potential microscopic threats from the air.
 
When we cut and remove moldy materials, we also use air scrubbers as part of a protective chamber. These machines help produce negative air pressure, which works in a highly efficient way to remove spores and other particles from the air throughout your entire home. We further protect your home from future infestations by carefully handling any materials we remove so disposing of them poses no threat to other areas of your residence.
 
There is a wide range of prices involving camping equipment so restoring any of the more costly items can help save money overall. Some materials, though, require more than restorative work. We can discuss with you possible options, although our primary goal is to prevent the spread of mold and mildew in your home. Cleaning mold from the surfaces of your gear can help rid them of the living mold, but stains may remain behind.
 
SERVPRO's Applied Microbial Remediation Technician (AMRT) uses moisture meters that help locate areas experiencing increased amounts of moisture, leading us to hidden mold damage. We must remediate all mold damage to make your home exactly “Like it never even happened.”
 
SERVPRO of South Shreveport also provides mold damage remediation services to families in the Forbing area. Our 24-hour services number, (318) 865-4655, is available to you every day of the year.

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How Flood Damages Can Lead to Mold in Your Shreveport Home

8/19/2018 (Permalink)

Contact SERVPRO after flooding to both dry out your property and help mitigate any resulting mold damage.

SERVPRO Technicians Understand That Flooding and Any Possible Resulting Mold Damage Go Hand in Hand

Between a defective levy or substantial weather concerns throughout Shreveport, the threat of flooding is a persistent one to the residents here. While you work to safeguard your home from these unfortunate circumstances, sometimes it is difficult to avoid entirely. Worse still, many of the damages take days to develop once oversaturation and dampness have become widespread through the property, and the result of this situation can prove even more of a risk.

Combating mold damages in your Shreveport home is not something that every homeowner ever believed they would be doing. While the threat of this occurrence is possible every day due to the volume of mold spores (occurring inside and outside of your home at any given time), the kind of widespread water damage that flooding brings can offer this compounding damage in as little as 72 hours.

While correcting the flood damage is a daunting task all by itself at times, our SERVPRO technicians actively seek to avoid mold growth in your home. This growth can not only pose health risks for the occupants of the house, but these colonies feed on materials used in the framework, walls, supports, and floors of your home. Until the moisture is taken care of, especially in low traffic areas or in wall cavities, these colonies continue to grow and thrive.

One thing that you should understand is that mold damage is nothing to be taken lightly. With the kind of widespread nature of this fungal growth, it can quickly get out of control. This damage is something that our SERVPRO professionals actively look for as we seek to restore the flood damages to your home and return it to preloss conditions.

Preventing mold damage might seem as improbable as preventing flooding in your home at times. Regardless of how it happens, you should work to get this situation resolved as efficiently as possible. Our SERVPRO of South Shreveport applied microbial remediation technicians are standing by to help you. Give our rapid response team a call anytime at (318) 865-4655.

Click here for more information on the city of Shreveport.

SERVPRO - Cleaning And Removing Mold Damage From Shreveport Residences

5/21/2018 (Permalink)

SERVPRO technicians have the knowledge and training to remove mold damage from your home properly.

When Mold Damage creeps up on you, count on us for help

Shreveport is a small, unique city. Almost as well known as our big sister to the south, residents enjoy a slightly quieter life and claim to serve actual, traditional Louisiana food without the commercialization. We still share many problems with other areas, and one of them is mold.

Mold damage can happen in any Shreveport home. It is merely a matter of a few mold spores having enough moisture to begin expanding and then finding a nearby food source while the temperature is just right. SERVPRO technicians understand that this can happen entirely out of sight and a homeowner only becomes aware of it when he or she sees it growing up the wall behind the washing machine.

In older and new homes, the majority of the damage happens to the structure itself. Mold can cause health risks in some people. What our restoration specialists find is that the mold has grown long enough to force its way into the material such as ceiling tiles, wood, and other building materials like sheetrock.

When this happens, SERVPRO technicians must remove and dispose of the infested material. Pulling sheetrock panels away from the wall framing is not a difficult task, but there is also the need to prevent needlessly damaging the panels and releasing loose mold spores into the air where they can settle in previously uncontaminated areas of the home.

That is why our team members carefully remove each panel off the wall and out of the home before breaking it into smaller pieces. Our teams dispose of every piece of infested building material according to EPA and state regulations.

Not every surface covered in mold requires disposal, however. In most cases, our technicians use anti-fungal and anti-bacterial cleaners to kill mold spores on the surface and then wipe them off with dry sponges or cleaning cloths. For thick layers of mold, teams use vacuums with special, HEPA filters designed to capture even a single mold spore off an affected surface.

If you have mold in your home, you need to bring a trained professional to remove it. SERVPRO of South Shreveport has cleaned and restored mold-infested homes since 1996. Let us help you now, so call us at (318) 865-4655 today to schedule an appointment.

For details on the city of Shreveport, LA click here.

Air Quality Improves After Mold Remediation In Shreveport

5/3/2018 (Permalink)

SERVPRO Remediates Mold and Improves Indoor Air Quality in Shreveport Area Properties

SERVPRO Provides Mold Cleanup and a Healtheir Home Environment

Mold colonies are a possibility in any Shreveport home given the right conditions. Mold spores are always present, waiting for the opportunity to begin growing and multiplying when moisture is available. Removing the active colonies from surfaces is one step toward abatement, but we also help clear the air of moldy debris during remediation.
 
If the interior of your Shreveport residence harbors mold damage, it is crucial to engage the services of a firm that can help with remediation of the active colony at all levels. Removing visible colonies safely following EPA protocols is one treatment our crews train extensively to master. We also offer techniques that improve the air quality inside your home, these efforts aimed at abating the airborne characteristics of mold and its residues.
 
When SERVPRO plans for your mold remediation treatment, containment of the mold seen on surfaces and escaping into the air are equally important. We use physical barriers and negative pressure air scrubbers equipped with high-efficiency filters and venting to create zones within your home to keep airborne and tracked in mold debris from unaffected spaces during the treatments. The contaminants are trapped within the HEPA filters used in our vacuums as well. Our crews observe strict rules intended to prevent as much as possible the migration of spores and other residues from the contaminated areas into the locations where you and your loved ones live during the remediation.
 
Because mold and its byproducts can cause health effects in those who have allergies or are otherwise susceptible, removing the tiny spores and other residues from the air help wind up a remediation project successfully. SERVPRO crews use specialized equipment like ULV foggers to dispense antimicrobial products during the remediation procedures. The foggers generate an ultra-low volume (ULV) mist of particles 5-50 microns (μm) in diameter. This size is ideal for the extermination of spores and clearing of the moldy debris stirred up during the remediation.
 
SERVPRO recommends remediation assessment when you see, smell, or suspect mold. Expensive testing is not necessary if the mold is evident. The services we provide are effective in curbing current mold damage. Once our remediation completes you and your contractors can take steps to eliminate the moisture that fuels the mold growth.
 
SERVPRO of South Shreveport is a full-service mold remediation resource for our community. Call us at (318) 865-4655 to schedule an assessment and the dispatch of one of our skilled mold abatement crews.

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