Crawl spaces are notorious for growing mold. Are you searching for ‘crawl space mold removal near me?’ How can you choose the best company for the job? Anyone can say they are the best but how do you know? What should you know when hiring a mold removal company? What questions should you ask before hiring them?

How do you know if you really need mold removal? Are there people out there who would take advantage of you? You bet there are! We help you avoid scams and hire the best company for the job. If the company you interview can’t answer our questions, don’t hire them! Come read and learn everything you need to know about ‘crawl space mold removal near me.’

Symptoms Of Mold In Your Crawl Space

How do you know if you have mold in your crawl space? Musty smells (think wet dog, old gym sock type smells) in your home or coming from your crawl space may be the first clue you have a mold problem. Mold grows because of excess moisture. Anything that causes excess moisture in your crawl space can cause mold to grow such as:

• condensation on air conditioning ductwork or water pipes
• leaking pipes
• moisture damage
• high humidity
• buckled hardwood floors
• insect infestations
• rot of floor timbers

What Is Mold Anyway?

Molds are fungi. Fungi are neither animals nor plants. They inhabit a kingdom all their own. Fungi are spore producing organisms that feed on organic matter and include: yeasts, mildews, rusts, smuts, molds, and mushrooms. Fungi grow using filaments or hyphae that make up their bodies (mycellia). They digest organic matter externally before absorbing the nutrients.

How Does Mold Grow?

Molds grow from microscopic spores that are universal. You can find molds on every continent, and in almost every type of environment. Mold needs 4 things to grow: oxygen, moisture, a food source, and warmth.   They can penetrate deeply into drywall, carpets, underneath kitchen and bathroom sinks, etc. Because molds grow inside of their food sources, the food sources have to be completely removed to get rid of the mold.

Is Crawl Space Mold A Health Problem?

In one word… Yes. Mold is an insidious, invisible predator in your home. It hides in places no one ever thinks to look like under cabinets, in crawl spaces, and behind furniture. People may spend weeks, months, and even years fighting illness, and never know what they are really fighting…mold. Many of our customers find us after a recommendation from their doctor, that they may in fact have a mold problem, and not just an illness.

Mold is most often associated with allergies, but mold is much more menacing than people know. While all molds have the potential to cause irritation and allergy symptoms, molds can also cause much more dangerous health problems including: fungal poisoning and mental health problems.

You can learn more about mycotoxin poisoning in our article: When Mold Is Worse Than Allergies.

To learn more about how mold can affect mental health check out our articles: Mold and Mycotoxins: Effects on the Brain and Nervous System in Adults and Effects of Mold on Children’s Health.

Why Are Crawl Spaces Prone To Mold Growth?

Generally, the dirt in a crawl space is drier than the dirt around the foundation. This results in moisture wicking into the crawl space from the dirt outside. Once inside the crawl space, the moisture evaporates into the air and the water vapor moves up and settles on ductwork, floor joists, subfloor, and/or floor insulation.

During the summer, the air and surfaces inside a crawl space are generally cooler than the outdoor air. As warm, humid air moves into a crawl space through the foundation vents, it begins to cool, resulting in an increase in relative humidity. Condensation from water vapor gathers on the ductwork, floor joists, subfloor, and/or floor insulation, and of course you now know that moisture leads to mold growth.

Most Crawl Spaces Are Inadequately Ventilated

Although most crawl spaces are vented, they are still passive systems, meaning that ventilation only occurs due to pressure changes and wind that happens to blow through the vents. Few crawl spaces have powered ventilation systems, which can create their own problems. Limited ventilation results in an accumulation of stagnant air. In this environment, mold, radon, and moisture (which attracts termites and rodents) can build to dangerous levels.

Warm air inside a home rises and escapes through the attic, drawing in cooler air from lower levels, including outdoor air and air from the crawl space. Running exhaust fans in the kitchen and bathrooms creates a negative pressure inside the home. This negative pressure also draws in air from outside the home and from the crawl space.

Your Crawl Space HVAC System May Be Circulating Dirty Air

HVAC systems are frequently located in the crawl space. Most HVAC systems, even many new systems, have some leaks around the air filter, between individual sections of ductwork and at the duct boots. These leaks reduce system efficiency and allow dirty crawl space air into the system and your home.

Although your crawl space is not part of the living space of your home, you should think of it as an extension of the breathing space of your home when it comes to indoor air quality. Like it or not, you are breathing air from your crawl space.

To learn more check out our post: HVAC System in Your Crawl Space? You May Be Breathing Dirty Air.

When Hiring a Crawl Space Mold Removal Company ‘Near Me,’ What Should You Expect?

Have you ever had mold removed from your home? Do you know what to ask mold removal companies? What do they really do?

As a mold removal company, we know what you should expect and what the industry standards should be. If the company you interview doesn’t know the answer to the questions in this article, you probably don’t want to hire them!

Whether you are located in our service area (Oconee, Clarke, Barrow, Walton, Green, Morgan, Jackson, Oglethorpe, and Madison County, Georgia) or not, we want everyone to know what mold removal should look like.

What Questions Should You Ask A Crawl Space Mold Removal Company Before Hiring Them?

Not all mold removal and remediation companies are created equal. Before hiring anyone you should ask questions, a lot of questions! If they can’t answer these questions or answer them to your satisfaction… Don’t hire them!

1.What Is Mold Remediation?

Mold remediation is the technical term for mold removal. Here at Branch Environmental, we know mold remediation can be overwhelming, we are here to walk you through it. Though every home and circumstance is unique, we follow a proven process to not only remove mold contaminants, but keep them from returning.

2. Do you consider mold a health hazard?

The answer should always be yes! Mold is definitely a health hazard. Many of our customers find us after a recommendation from their doctor, that they may in fact have a mold problem, and not just an illness.

Mold is most often associated with allergies, but mold is much more menacing than people know. While all molds have the potential to cause irritation and allergy symptoms, molds can also cause much more dangerous health problems including fungal poisoning and even mental health problems.

3. What is a mycotoxin?

Every mold remediation company should be able to answer this question. Mycotoxins, literally ‘fungus poison’ in Latin, are secondary metabolites that can be produced by molds, and are not living organisms. Mycotoxins are a byproduct of mold. Not all mold spores produce mycotoxins, but some do. So the molds that produce mycotoxins are the ones that could be categorized as toxic or poisonous.

Mycotoxins are chemical substances that can cause many health problems ranging from mild to severe.  Even if you are not allergic to mold, you can be affected by mycotoxins.

You can learn more about mycotoxin poisoning in our article: Health Effects of Mold – What You Probably Don’t Know.

4. Do you perform an inspection first?

The company you choose should offer a comprehensive mold and indoor air quality inspection that you pay for, not hand over a price without truly investigating the problem.

The primary reason you want to pay for a comprehensive mold inspection is the time and resources that go into the inspection. Some of our competitors offer “free” inspections, which basically means that the inspector shows up and hands over a price to fix a symptom, without truly knowing the nature of the problem. 

The inspection should include all parts of your home, especially the parts that are hard to reach like crawlspaces and attics. Those are the places where mold loves to hide. To learn more about our inspection process check out our post: Beyond Mold Inspections, Branch Delivers Mold Investigations.

5. Do I receive a mold inspection report?

Absolutely! For every mold inspection we perform, we write a comprehensive inspection report. Each report contains all our findings, photographs, and our recommendations. We make sure you see and understand everything we saw in the comprehensive inspection report, and help you understand what needs to be done. If the mold is just a small area (less than 10 square feet), we may suggest that the homeowner can clean the mold themselves. However, if the mold damage is extensive (more than 10 square feet), we will explain exactly what needs to be done.

If your mold removal company doesn’t offer you a comprehensive inspection report, they probably aren’t the company you want.

6. How do you contain the work area?

To begin environmental remediation (for mold, asbestos, or lead), the area to be cleaned and repaired is isolated from the rest of the home or business. Plastic barrier walls and negative air flow contain the work area.

To create negative air flow, air enters a room and is pulled through the room, but does not re-enter the building. Clean air is pulled into the room, and is then expelled to the outdoors. This is important to keep contaminants like mold spores, viruses (like COVID-19), volatile organic compounds (VOC’s), microbial volatile organic compounds (mvoc’s), dust, and other small particles from entering your home during the work.

Hospitals use negative air pressure in the exact same way to keep patients with COVID-19 isolated from other patients. Air enters the area for COVID-19 patients, and the air is expelled to the outside. The air does NOT return to the building and reduces cross contamination.

7. Do you clean your equipment before each new project?

Of course! We disinfect surfaces daily , and routinely use ozone disinfection. Ozone is an extremely effective odor neutralizer and disinfectant killing bacteria, fungi, and viruses. Using negative air flow at low rates, ozone is used at the end of the day when the work area is empty. Negative Air Flow expels the ozone safely to the outdoors. Ozone disinfection with negative air flow is the same type of disinfection hospitals use when cleaning rooms that were used by patients with COVID-19.

8. Are you insured?

It goes without saying that anyone working on your home should be insured.

9. What happens to the wet moldy material you remove from my home?

The wet moldy material gets bagged and taken off site for disposal. No moldy material should be left for you to dispose.

10. Tell me about the step by step process for crawl space mold removal. What will happen?

A.Define The Scope

The company you choose should offer a comprehensive mold and indoor air quality inspection that you pay for, not hand over a price without truly investigating the problem. Your inspector should define the extent of the necessary work and what may or may not need to be done. The inspector should talk you through all your options and tailor a plan that fits your needs and your budget.

B. Correct Moisture Problems

Removing or correcting the source of moisture is a vital part of the remediation process to ensure mold does not return. This may be handled by a contractor outside the scope of the mold remediation. Once walls or floors are opened up, now is the time to address plumbing issues and other leaks.

Routine maintenance checks, performed on your home, can prevent leaks. The smaller the leak and longer the leak is present, the more mold will grow. Prevention is worth nine tenths of the cure they say!

To learn how to prevent water leaks and where the most likely spots for leaks in your home are located, check out our post: Top 6 Types of Water Damage and How to Avoid Them.

C. Protect The People

Keeping your family and the work crews safe is top priority. This means preparing your home for the work that needs to be done. Branch Environmental uses methods such as containment walls and negative air to keep your home safe, and we’ll let you know if you can or cannot be in the home during the work.

D.Remove The Mold

The work will start by removing and discarding non-salvageable material. Next, the materials that can be saved are cleaned. At Branch Environmental, we always use safe and environmentally friendly products. There is no reason to replace one environmental toxin with another, such as bleach. Be sure to ask your mold remediation contractor questions about the chemicals they use to remove mold and if they are environmentally friendly.

E. Restoration

If walls or floors were removed during the remediation, the final step will be reinstalling what was taken out. Drywall, carpet, and other soft materials are the most likely materials that will have to be replaced. However, even framing or complete floors may have to be replaced depending on the level of damage.

Is there Anything That Crawl Space Mold Removal Does NOT Include?

Yes, mold removal does not include fixing leaks in your home. Leaks need to be fixed before the mold remediation takes place. You may have to replace items such as drywall, carpet, wood, etc. once the mold is removed. A licensed contractor performs this service not the mold removal company.

Here at Branch Environmental, we also have a licensed contracting division that can replace items that are removed (like wood, drywall, etc). It can save you money to use the same company for both mold removal and repair. Check out our post Mold Remediation and Reconstruction Together Saves Time and Money  or call us to learn more.

Can You DIY Mold Removal?

Yes, mold removal can be a DIY project, but it’s a good idea to know when to call the pros. If the area of mold is smaller than 10 square feet you can probably clean the area yourself. If the area is larger than 10 square feet, or you don’t want to tackle the job yourself, hiring a mold remediation company is the best idea.

You must wear proper protective equipment when cleaning. Mold is a health hazard! To learn all the details on how to keep yourself safe and what cleaners are safe to use check out our post: How to Choose the Best Crawl Space Mold Removal Products.

How Much Does Crawl Space Mold Removal Cost?

That’s what most people ask, but the answer is not that simple. Costs for mold removal depend on the extent of the damage and what underlying problems caused the damage in the first place. Any company who gives you numbers before they inspect your home has a preconceived idea of what they ‘think’ the problem is. What you really need is a comprehensive mold and indoor air quality inspection.

A comprehensive mold and indoor air quality inspection (like ours) is very different from simply handing over a price. Imagine if your mechanic told you how much it would cost to fix your car without looking under the hood? Would you trust him (or her)? Getting a price for mold remediation without paying for a comprehensive mold inspection is a lot like that. Spending a few hundred dollars on a comprehensive mold inspection is money well spent, since a few hundred now could save you thousands in the long run.

To learn even more about mold removal costs check out our post: Mold Removal Costs – Branch Tells You the Truth in 5 Minutes.

Will Insurance Cover Crawl Space Mold Removal Costs?

Well, yes and no. If you have a catastrophic event, such as a tree fall or flooding event, and the mold grows as a result, then it might be covered. It depends on your individual insurance policy. Preventable mold growth, such as growth caused by a slow water leak, is normally not covered by homeowners insurance. Insurance companies expect you to take care of your own property, that includes: keeping your roof in good shape, preventing leaks in the roof and plumbing, checking your basement or crawl space regularly, properly ventilating the bathroom, etc.

So, for example, if you have mold forming in your bathroom, and you or your family members are sick as a result, it will probably not be covered by your homeowners insurance. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t try to fix the problem! Mold is not something you want in your home!

Here at Branch Environmental, we deal with insurance claims on a regular basis, and will assist you in submitting your claim properly and effectively. We believe that your home can be fully restored to whole, and we will be your advocate throughout the claim process.

The Branch Difference

If you think you’ve got a real problem, you’re far better off with a thorough inspection like ours. At Branch Environmental, we analyze the symptoms to determine the root cause of your problem. We see each mold inspection as an in-depth investigation, not an opportunity to hand over a guess-based estimate of work. If you think you may need a crawl space mold inspection, get in touch with us, and we’ll get down to the source.

Call Branch Environmental. We’re experts not only at mold removal, but at determining and remediating the underlying causes. From hidden mold sources to major contaminants, we can identify exactly what is going on in your home and rid it of environmental toxins, often for good.