Mold Removal Toronto: The Importance of Mold Testing

If you are a first time home buyer or a property hunter who is on the lookout

for a good value for your money and investment, you may need to take

into account having access to a reputable provider of mold removal Toronto

service. Prior to affixing your signature on a purchase deal, it is of paramount

importance that you have the property tested first for mold presence. A

certificate of mold clearance from a reputable mold remediation company

would be of prime value here. Please know that this type of specialized

service may not be inclusive with your typical home inspection service.

Thus, the looming question here is that is it worth investing on this as well?

When homeowners see visible signs of mold presence inside their indoor

spaces, it is natural for them to be concerned about the next course

of action that they will have to take. Usually, they are puzzled as to whether

they will need to have their home undergo mold testing first or how will the

mold remediation process go about should professional services

affirmed and positively identified mold presence in their home. What

follows next are typical scenarios where professional mold remediation

help would really make sense. Thus, being a homeowner yourself, it will

work to your advantage to get yourself somehow familiar with them.

Why Is Mold Remediation Help Needed?

While the majority of mold species that are known to infest human homes

are considered as benign, it is kind of alarming to know that there are

several species of molds that do have spores that can easily  become

airborne at the slightest trigger. Anyone exposed to them for an extended

period of time are running the risk of becoming ill or may eventually

suffer from a number of health issues and disturbances such as fever,

runny nose, asthma attacks, or skin rashes. It can even spell more danger

to your household members if mold growth is inadvertently disturbed or

agitated in one way or another as this may cause a more serious trouble

for anyone around. This is the point in time when professional mold

remediation help would be most needed.

Besides, it is not just the perceived various health hazards that you need

to concern yourself about when there are mold growth inside your home.

When there is a mold disturbance inside your home, you will need to

respond quickly to the situation and exert all effort you can possibly do to

have them eradicated professionally, otherwise, you are running the

risk of compromising the structural integrity of your home or work

environment.

Indoor space conditions that promotes mold growth

Homeowners who have prior experience to flood are among those people

whose indoor space are likely to have a mold growth sooner than they

thought. In addition to this, if you are also planning to buy a home that is

situated in what can be considered as a flood prone area, you might

want to consider first having the said property pass first mold test clearance

prior to making a purchase deal. This measure would help you ensure

that the prospect residential property you are planning to acquire is clear

from mold hazard, and with it would be safe for you to buy it.

When an indoor space is also exposed to moist and humid air for a

significant amount of time, it can actually spark the appearance and growth

of mold. A small growth can expand and increase in coverage in as little as 24

hours. With that rate of growth, you can just imagine how much havoc it can

wreak. So this signifies that you can’t afford to remain idle and to have no action

against it, that is to have the mold infestation eradicated by the experts,

otherwise it will compromise the structural integrity of your affected indoor

space. It could really become a bigger problem for you in the future and a

bigger expense for you.

Things can become even worse for you considering the fact that mold

infestations are often invisible to the naked eye, and may only manifest when

too much damage has been done. Like for instance, the worst cases of mold

disturbances are not the molds appearing on the conspicuous side of say a

wall. Most of the time they would appear behind your wall, hidden and secluded.

The only time that you may know that there is a mold growth behind your wall

is when they have made visible signs of markings on the exterior wall surface,

that part of it that is painted and visible to you. Abnormal discoloration or

odd patterns of dark, brownish pigmentation over a decently looking painted

wall are sometimes indicative signs of mold growth behind it. This kind of

scenario only mean to say that you need to exert rigorous amount of work

just to have the mold growth removed and the infestation treated properly.

Besides, you also need to mind about the impending costs of repair and

restoration.

If you are seeing indicative signs of mold presence inside your indoor space,

you need to take this seriously and not lightly. It calls for you to become quick

in taking action so as to mitigate the possible adverse impact it might have

on your health and those of your household members. Aside from which,

you also have to mind about the possible structural damage they may

cause to your house if you will just remain idle and do nothing about it. If

you are a homemaker, it works to your advantage when you have a ready

access to a reputable provider of mold removal Toronto services.

Finding a Reputable Provider of Mold Inspection and Removal Service

Every Canadian home will need to have a ready access to a reputable provider of mold inspection and removal service. And why so? At first glance, an infestation of the mold may easily give you an impression that they are harmless, that you can dismiss their presence inside your home as something innocuous and there is nothing to be worried about it. But the opposite of this is true.

Mold infestation is always considered a menace, and their presence inside your home or work environment can bring about a number of health risks. Molds, regardless of their species, can possibly put your health and wellbeing in danger, and the same is also true with our common household pests like dogs and cats. Hence, you need to take immediate action to have them identified and after which proper removal method can be identified so as to have them removed. When atmospheric conditions inside our homes are right for them, it can serve as a catalyst for molds to start and grow fast. For this reason, homes that are situated in humid regions of Canada are said to be more prone to mold infestation and disturbance. Mold infestations usually start in small sizes covering small areas and they can be normally found on walls, ceilings, and floors.

As the coverage area of molds increases, it increases their tendency to release more spores into the surrounding atmosphere which also increases your exposure to a myriad of health risks. When health issue arises and you try to seek medical attention, doctors tend to have difficulty in identifying the root cause of your health issue because they tend to be similar to other types of illness. They can get over this only if they will throw some probing questions about your lifestyle, living conditions, and your environment where you might have acquired it.

Solution to Mold Infestation

The process of removing mold and their infestation is technically referred to as remediation. It is called as such since mold spores are virtually found almost everywhere but tend to be of higher concentrations in areas where mold infestation is positively identified. Hence, they can’t be completely removed regardless of the remediation strategy you or hired professional would employ. What remediation process usually does to the airborne spores is reduce their amounts to a safe and tolerable level, so as to reduce the risk posed to humans and animals alike.

When you opt to hire professional mold removalist, they will come and pay you a visit so as to check as well the severity of your indoor spaces’ infestation. If your mold infestation has not spread to the other parts of your home, they will have to isolate the affected area from the other rooms in your house to keep them from being infected.

After isolating and securing the affected area, the extermination stage of the process is soon to follow. The professional removalist will make use of a number of cleaning agents from bleaching agents, borax, ammonia, vinegar and many others. The combination of one or two of any of them could be more than enough to exterminate the molds, but then again that may depend upon their species. So, therefore, it is important to have professionals inspect them first and let them identify the exact type of molds you have and provide the right kind of remediation treatment to use.

However, please anticipate that there may be a number of porous materials that may not be salvageable anymore if molds have found their way on them such as clothes, upholstery, or drywall. But if they are qualified as non-porous objects such as glass, plastic, or metal, then you can still reuse them after they are thoroughly cleaned and washed.

In order to properly collect, clean up and clear away random spores, your hired professional team will make use of high-efficiency particulate arresting as a vacuum filter. This measure should also help dry up the surrounding air in the area. It is important to have the air devoid of moisture or only have very small quantities as generous amounts of it could reignite mold reinfestation one more time. Now depending on the gravity of the mold disturbance, you have in your home or work environment, your hired professional specialist may suggest repeating the mold inspection and removal process 2 or 3 times more.

Professional Mold Removal Services

When it comes to removing pesky molds in your house, office, or business establishment, you will often hear people advising you to seek professional mold removal services first as opposed to taking on a DIY or do-it-yourself approach. And more often than not, homemakers who have heeded this advice before have proven to themselves that taking those words positively actually worked to their advantage. There really is a plethora of different species of molds that are known to harbor and infest an ordinary house under normal conditions. But these different species of molds can also bring different types of danger to human health and wellbeing. Each of which will actually depend on the type of mold in which you are exposed to.

It can’t be expected for an ordinary homemaker to have enough knowledge or at least have any significant background on removing pesky molds, much more on the health hazards that they may possibly face should they decide to do the eradication process on their own. When it comes mold eradication, we must keep in mind that there are certain rules to be strictly followed and deviating from those string of recommended steps could jeopardize the integrity of the whole mold remediation procedure. They should faithfully follow those procedures when trying to eliminate molds and while doing so safety precautions must be observed as well. While there is a sundry of mold species that may invade your indoor space, most especially when the weather conditions are too conducive for mold spores to germinate, here are some of the most common types that you need to know. Getting yourself familiar with some of them will somehow help you understand how this kind of pests really works.

Aspergillus -

   This is one of the most common and prevalent mold species that are known to invade human homes. They are usually found indoors and have been known to cause allergic reactions when exposed to it for an extended period of time. It can also induce an unsuspecting victim to suffer from hypersensitivity pneumonitis, which in the absence of proper medical attention may actually lead to lung inflammation.

Botrytis -

   Botrytis is a type of mold that can easily grow in areas of your house that has a high level of humidity. A perfect example of which are bathrooms that have a poor system of ventilation. This type of mold can put your health in harm’s way by inducing you to have and suffer from asthma and a host of other allergic reactions.

Cladosporium -

   While the majority of mold species love to grow in warmer and humid atmosphere, Cladosporium is taking a turn from that and instead would grow in colder climates. This type of mold can grow on fabric surfaces, carpets, and even on wood surfaces such as floorboards and cabinets. It is one of the most dreaded mold species because exposure to their pores for an extended period of time can cause you to acquire a number of respiratory problems.

Fusarium -

       

   This is another mold species that can grow and propagate even in areas that have low humidity level and low temperature. You’d often see them germinating from water-damaged carpeting and any other similar materials. You should watch out for this type of mold species because they can induce your body to develop allergic reactions to it, and it has been found out also that they can cause a person to have respiratory infections and asthma.

Trichoderma -

   When an object inside your home is always clammy and wet, chances are high that Trichoderma mold would soon follow growing on their surface. They are also usually found on wet carpet, wallpaper, and many other similar objects. This mold species is found out to be capable of producing mycotoxins which can induce a person to suffer from breathing problems, allergic reactions, chronic sinus infections, fatigue, depression, asthma, and a whole lot more.

Ulocladium -

   This mold species necessitate a lot of water element to survive. This denotes that they are likely to grow on objects that are frequently exposed to water or have been through water damage. If your indoors previously suffered from some type of flood, that will make your home very much susceptible to this type of mold and they often grow on wet walls to that level in which the flood waters have reached.

The list given above is not exhaustive. But this should give you a good idea how the different species of molds can have varying levels of impact to human health and well-being. This will help you understand why you need to have a ready access to a professional mold removal service.

Emergency Water Damage Services

You may never realize the importance of an emergency water damage services
until you happen to have an urgent need for this type of specialized service for
the home. But this kind of service is not only for the sole purpose of residential
clients because they can even cater their help even to commercial establishments,
too.

Millions of homeowners today and their valuable indoor spaces are constantly
faced with one, constant danger and that is water damage. Water damage in a
home can come from a variety of causes such as washing machine overflow,
broken dishwasher hose, dishwasher leakage, clogged toilets, leaking or broken
pipes, to name a few. If you are a homeowner, you’d want to secure your abode
from this watery problem that seems to have plagued many households.  It is
also important that you know exactly how to spot the outset of water damage
because this will help you minimize the impact from further advancing.

Water and Its Destructive Power

As far as I know, water is the single natural-occurring substance known to have
a long-term destructive power and unfortunately, the valuable indoor space of our
homes are also vulnerable to this threat. As homeowners, we should always be
on guard about water damage and see to it that we attend to the first signs of a
water-induced problem the moment we identified it inside our homes. It is because
too much water or moisture often causes a personal property or structure to
deteriorate fast. If we have our eyes keen on identifying the signs of water damage,
we will be able to put a stop to it and keep it from getting worse. There are
instances that the situation can only worsen because the water is unsanitary or the
services intended for clean-up drive is delayed or not coming at all.

If you want to put a delay or totally end the damaging effects of water or too much
moisture, there needs to be a prompt and effective intervention. And when we say
prompt, action to remedy it should happen within less than 24 hours. The exterior
of the affected or water damaged area may look serious, but a clearing, clean-up,
and restoration efforts may actually yield amazing results.

Places Where Water Damage Usually Occurs

There are many areas of our home that is susceptible to water damage. Here are
some of the most commonly affected areas of a Canadian home:

• Partition walls

       - It can be made from wood or plaster

• Balcony or terrace

• Planted floor slabs
• Gravel finished
• Ground slab/foundation
• Vapor bitumen/barrier
• Topping/concrete
• Damp-proof course

• Foundation Walls

• Insulation and concrete
• Damp-proof membranes

• Internal Walls

     -     Timber framed/plasterboard

     - Concrete/Brick/plaster

     -     Damp-proof membranes or insulation

• Floor

• Textile covering
• Carpet
• Parquet
• Boards
• Concrete
• Floating screen

• Masonry

• Cavity walls
• Solid walls, cob, stone, concrete
• Brick insulation made of sand and lime
• External rendering
• Internal plaster

Clean up and Repair of Water Damage

When it comes to enlisting the help of a restoration company for your water-damaged
items, see to it that they have a pool of certified professionals. It is also important
that they are equipped with enough knowledge and have experience in this field, so
as to ensure that they can handle the job really well and restore your items in question
to the best of your expectations.

You might also want to check if these professionals do have the needed equipment
for them to do the job well, one of which is a device that allows them to gauge the
moisture level of an organic object.  In addition to this, it is prime importance also
that they have a thermal camera to use. This will enable them to determine the exact
location or extent of wet areas. Some restoration firms are taking advantage of
laser-equipped moisture detection equipment instead, and this should also work.

After carefully assessing the extent and the gravity of the water damage in your home,  
your hired restoration team should be able to map out a restoration strategy and
implement the same in a systematic manner. Normally, they will advise the homeowner
if on their estimation and assessment,  the inflicted water damage on their kitchen
cabinet, bathroom door, or balcony can still be rectified by them or if it is beyond repair
already and maybe needing a replacement or total renovation of the area would be more
practical instead.

If there is no way for you to put a stop or prevent water from seeping through parts of
your home, it is inevitable for them not to cause damage of some sort. For this reason,
you need to have an easy access to a restoration company offering emergency water
damage services.

Tips in Finding Mold Removal Services in Toronto

Molds, toxic or not are everybody’s problem and must be immediately addressed, thus mold removal services in Toronto must be tapped the soonest possible time. Here’s why.

Although mold formation is normal, it poses health risk to family members as well as pets. The initial and most common are allergic reactions and irritations. Worse is when toxic molds are inhaled because it can lead to neurological complications. Even business owners and building administrators must immediately address the issue as mold may also thrive on damp areas on the building spaces just like in bathroom, kitchen, door jumps, and basements. Also, mold damages the material it lives on as they grow, and therefore compromising the structural integrity. Thus, it is necessary that molds must be removed as soon as it is discovered. You can use soap water and sponge to the not so harmful molds.

However, the dreadful toxic ones that already invaded your homes must be handled by experts and experts alone. We are talking about the restoration companies. The services they can provide you are invaluable if you chose the best ones. So we listed some tips on how to find the right companies. We recommend three options, and they are as follows:

Check Online

Many of us either have internet at home or data on our phones and gadgets, so make use of that as almost all the important information are now found online. Use your search engines; they’ll give you the top searched restoration companies which might be the best service provider in their specific fields. The advantage if you check online is as follows:

• You will have first hand information on how they do their job.
• You can verify their license, certifications accreditations and so on
• You can check also if their previous clients are satisfied with their services through reviews and testimonials.

However, beware of the scammers or fixers online.

Scan the Yellow Pages

The advantage of yellow pages are for one, the easiest way to search and two, most likely the hot line and toll free numbers of your local Toronto restoration companies are there. They will be the most accessible and will be at your doorsteps in less than an hour. However, information here is limited. You can only read what the restoration companies wants you to know, and not the nitty-gritty part which is what is important.

Ask Referral from Your Insurance Provider

They will surely give you the list of their top of the line, trustworthy, accredited restoration companies in Toronto, because if they are not, they will certainly not accredit them. The advantage with this method is if you hired your insurance providers’ accredited company, then you will be assured that their documentation is in line with the processing of claims and restoration process is in accordance to the industry standard. However, these restoration companies might be a little pricey. They can also take advantage of the insurance, and in the long run, will make insurance fees more expensive.

There may be some other ways too, like asking your friends and colleagues, but bear in mind this also has pros and cons. What is vital is you get an efficient mold removal services in Toronto.

Things You Must Know about Emergency Water Damage in Toronto

Water is an essential part of life, however it can also cause loss, so water issues must be immediately addressed, and here are the things you must know about emergency water damage in Toronto.

Water damages comes in 3 different classifications and they are as follows:

Clear Water

The first category is the water that comes into our homes, at least until it leaves its source. It is also called sanitary water because it does not pose any major health issues to us. We usually use it to wash our clothes, our dishes, ourselves, water our plants and in fact we can safely drink most of it.

But, as soon as clear water leaves its source like the pipes, it can leak and can be easily contaminated and depreciate to category two or three. You will easily notice it when it is no longer clear due to pollutants and soil mixed to it and it has foul odor.

Gray Water

The second category, is called gray water as its color suggests, it is polluted clean water and most probably already foul smelling. It is usually waste water generated in households like waste water from baths, sinks, washing machines overflow water from a waterbed like aquariums except without fecal contamination, and thus, no longer safe for consumption but worth reusing. However, reusing greywater must be properly done.

Still, like clear water, gray water will deteriorate into toxic water if left unattended and become harmful to our family and can damage our belongings.

Black Water

The third category is called black water as its color suggests is extremely toxic and can be fatal. Most probably it contains unsanitary agents, bacteria and fungi from fecal, heavy metals, pesticides, raw sewage, or deadly organic substances. Unlike the first and second category, black water may come from rising sewage, seawater, rivers, or ground surface. Toilet backflows from toilet traps and stagnant grey water are classified as black water too.

Effects of Water Damage

If left unattended, water is dreadful. It may seep on your carpet, damage structural walls, floorings and furniture, appliances and so on. It also promotes mold growth, which further damages your property and adds to the risk of ingesting toxic water, is the health hazards brought by molds.

Best Thing to Do

If you find yourself in an emergency water case, contact a company offering water damage restoration services in Toronto. They are equipped in handling any water problem from sewage leaks management to water extraction and clean-up process. They have well-trained technicians and proper tools and equipment to remove sewer water, mud and sewer from inside and under your home or office. Plus they take all precautionary measures for everyone’s safety including treating infected areas to prevent spread of biohazards such as mold, fungi, parasites, viruses and bacteria.

All water damage must be attended immediately. Fortunately, there are companies offering restoration, repairs and clean-up of emergency water damage in Toronto with trained technicians and advanced equipment, and protective gear to reinstate your property and especially, your safety from the fatal effects of water damages.