What is Mold Containment?

Mold containment is an essential step in the mold remediation process. During this stage, our technicians isolate mold using tools such as negative pressure zones and exhaust fans. To stop the spread of mold, Rytech team members attempt to reduce airborne levels with air scrubbers and HEPA vacuums. This equipment can help prevent cross-contamination into unaffected areas of your home or business. Keep reading to learn why mold containment is an important component of successful remediation.

What Is the Goal of Mold Containment?

With help from our team, you can stop the spread of mold throughout your property. To do so, it's important to minimize exposure to uninfected areas. Increasing airflow can help dry out moist areas where mold spores thrive. An exhaust fan to the outside prevents mold from circulating through your interior spaces. As a general rule, the larger the area, the greater the need for immediate containment to prevent exposure to dangerous types of molds.

What Are the Two Types of Mold Containment?

The Environmental Protection Agency provides guidance on how to treat mold based on the size of the affected area. There are two types of EPA-approved mold containment processes: limited mold containment (10-100sqft) and full mold containment (100+sq ft).

Heavy mold growth requires special equipment to protect technicians and anyone else coming in contact with the treated area. Our specialists will start with an inspection to determine the necessity of full or limited containment. As part of the containment process, we use polyurethane sheeting to isolate rooms during remediation.

What Are the Best Mold Containment Strategies?

The best mold containment strategies use negative pressure to keep spores from floating through the air to other areas of your property. By creating negative pressure, our team can use fans to circulate air in infected areas and exhaust it outside of the building. We also use adhesive-backed paper to keep mold in place during the removal process.

What PPE Is Needed for Mold Containment?

It is important to use the right personal protective equipment or PPE to avoid exposure to dangerous mold spores. This is particularly important when moving around the infected areas, which is likely to disturb colonies and increase the number of mold spores in the air.

We may need to remove wallpaper and drywall to reach mold inside your walls. Breaking open drywall and other porous surfaces is an essential part of the remediation process. However, it can also expose workers to more mold. Residential and commercial property owners should never attempt to perform this work on their own. Rytech techs use PPE to protect themselves, their coworkers, and the clean portions of the property.

Disposable clothing, goggles, and N-95 respirators prevent harmful contact between mold and skin. For limited containment projects, disposable overalls, N-95 respirators, and gloves typically suffice to clean the area safely. For full containment, we use respirators with HEPA filters and additional disposable clothing to better protect your home or business and future occupants.

The Adverse Effects of Improper Mold Remediation Containment

The method used during containment affects the likelihood of recontamination due to missed mold colonies. Without proper containment, mold could spread to other areas of the building. That's why it's essential for owners and property managers to leave cleanup to the professionals. In this way, you can avoid airborne spores that cause health and property damage, making mold remediation much more difficult and expensive.

Failure to Contain Mold

You can have successful mold containment when you partner with the right company. At Rytech Restoration, we use the appropriate equipment and protective gear to put mold in its place and keep it there.

Prevent Cross-contamination!

Cross-contamination involves spores traveling to unaffected areas of the building. The health effects of cross-contamination include the following:

• Runny nose
• Itchy eyes
• Nausea
• Irritated skin
• Scratchy throat
• Sudden emergence of allergies

Once we completely encapsulate the mold, the cleanup can begin. This may include cleaning infested areas, salvaging undamaged materials, and disposing of infected items like fabrics and construction materials.

Top Mold Remediation Pros

At Rytech Restoration, you can count on mold containment that sets up the rest of the remediation process for success. From mold inspections to retesting, we cover the A-Z of large and small remediation projects. Reach out to our knowledgeable team for more information about mold containment for your water-damaged property. After conducting a thorough inspection, we can provide a comprehensive estimate on what it will take to save your building.