What's Leaf Mold?

11/7/2024 (Permalink)

Autumn foliage is beautiful, but when leaves fall to the warm ground, mold growth can occur that's not friendly to those with allergies.

Now that Autumn is in full swing and while the foliage is spectacular in our Maryland, DC & Virginia region, the leaves in many parts of the area have begun to fall from their trees.

While we've enjoyed some cooler days, the warm,  humid weather from summer & spring enabled mold growth on dying grass patches, and as soon as the leaves fall, the mold on the ground begins to quickly spread over them.

Do you have a mold allergy? If so, you may be wondering if leaf mold is a threat at all.

Indeed, leaf mold can certainly cause symptoms including itchy, watery eyes, nasal congestions, and runny noses.

Not only does the leaf mold lay under the foliage, but it also disperses through the air when leaves are raked or blown about by wind or leaf blower. When spores are stirred up, they’re basically being thrown up in the air to linger around.  

However, leaf mold isn’t the fall season’s only allergen. Grasses and ragweed are also common sources of your sneezes.

If you suffer from mold allergy, you can look forward to colder temperatures within the next couple months. Once frost begins showing up on the ground, the mold begins to die off, and you can expect your symptoms to recede. 

To learn more about mold and the remediation process, visit our website. We have an entire tab dedicated to mold for your knowledge: www.SERVPROlaurelgreenbelt.com/mold-remediation

Mold: We cannot ignore it, but we can prevent it

11/4/2024 (Permalink)

Mold can grow just about anywhere in our home or business. SERVPRO of Laurel & Greenbelt NE/Beltsville can help with mold remediation.

Mold can be found just about anywhere around us, as there’s always some level of mold or mildew.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offers the following tips to help prevent mold growth in your home:

• Keep humidity levels in your home as low as you can—no higher than 50%–all day long. An air conditioner or dehumidifier will help you keep the level low. You can buy a meter to check your home’s humidity at a home improvement store. Humidity levels change over the course of a day so you will need to check the humidity levels more than once a day.
• Be sure the air in your home flows freely. Use exhaust fans that vent outside your home in the kitchen and bathroom. Make sure your clothes dryer vents outside your home.
• Fix any leaks in your home’s roof, walls, or plumbing so mold does not have moisture to grow.
• Clean up and dry out your home fully and quickly (within 24–48 hours) after a flood.
• Add mold inhibitors to paints before painting. You can buy mold inhibitors at paint and home improvement stores.
• Clean bathrooms with mold-killing products.
• Remove or replace carpets and upholstery that have been soaked and cannot be dried right away. Think about not using carpet in places like bathrooms or basements that may have a lot of moisture.

To learn more about mold, how to clean it and whether to test for mold in your home, check out this article by CDC:

https://www.cdc.gov/mold-health/about/clean-up.html

Severe and visible mold in your home or business? Leave it to Team Gutierrez at SERVPRO of Laurel & Greenbelt NE/Beltsville E. We are the experts on mold remediation, as well as fire & water damage cleanup and restoration. Call us 24/7 at 301-323-8862.

Let's keep our school campuses mold-free!

4/12/2024 (Permalink)

To keep our students safe, we must ensure their campus is mold-free!

Schools that have experienced water damage from incidents such as plumbing leaks, water overflows from toilets, or poor drainage of rainwater, are at risk of mold growth, which can take place within the first 48 hours of the accident.

If you can see its visible growth or can smell it (usually similar to that of something rotting), it’s an obvious indicator. After water damage, you can expect mold and in a school especially, it’s imperative to call professionals to come take a look as students’ and faculties’ health alike are at risk.

Yet there are other instances where mold isn’t caused immediately by a plumping issue, for example. Mold can grow behind paint, walls, under tiles, etc. and can grow there for years. Mold can be growing behind paint and begin appearing over it, but simply scrubbing the mold off the paint won’t solve the problem as only part of the problem was removed, and it will just grow back.

In these cases, remediation is necessary. Give SERVPRO of Laurel/Greenbelt-Beltsville a call today at (301) 323-8862. 

We serve public and private schools throughout the Maryland, Virginia & DC region. Mold can pose serious health risks including fatigue, nausea, headaches and respiratory irritation, to name a few.

Our technicians are well-trained and seasoned in mold remediation and will have your classrooms and other school facilities mold-free and safe in no time!

Got MOLD? Leave it to your friends at SERVPRO Laurel & Greenbelt!

4/11/2024 (Permalink)

Mold exposure can be hazardous to our health. Leave it to our certified technicians for safe cleanup & mitigation.

We’ve all heard of black mold, but what exactly is it? And if your business or company headquarters have sightly signs of mold, they may discourage your customers and visitors.

One of the most obvious signs happens to be scent. Have you smelled something earthy or musty? Think of a late fall’s odor of rotting leaves or the smell of dirt on a rainy spring day.

Next, consider the environment in which you suspect the mold is inhabiting, and ask yourself the following questions:

• Is the area damp?
• Has the area previously been flooded?
• Does it get little to no exposure to light?

Black mold feeds off water-saturated materials such as cotton, drywall, cardboard and wood. It even thrives off of damp dust and lint.

If the scent of the mold leads you straight to where it is festering, examine the color but don’t get too close. In color, black mold is typically greenish-black and a bit slimy. However, it can also appear grayish and powdery.

Note other molds may appear similar in color, so it is impossible to determine which breed of mold is growing in your property unless it is examined under a microscope.

At the end of the day, this examination is expensive and unnecessary because whether it is black mold or not, mold must be removed for health and sanitary purposes.

If you detect mold, regardless of its color or texture, call the professionals to have it removed.

SERVPRO® of Laurel and SERVPRO of Greenbelt NE/Beltsville E are the area’s water & storm damage, and mold & mildew remediation experts. Large or small, we will restore your mold- and water-damaged property, residential or commercial, with efficiency and detail.

Call us 24/7 at 301-323-8862 or 301-615-4884.

SERVPRO uses different mold mitigation method for different surfaces

12/12/2023 (Permalink)

Mold, if not treated properly and efficiently, can lead to other problems in the home, and to your health. SERVPRO Team Gutierrez can help!

Mold is often undetectable in homes until it has become a significant problem. Not every type of mold has that distinctive, ‘musty’ odor and if the growth started behind a wall or in the attic, the smell is not noticeable until the mold has grown into a large colony of spores.

Restoring a home due to the effects of mold damage is a task that needs a professional service. SERVPRO of Rockville-Olney and our sister franchises SERVPRO of Laurel & Greenbelt/Beltsville have trained crews on 24-hour notice to support our neighbors and customers. We have some of the best-trained personnel in the industry to safely remove & remediate mold from the property.

The technicians first determine the type of surface infested. This inspection decides both the cleaning methods needed and how much time may be required to complete the job. We usually divide surfaces into porous, nonporous and semi-porous categories.

Porous surfaces are typically building materials and fabrics; drywall and upholstery for example. They are often cleanable, but if the mold is very thick or has grown into the material, we dispose of it. Our cleaning methods for these surfaces involve vacuuming them with special HEPA filters that catch tiny amounts of loose mold, even a single spore.

After vacuuming, we move on to using spray bottles with an antimicrobial cleaner and foaming agents to dampen the surface. Wetting loosens the mold and allows technicians to remove it with cloths and sponges.

Nonporous surfaces are the easiest to clean. This category includes metal and glass tabletops, as well as marble and smooth stone kitchen countertops. In many cases, we can remove the mold with dry cloths and sponges. Technicians wipe down the surfaces from top to bottom to prevent accidentally leaving spores at the top or along the sides. If the mold layer is thick, we vacuum it first before dry wiping.

Semi-porous surfaces (concrete and wood decks for example) require methods not acceptable on other surfaces. Affected surfaces may need sanding to wire brushing and other abrasive tools to dig out the mold. The cleaners we use on these surfaces would mar or otherwise destroy glass and metal surfaces. If mold has penetrated the surface of the wood or concrete, technicians may have to sand them down by hand or with a power sander to remove it.

Returning your home to its pre-mold condition is not a quick or easy set of processes. SERVPRO of Rockville-Olney, Silver Spring North and SERVPRO of Laurel/Greenbelt-Beltsville have years of experience in helping our customers through each step, to put you back into your home.

Call SERVPRO Team Gutierrez at 301-340-1313 in Montgomery County, or 301-323-8862 in Prince George's County today to set up a free assessment.