Submitted By: Kathleen Massimino
I am proud to be a woman owned small business certified firm with the Small Business Association. Remediation 911 Water Fire Mold Inc. has been servicing property owners from Sarasota County, Charlotte County, Lee County and Collier County as well as other areas affected from Hurricane Ian. It has been 6 months since Hurricane Ian struck the west coast of Florida as a Category 4 hurricane. Most residential homes and businesses were affected in one way or another. Typically, a hurricane can dump from 6”, up to a foot of rain across a region; let’s not forget about storm surge. In saying that, we are meeting a lot of residential homeowners, and commercial business owners, whose properties had unlicensed remediation contractors come in and do a “Trash and Bash” as we call it in the industry. They spray products inside property owners’ wall cavities and say “remediation completed.” In the state of Florida, any company you choose to perform mold remediation must be licensed through the state to perform such work. Many companies were performing these “tear outs” without properly drying, sanitizing and dehumidifying the structures, and they were not licensed to perform such work. Remediation 911 Water Fire Mold Inc. is now seeing many residential and commercial properties with severe mold growth due to improper remediation from Category 3 water.
Following a hurricane, flood, or any type of water intrusion, mold can grow on various types of materials, especially when Category 3 water has been sitting inside wall cavities, insulation or ceiling and gypsum board, as examples. Remediation 911 Water Fire Mold Inc. follows the Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) standards. Remediation 911 Water Fire Mold Inc. is a certified firm with IICRC. Category 3 water damage, as defined by IICRC S500, is water that is “grossly contaminated and can contain pathogenic, toxigenic or other harmful agents and can cause significant adverse reactions to humans if contacted or consumed.”
Listed below are examples of Category 3 water damage:
- Sewage or waste line backflows originating from behind the trap
- Seawater
- Rising water from rivers/streams
- Wind driven rain from hurricanes or tropical storms
Remediation 911 Water Fire Mold Inc. enters properties and follows a written protocol from a 3rd party licensed mold assessor. Mold assessors take either swab or aerosol samples inside your property and send them out to a third-party lab. Lab results are provided to the mold assessor with evidence of what type of mold is present in the property. The assessor creates a written document and protocol, for the remediation company, delineating what materials need to be removed, cleaned and remediated. The remediation process begins with setting up containment of the affected areas stated in the protocol.
Containment is an important part of mold remediation, in order to contain the spores once the mold is disturbed. This prevents cross contamination in air quality and other surfaces in the property. Next, we remove and sanitize the affected material, depending on the location and if the material is semi-porous or non-porous, creating a safe environment for the property owner. If mold is on porous material, such as drywall (gypsum board), it must be removed two feet away from the area affected with mold. For example, if mold is present on furniture, we utilize HEPA vacuums to sanitize and clean it. Sanitization is an important part of the remediation process which includes removing mold spores, HEPA vacuuming all affected areas, and sanitizing every surface in containment with electrostatic sprayers. Remediation 911 Water Fire Mold Inc. utilizes green safe products. We provide property owners with a [SDS] safety data sheet showing the green safe products we used for the mold remediation. Air scrubbers are then placed inside containments, to catch mold spores that have detached and are airborne in the containment, for 3-5 days depending on Cubic Feet Per Minute (CFM) which we calculate: length x width x height x (air changes per hour)/60 minutes. We recommend 5-6 ACH per hour; the higher the better. A PRV (post remediation verification) is the last step in the remediation process. The assessor comes back out and retests to make sure all levels are acceptable and the mold remediation process was completed properly.
Remediation 911 Water Fire Mold Inc. prides ourselves in educating owners, of all types of properties, about how to handle their remediation process, cleaning, and sanitization. Remediation 911 Water Fire Mold Inc. holds a class “A” HVAC license to perform ductwork cleaning, sanitizing, and coil cleaning of your HVAC system. Remediation 911 Water Fire Mold Inc. staff are all IICRC WRT certified Water Damage Restoration Technicians. We have offices in Fort Myers, Cape Coral, and Palm Beach, Florida. Remediation 911 Water Fire Mold Inc. has been serving Florida for over 10 years, and we are here to help property and business owners through this process. Our services are not limited to remediation. Remediation 911 Water Fire Mold Inc is a full-service building contractor able to put your property back to pre-loss condition. Additionally, we have an in-house insurance specialist who can help you through your claim process, too. Please feel free to reach out to us directly if we can help in any way.
