The Real Costs of Ignoring Mold Damage at Your Chicago Residence

2/25/2024 (Permalink)

If you find mold in your home, contact SERVPRO immediately. Our certified technicians are ready to help you.

Timely Mold Remediation by SERVPRO® Averts Unnecessary Costs

Chicago, a big city established in 1837, has significant attractions for its 2.7 million residents and visitors. An architectural boat tour on the river is one of the best ways to spend time and explore its many famous and unique buildings. You can also visit top museums at the Museum Campus, which hosts the Field Museum, the Shedd Aquarium, and the Adler Planetarium. The Millennium Park in downtown Chicago has the famous Cloud Gate sculpture or “The Bean” and hosts engaging events.

Mold damage affects Chicago properties for various reasons, including dampness, poor ventilation, and neglected maintenance. Initially, the contamination exhibits mild signs such as discoloration and scattered spots on surfaces like walls and ceilings. It is easy to ignore these signs since they do not pose significant inconveniences. SERVPRO can help you address mold infestation at any stage, avoiding the challenges that such incidents present.

Challenges mold infestation presents

• Structural damage
• Finish degradation
• High maintenance cost
• Inconveniences like odor

Mold contamination starts at the surface, but its hyphae penetrate organic materials in search of nutrients. Therefore, when you leave the dark spots on surfaces undisturbed, you allow mold to eat into materials, causing structural degradation not only to wall and ceiling panels but also to structural supports such as frames. With time, the degradation can cause structural areas to collapse. A timely intervention from SERVPRO prevents this, thus saving you costly replacements.

Nice finishes on walls, ceilings, and other surfaces may require little maintenance over the years. However, mold infestation causes staining and flake-off, leaving your property looking neglected. If any changes are caught while still at the surface, it is easy to wipe the affected areas, preventing degradation. SERVPRO professionals use antimicrobial products when wet-wiping surfaces to limit the chances of further contamination. Vacuuming is also helpful since it does not introduce more moisture on the surfaces.

Addressing mold in time also saves you the inconveniences of a musty environment, which would necessitate constant airing or other maintenance procedures. Mold colonies and debris may also spread to your HVAC system, forcing you to perform unscheduled duct cleaning.

SERVPRO of Carol Stream / East Bloomingdale can help you handle mold damage conveniently. Call (630) 830-6236. 

Finding and Controlling Mold Damage in Carol Stream Homes

8/1/2022 (Permalink)

Rely on the AMRT specialists from SERVPRO to restore your mold damaged Carol Stream home.

Professional Mold Remediation Mitigates Damage

Numerous species of molds can be found in Carol Stream, including black, green, orange, brown, and white. Outdoors, mold has a significant role in the natural breakdown of plant matter. It often begins as a stringy slime, although it can also appear in the form of a powdery substance, like mildew. Black mold has the reputation, though unjustly, of having the most significant impact on your home but addressing it requires professional restoration services.

SERVPRO has experienced mold damage remediation experts in Carol Stream that can arrive promptly to control the growth. Mold can develop incredibly fast, forming a colony in as little as 2 days after initial contact with a surface. Our products are designed to reverse the damage quickly and efficiently, leaving you with a cleaner living space.

These fungi require a water source to proliferate. Basements, crawl spaces, attics, wall interiors, and chimneys are all areas where water can intrude. Condensation can also occur when the house has excessive humidity, providing favorable conditions for mold growth. Most living things produce organic compounds that the mold uses as food sources. Everything from wood to skin cells can supply the necessary nutrients for mold growth.

Residential buildings have many areas that are conducive for mold to develop. The good news is that there are specific steps you can take to limit their growth. Total eradication is impossible though a professional restoration company like SERVPRO comes close. We have trained AMRT-applied microbial remediation technicians ready to grapple with an unwanted infestation.

Basements, in particular, should have a proper ventilation system for pushing water vapor out and bringing in fresh air. A circulation fan or dehumidifier can help eliminate excessive moisture without windows. Foundation cracks also provide an ideal habitat for mold growth. SERVPRO experts can seal your foundation's doors, window frames, and corner locations to prevent rainwater from penetrating inside and causing mold damage.

Mold can be unsightly and can cause structural damage. SERVPRO of Carol Stream / East Bloomingdale is dedicated to eliminating all signs of mold damage and limiting future growth on your property. For assistance, call us today at (630) 830-6236.

Mold Can Be Found Anywhere In Your Glendale Heights Home, Let Our Experts Help!

2/26/2019 (Permalink)

Call us at (630) 830-6236, so we can help keep your home free of excessive microbial activity.

Mold Damage Can Start Anywhere In Your Glendale Heights Residence

Microbes that cause problems inside a residence in Glendale Heights all require two things in common - water and cellulose material. Without these two things in constant supply, microbes die off, leaving only dormant spores behind. Because homes contain virtually unlimited amounts of plant-based materials, both in their structure and the things within them, we must control the water available so we can control the microbial populations.

When the moisture content inside a house rises, mold damage in Glendale Heights can start to spread. Microbial activity can happen anywhere, so we use special instruments that help us locate concentrations of moisture. Drying these locations back to within normal parameters means they become much less prone to mold damage. We also find the areas where moisture enters your house and get those locations sealed off, preventing further issues.

When we clean up mold, we might cause it to send out spores. To prevent the spread of these within your home, we take measures to contain them. We also do the same with all of the materials we remove. We want to keep your property from having any more problems with mold. Plastic sheeting and bags keep mold and its spores from escaping and spreading. We never carry loose materials around inside your house, as this can let spores enter the air and let mold particles fall to the floor.

We take steps to ensure that your home remains dry, as this makes the environment inhospitable to microbes. We can help you by using a desiccant machine that rapidly dries the air and then follows up with the installation of a dehumidifier or sump pump. Either can help keep the air drier, but each has specific purposes in different situations.

SERVPRO of Carol Stream / East Bloomingdale is always ready to answer your call and help you with the prevention and remediation of mold damage in your home. Call us at (630) 830-6236, so we can help keep your home free of excessive microbial activity.

Click here for more about Glendale Heights.

This Winter Don't Let Mold Plague Your Carol Stream Home

12/28/2018 (Permalink)

The winter months seem to be an unlikely time for mold damage to be a significant issue in Carol Stream.

Winter Mold Cleanup Woes In Carol Stream

The winter months seem to be an unlikely time for mold damage to be a significant issue in Carol Stream. Unfortunately, molds and other fungi can thrive in a wide range of temperatures and scenarios. As long as a moisture source is available, mold spores can take hold, multiplying into colonies that damage building materials and cause health concerns in some susceptible individuals. Any time of the year our remediation crews can help homeowners with mold concerns.

During the winter months, families can struggle with mold cleanup in Carol Stream even when the weather is chilly and central heating systems operate. Usually, the warm air inside a winterized home creates a dry environment, hostile to mold growth. Some decisions made by homeowners, however, artificially increase the moisture levels inside dwellings in winter. This can expose spaces inside a home to microbial infestation requiring our mold cleanup services.

For example, parents often buy a warm or cold mist humidifier for a baby or child’s room to add moisture to the air. A little one with the sniffles or a cough can obtain relief from the humidified air. SERVPRO sees the results of excessive indoor humidity when we receive calls for mold cleanup in a nursery or other bedroom.

Mold spores need just a small concentration of moisture to activate their growth cycle. Humidity levels measuring in the 60 to 75 percent range can support mold growth without additional water damage. In a humidified room the water vapor can condense on a wall or behind window coverings or furniture, offering mold spores the opportunity to develop into full-blown colonies. SERVPRO recommends adjusting the humidifier or vaporizer to maintain a humidity of 30 to 50 percent to avoid further mold issues.

If humidified air caused a mold cleanup need in your home SERVPRO mold remediation technicians quickly assess, contain, and remove the offending materials. Our team follows the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) protocol to address mold cleanup effectively and safely for your family. We build a containment area with plastic sheeting or the use of air scrubbing equipment, remove the mold and contaminated structural components, and clean and sanitize surfaces with EPA-registered antimicrobials to inhibit additional mold growth.

Any damage done by microbial growth during a period of higher humidity is on the SERVPRO of Carol Stream / East Bloomingdale mold cleanup agenda. Give us a call at (630) 830-6236 for an assessment and development of a remediation plan.

Click here for more about Carol Stream.

Get Rid Of Bad Odors From Mold In Your Glendale Heights Home Once And For All

10/24/2018 (Permalink)

From the moment that you make the discovery, mold damages have already started adversely affecting your Glendale Heights home.

Deodorization For Mold Effects In Your Glendale Heights Home

Disasters can affect your Glendale Heights home in various ways, causing you to need professional restoration services to return your home to the way it was before. When situations arise that require immediate attention, such as the discovery of mold growth in your home, our technicians can arrive quickly to help you begin the process of removing the presence and restoring the damage it has caused.

From the moment that you make the discovery, mold damages have already started adversely affecting your Glendale Heights home. If caught early enough, this spread of the damage can be isolated and removed much easier than if the situation has gotten out of control. The spread of an active colony can present some concerns for both your property and those living in it, so do not hesitate to call our IICRC certified SERVPRO remediation technicians.

One of the hardest effects for homeowners to deal with when they find microbial growth in their home is the odor that comes along with it. A tell-tale sign of an active mold colony is a strong, musty scent that surrounds the affected area. Contending with this odor might be one of the final steps of the remediation and restoration process for our professionals, but one that we take great care with handling.

There are many pieces of equipment in our arsenal that we can use to overcome harsh odors associated with an active mold colony on your property. One of the first is our hydroxyl generators, which neutralize the scent on a molecular level, negating their ability to produce the musty odor any longer. These are ideal for the contents of your home and softer surfaces affected by the growth. Thermal foggers are also a tool we use, and these machines can remove the smell permanently in open areas and construction materials.

While deodorization might be one of the final steps in remediation and restoration, it is one that requires the right expertise and equipment to complete successfully. Our SERVPRO of Carol Stream / East Bloomingdale certified remediation specialists can help you overcome the effects of the organism growing in your home quickly. Give our emergency response team a call at (630) 830-6236.

Click here for more about Glendale Heights.

Check Your Attic for Mold Damage Due to Clogged or Damaged Gutters After This Hot Wet Summer in Addison

9/6/2018 (Permalink)

Addison Mold Remediation When Needed, Rely on the Professionals from SERVPRO

SERVPRO Offers Tips to Addison Home Owners to Help Prevent the Need for Mold Remediation

As autumn approaches, checking for mold growth linked to heavy rains in Addison is a wise move. The last part of summer was hot, wet and humid. If the gutters and downspouts on your home failed to collect and drain rainwater properly chances are good water leaking into your attic created an optimal environment for mold growth. Our experienced mold remediators can assess the situation and offer a solution if we find mold.

Gutters on your Addison home can contribute to mold damage if leaves and other debris clog them, forcing water to move into your home under shingles at the roof edge. If the gutters are already clogged, the leaves due to fall over the next few months can make the situation even worse. Checking the attic just under the eaves can reveal colonies of mold situated inside your house where the roofing materials allowed water to seep. Our remediation crews can pinpoint mold damage and devise a plan to remove it safely.

Mold in the attic is an issue you cannot ignore. The microbes continue to multiply and can move into living areas over time. SERVPRO’s abatement team can contain the outbreak and remove the active growth following the EPA protocol taught during IICRC certification for Applied Microbial Technicians. We take care to use barricades or negative pressure air scrubbers to prevent moldy debris from drifting through your home during removal. The technicians employ mechanical means to remove the mold, scraping, brushing, and using innovations like soda blasting to loosen mold from structures that are porous like wood framing.

Finding the mold is an opportunity for you to make repairs and adjustments in your roof drainage system before the snow flies. SERVPRO advises that moisture sources must be eliminated to ensure that mold damage does not continuously recur. Getting the gutter to flow freely ensures that water in all its forms, including ice dams, stays out of your attic along with mold damage.

SERVPRO of Carol Stream / East Bloomingdale is your local resource for high-quality mold remediation services. If you struggle with a mold issue, contact us at (630) 830-6236 to schedule a consultation.

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Rainy, Hot, and Humid Summers Increase the Chance for Mold Damage in Bloomingdale

7/20/2018 (Permalink)

Moisture Encourages Mold Growth in Bloomingdale Properties--Help Is Close--SERVPRO

Mold Remediation and Information Concerning Bloomingdale Properties Courtesy of SERVPRO

If you and your Bloomingdale home have been lucky enough to avoid mold growth in the past, your good fortune might be coming to an end during this summer’s high heat and sticky dew points. If the extremes in weather we experience open the door to your home for mold growth we can help evict current colonies and make your house inhospitable to mold infestation.
 
Mold damage can seem like a game of chance in your Bloomingdale dwelling. Mold spores are opportunistic, always on the lookout for a steady source of moisture to jump-start their life cycle. Heavy rains can drive moisture through an open window or in between your exterior and interior walls if your gutter and downspout systems are outdated, damaged, or poorly attached. An AC system sized incorrectly for your house can fail to remove enough water vapor from the air to prevent mold spores from feeding on a condensation-slick wall, window, or drain. Our trained technicians know what to look for when dealing with warm-weather mold and have the remediation skills to abate the outbreak.
 
Often mold announces itself with an unpleasant musty stench. If you notice a new smell that does not dissipate, give us a call. To manage mold growth and the secondary issues that come with it, you must eliminate the moisture and follow proven procedures to rid the home of the current fungal infestation. SERVPRO employs the Environmental Protection Agency protocol, containing the mold-affected area then using appropriate methods to remove and dispose of the mold growth.
 
Our crew chief evaluates your home to pinpoint the mold colonies, often found in areas where the spores multiply out of sight. Mold needs oxygen, moisture, and a surface with access to organic residues to thrive. Wood framing, insulation, and drywall saturated with rain or dampened by high indoor humidity provide the perfect environment. SERVPRO contains the area, hidden or in full sight, before beginning removal.
 
We use physical barriers like heavy plastic or design and erect zones with the assistance of negative pressure air scrubbers. SERVPRO technicians wear personal protective equipment, and you and your family remain outside the zone. The mold is scraped, wiped, or loosened with abrasives like sodium bicarbonate. We bag and dispose of the moldy materials, vacuuming the area with HEPA filter-equipped tools. EPA-registered antimicrobials treat the exposed surfaces to inhibit a quick recurrence of the mold overgrowth. Your home is then ready for any restorative practices you or your contractor use to recover from the mold issues.
 
SERVPRO of Carol Stream / East Bloomingdale is ready to contain and remove mold damage andy season of the year, even during the long, lazy days of summer. A call to (630) 830-6236 sets up a consultation with one of our experienced mold remediation experts.

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Common Places Homeowners Find Mold Damage in Their West Chicago Homes

4/29/2018 (Permalink)

When you discover mold during your cleaning process, contacting SERVPRO is the best recourse. Call right away for best results.

SERVPRO Technicians Investigate the Cause of the Current Mold Infestation and Offer Changes to Prevent a Recurrence

Spring cleaning time lurks right around the corner in West Chicago. Many homeowners might find long-lost items while others might find less appealing surprises. During the long winter months, conditions can develop that lead to damaged areas in the home.
 
Homes in the area can develop mold damage in West Chicago slowly and wholly hidden away, keeping homeowners in the dark about how much microbial activity takes place. Once homeowners begin clearing away accumulated dust and moving things around to clean behind and under furniture, inside cabinetry, and other often neglected areas, the true scope of any damage begins making itself apparent.
 
Most often, residents find mold damage in damper areas, such as under sinks and behind washers with leaky hoses. Other locations exist, though, and checking for the presence of mold provides the first step in protecting the rest of the home. The locations include entire areas, as well as smaller nooks and crannies.
 
Both attics and basements accumulate moisture during the winter because they often contain less insulating material while they also receive little or no heat. Constant fluctuations mean condensation continually happens as your home breathes. Heating systems move microbes and spores around your home's interior, but many locations do not provide suitable sustenance to any microbes drifting to them. Attics and basements do, however, provide the moisture as well as the consumable cellulose these microbes require.
 
Window frames and the walls surrounding them often harbor copious amounts of mold that fed off the wetter air that seeped into your home through tiny cracks. Now that we can enjoy the warmer weather, leaving windows open seems like an excellent idea, but doing so can allow stationary mold to more swiftly enter your home. Mold can grow on screens, also, making it even more likely windier days pushes more microbes inward.
 
Hot showers in the bathroom, even with the exhaust fan turned on, can introduce microbes into your vent system. Ensuring that duct and vent attachments retain their seals helps keep excessive mold out of your home. The smallest split in a seam or loosened seal at the vent can permit thousands of microbes to enter your attic, significantly adding to any existing microbial populations, and risking contamination of other vents. These other vents might lead to your heating and cooling systems.
 
SERVPRO of Carol Stream / East Bloomingdale can help you make Spring Cleaning time more efficient and result in a much safer and healthier home for your family. Contacting us at (630) 830-6236 can help protect your family from the possible health effects of mold, and also restore your home from any mold damage found, so it is "Like it never even happened."

Click here for more information on the town of West Chicago.

Why Mold Damage In Your Lombard House Should Be Dealt With Promptly

3/27/2018 (Permalink)

Mold in a Petri Dish Is Better Than In Your Lombard Home. For Remediation Contact SERVPRO

SERVPRO Tip: Fix Leaks Fast, Stop Mold Fast

Small leaks underneath sinks and drips from the exposed pipes in your Lombard home might not seem like that pressing of an issue, but they could result in something much worse than a slightly elevated utility bill every month. With the right temperatures combining with naturally occurring spores in the air that we breathe, you could have all of the necessary components to allow fungal growth in the area around this moisture.
 
The trouble with slight plumbing concerns like what got mentioned earlier is that you often are not checking on these areas to see if they have gotten any worse. You might go weeks or months before you even know that mold has started to sprout on the organic surfaces surrounding this small leak in your piping system. Now, you have mold damage in your Lombard residence that is spreading farther and thriving more every day.
 
Fortunately for you, our SERVPRO professionals get trained to the high standards of the IICRC. They set the bar for high-quality mold remediation techniques and strategies, and every technician gets upheld to these higher standards to come and work on your home. From the moment that we arrive, our assessment of the affected area offers the information needed to focus our efforts and quarantine the area where the colonies grow and thrive.
 
Ultimately, one the priorities for the remediation specialists working at your home is to prevent the spread of active spores to new areas of your home. This process gets simplified through the use of air scrubbers fitted with HEPA filters as well as negative air chambers, depending on the circumstances. Eliminating the source of the moisture in the area is another critical component to the process, and this typically gets achieved through the use of dehumidification equipment and the repair of the leak

that started the problem in the first place.
 
Mold damage in your home does not have to be something that you contend with alone. You can trust the experience and professionalism of our SERVPRO of Carol Stream / East Bloomingdale team to help you reclaim your home. Give us a call today at (630) 830-6236.

Take a look at the lovely Village of Lombard right here

Cleaning and Removing Mold Damage in Lombard Homes

2/18/2018 (Permalink)

Mold can spread very quickly through your home once the right conditions exist. Contact SERVPRO for advice, remediation and preventative actions.

Defining SERVPRO's Mold Remediation Process

Every Lombard home has mold spores in the air and on many surfaces. These spores are usually inert, meaning they are no more of a threat to home and health than regular house dust. Only when the spores have the right environment of moisture, a food source, and the right temperature, do they expand and grow into a problem.
 
To combat Lombard mold damage, SERVPRO has developed a four-step method that is effective in every home. Depending on the amount of mold present, each step in the process may not be necessary, but for most tasks, containment, removal, cleaning and drying are basic requirements.
 
Establishing containment is our first step if there is even a remote chance our actions could spread the mold to unaffected parts of the home. We seal off all entry points, to include doors, windows, and even the heating and air vents with plastic sheeting. Inside this area, we create negative air pressure. It forces the air inside, along with any loose spores, outside of the home. For large, contaminated areas we also establish a decontamination room so we can leave our tools, coveralls, and protective gear inside to prevent spreading mold.
 
Now, we remove the mold from the surfaces. How we do this depends if the items are porous or non-porous. Carpets and fabrics like upholstery are porous, which require more effort than simply wiping them down with a sponge or cloth sprayed with an anti-fungal cleaning agent. SERVPRO technicians have to dispose of property with porous surfaces much more often than the non-porous items.
 
Items with non-porous surfaces include kitchen countertops and non-upholstered furniture. Usually, we can wipe the mold off by hand, but if the layer is very thick, we bring in commercial vacuums with HEPA filters. These are designed specifically to capture mold spores and can lift even a single one off of a surface.
 
Next, we allow any airborne spores to settle. Removal always stirs up the air and dust in the affected area. Once enough time has passed, we wipe down every surface and repeat until the air inside the area tests at normal levels.
 
Our last step is to dry the affected area to prevent new mold growth. We install dehumidifiers to remove moisture from the air and set up air movers to force warm air over any surfaces we previously damped or soaked with cleaning agents.
 
If you have or suspect there is mold in your home, contact SERVPRO of Carol Stream / East Bloomingdale today at (630) 830-6236. We are here to help, so call today with questions or to schedule a visit.

Click here for more information regarding Lombard.  

Understanding Mold Damage in Bloomingdale

12/20/2017 (Permalink)

Mold Infestations in Bloomingdale Get Help from SERVPRO

SERVPR0 Inspects, Assesses, and Remediates Mold Growth in Homes

Mold is a normal part of the air and on surfaces in virtually every home in Bloomingdale. It is not a result of poor housekeeping, kids tracking mud into the kitchen or failing to change the air filter every month. Also, spores which grow into the mold are completely harmless unless the right factors are in place.
 
SERVPRO has restored area homes to their pre-mold condition for many years and understood the importance of these factors. Stopping and removing mold damage from Bloomingdale homes requires knowing how and where the mold first started. That is why we examine every home with mold or even just a suspicion of a mold for a source of moisture and where potential food sources show signs of an infestation.
 
Each spore is microscopic in size. A mass contained hundreds of them is still smaller than the head of a pin. Spores are completely inert and present no threat until a big enough source of moisture causes the first one to expand, become active and start to seek out more moisture. Our technicians often find this source to be something minor like a leaky faucet that runs behind a bathroom sink, a damp basement, or a small amount of rain run-off which finds its way into the home.
 
Now active, the spores extend hyphae. These extensions resemble roots and are what looks for water and food. When these hyphae find a suitable food, the burrow down just like roots. Since mold can feed on almost any type of building material, it does not take long to dig in. Once this happens, it is much cheaper to remove and replace infested material than for our SERVPRO technicians to attempt to clean and restore it.
 
There is a third factor, temperature. Most molds grow in a range of 68 to 86 degrees. Since this is the normal inside temperature range for nearly every home in Illinois, we have found it more productive to eliminate the source of water to return the spores to an inert state or remove every item of infested building material to halt further growth.
 
Stopping and removing mold is not an easy process. It takes a professional company to ensure that most active spores are rendered inert. If you suspect there is mold in your home, contact SERVPRO of Carol Stream / East Bloomingdale at (630) 830-6236 today.

More about this village here.

Book A Mold Damage Inspection Before Buying A Carol Stream Home

11/2/2017 (Permalink)

There is one major problem with mold damage in Carol Stream homes for sale; it is easy to hide.

Mold Damage Inspection

Looking for a new home in Carol Stream is an exciting process. There are many houses to choose from, and it is thrilling to finally find the one that's perfect for you and your family. Like any savvy house-hunter, you understand the importance of getting a thorough home inspection before purchasing a house. Have you considered getting a mold damage inspection too? A specialized fungal inspection is worth the investment.

There is one major problem with mold damage in Carol Stream homes for sale; it is easy to hide. All a seller has to do is paint over the patches of growth to ensure they hidden until long after you exchange paperwork and the home is yours.

SERVPRO recommends keeping an eye out for evidence of mold growth when you inspect a potential new house. Black or green patches and an unmistakable musty smell are sure signs that there is fungus growing in a house.

However, it is not always possible to see mold with the naked eye, and as we said, it is easy to cover temporarily. Home inspectors and estate agents are not experts on the fungus, which is why some house-hunters choose to have specialist mold damage inspection. A mold inspector knows all the right tricks for searching out mold, so you know before purchase whether there is a fungal issue in the building.

What happens if you move into a new home and discover mold growing in it? It is better to deal with mold damage sooner rather than later. The best course of action is to call SERVPRO. Our IICRC-certified mold remediation experts are waiting to assist you.

Our team arrives equipped with moisture probes and meters to assess the extent of the problem. We set up containment to make sure spores cannot spread further into your home and set to work wiping, scraping, and HEPA vacuuming to remove the visible fungal growth. We also use dehumidifiers to lower the moisture level and reduce the risk of regrowth.

For help with fungal growth in Hanover Park, Wheaton, West Chicago, Glendale Heights and surrounding areas, call SERVPRO of Carol Stream / East Bloomingdale at (630) 830-6236 today.

If you are interested in learning more about Carol Stream click here.

Mold Remediation and Insurance

11/18/2016 (Permalink)

Homeowners insurance does not always cover mold remediation.  Coverage varies from policy to policy, so it would be a good idea to always check with your provider.  The cause of the mold is important in determining coverage.  More times than not, homeowner’s insurance will cover specific reasons such as pipe bursts, roof leaks, and flooding.  However, if the mold is caused by general neglect of home maintenance, insurance companies are less likely to cover the mold remediation.  

Mold Caused by Flooding

The Illinois Department of Insurance states the following regarding mold caused by flood damage. “Homeowners policies also exclude water damage caused by floods.  Therefore, if one of these water or moisture problems results in mold, it would probably not be covered by your policy.”  Note the word “probably” because policies vary greatly.  Just because the norm may not cover mold from flood damage does not mean all do not.

Mold Caused by Fire

The following is the Illinois Department of Insurance statement regarding fire and mold.  “In Illinois, if mold results from water damage following a covered fire or lightning loss, the mold damage would be covered, and the total of all damages, including the mold, is subject to the full policy limit.”  This means that if your policy covers fire loss, then any mold subsequently due to the fire loss will be covered.

Things to Keep in Mind

1. Insurance companies have taken steps to limit the amount of mold claims. Some companies exclude all coverage of mold-related damage unless it is the result of a fire loss.
2. Restrictions can be placed on the kinds of homes that are covered. If your home is made out of specified materials related to your policy, it would be a good idea to call your provider to verify coverage.  Materials such as synthetic stucco may not be covered. 
3. Some companies increase the overall price of the policy in anticipation of mold-related costs.
4. Limits can be set by insurance companies. For example, the policy could state that it only covers mold-related claims up to $5,000. 
5. Maintenance issues are generally excluded from coverage. Such as poor landscaping and drainage problems. 

For more information about mold remediation refer to SERVPRO of Carol Stream East Bloomingdale

What is Mold?

9/30/2016 (Permalink)

Mold is a fungus that grows in damp, warm, and humid conditions.  It spreads using spores which can survive harsh and dry conditions that mold does not normally grow in.  

What is Black Mold?

You may have heard of “black mold.”  Stachybotrys Chartarum is the type of mold that is often called “black mold.”  It produces allergens and irritants.  Several types of mold create allergens and irritants, but Stachybotrys Chartarum is also known as “toxic mold.”  Regardless of the type of mold, most likely when one type of mold is spotted another type is right around the corner.  It is important to remediate all mold.

Removal of mold

It is important to remove mold once it is sighted.  SERVPRO technicians use specialized equipment to spot mold growth.  Mold can thrive in inaccessible areas that are damp, humid, and warm.  The areas that are affected by mold must be contained.  Moisture must be removed immediately to cut off potential mold growth.  Otherwise the mold will use spores to spread.  SERVPRO has advanced equipment including “air scrubbers” to filter out spores in the air.  Furniture and other items that are in the containment zone will need to be cleaned.  SERVPRO does content cleaning which will decontaminate the affected furniture and items.  We have all the necessary equipment to handle mold remediation.  Call SERVPRO today at (847) 279 – 1940

Chicagoland Residents: Follow These Mold Safety Tips If You Suspect Mold

7/20/2016 (Permalink)

If you see visible mold, do not disturb it. You can inadvertently spread the mold infestation throughout your home. When mold is disturbed, the mold can release microscopic mold spores which become airborne and can circulate inside your home.

What to Do:

·         Stay out of affected areas.

·         Turn off the HVAC system and fans.

·         Contact SERVPRO of Carol Stream/East Bloomingdale for mold remediation services.

What Not to Do:

·         Don’t touch or disturb the mold.

·         Don’t blow air across any surfaces with visible or suspected mold growth.

·         Don’t attempt to dry the area yourself.

·         Don’t spray bleach or other disinfectants on the mold.

About Our Mold Remediation Services

SERVPRO of Carol Stream/East Bloomingdale specializes in mold cleanup and restoration, in fact, it’s a cornerstone of our business.  Our crews are highly trained restoration professionals that use specialized equipment and techniques to properly remediate your mold problem quickly and safely.

If You See Signs of Mold, Call Us Today – (630) 830-6236