The following is an excerpt from Michael Dickens' column in Housing Giants magazine.
Following an immediate and thorough remediation plan is essential for getting rid of mold and showing your customers that you’re committed to acting quickly.
Here’s a basic five-step process that can be adapted to fit within your company’s policy and will enable your warranty team to quickly remediate mold problems:
- Education. Make sure your team learns about moisture, where it comes from and how it gets into the home. This will help you locate all mold growth, not just what’s immediately visible.
- Documentation. Document the mold problem and create a remediation plan.
- Evaluation. Calculate the extent of the contamination.
- Remediation. Remediate the mold contamination by:
- Repairing the water problem
- Isolating the contaminated area
- Suppressing dust
- Removing wet or damaged materials
- Placing materials in plastic bags
- Clean the affected areas and egress
- Conduct a visibility test
- Make sure cleaned materials are allowed to dry
- Replace or repair materials as necessary
- Measurement of success. Determine if clean up has been successful.
To review an in-depth explanation of this process and learn more about the New York City Department of Health’s guidelines for cleaning up mold contamination, read Michael Dickens’ full article from Housing Giants magazine.
More Best Practices® that will help you protect your homes from water intrusion and mold growth can be found in online training courses from BuildIQ University. BuildIQ U’s Mold Assessment and Remediation course teaches customer service representatives how to properly address uncontrolled mold growth. Fundamental water management principles and Best Practices® for preventing water entry through slab-on-grade foundations, basements and crawlspaces, walls, windows and doors, and roofs can be found in BuildIQ U’s new, region-specific Water Management Suite.
