Water Damage, Mold and House Insurance

You’ve had water damage in your house due to a burst pipe, a roof leak or a heavy summer storm. You hope that your insurance will cover the damage. What to do? First, read about mold below. You may not know the implications of water and mold damage.

What Is Mold, and Why Should You Care?

Molds are part of a group of micro-organisms called fungi that also includes mushrooms and yeasts. Molds are familiar to most people as food spoilers on items such as bread or fruit. Molds are nature’s recycling process.

Mold requires the following conditions to grow:

The last condition, moisture, is the only practical factor to control in most houses.

If allowed to grow inside your house, mold can be a problem because:

Dry Quickly to Avoid Mold!

1 — Contact your insurance broker

First, call your insurance broker or agent and report the water damage. You can expect to discuss these questions and issues:

• How did the water damage occur?
• Is this damage covered by your policy?
• Did the damage occur during the period your policy was in effect?
• Are you reporting the water damage promptly (within 24 hours) to allow quick drying and repairs?

2 — Hire Yellow Van Restoration

Hire Yellow Van Restoration to clean up the water and make repairs as needed to your house.

A thorough and fast cleanup will help avoid mold growth. If you wait too long and mold growth starts, cleanup costs will increase significantly. This is what you should be looking for:

Speed
Mold can spread quickly under the right conditions; that is why you need us in your house promptly.

Knowledge
Yellow Van Restoration is certified and training in water damage restoration and mold remediation.

Competence
  We follow basic, good clean up practices after your water damage. Here are some things to look for:

• The moisture source is stopped
• Wet items that can’t be salvaged are removed
• What can’t be removed is dried quickly
• Drying is done as quickly and efficiently as possible (to minimize mold growth)
• No refinishing is done until the area is thoroughly dried

You’ve Got Mold

If you already have extensive mold because, for example, you’ve had water damage while you’ve been away for two weeks, or there was a long delay between the water damage and our arrival, then we will have to discuss the following points:

1 — Drying the damaged area

2 — Removing the mold safely

To protect our staff and you and your family from exposure to mold, Yellow Van Restoration  follows certain procedures. Here are some things we do:

• The affected area will be sealed off from the rest of your house, either using source containment, area containment, or full containment.
• The workers will be wearing protective gear.
• There may be a need for an exhaust fan removing air from the affected area to the outdoors or to place the area under negative pressure.
• If approved, we will apply an anti-microbial agent which will deter the growth of mold or any-micro-organism*. 
• If transported through your house, moldy materials will be sealed in plastic.

*This application will inhibit the growth of mold and mildew. It is EPA approved disinfectant, fungicide, virucide, sanitizer, mildewstat, deodorizer and heavy duty cleaner.  We cannot guarantee the continued/future absence of mold, as this is affected by several factors, including future water intrusions or uncontrolled relative humidity. 

3 — Inspecting for mold

We will inspect:

• All areas adjacent to the mold growth
• Behind wallpaper - if approved to be peeled back by homeowner
• Visual inspection of baseboards, wall outlets, etc. 
• In areas where water may have seeped, such as wall cavities, basement subfloors, crawl spaces, etc. by use of moisture detectors and thermal imaging cameras
• Under wall-to-wall carpeting or in areas that have the potenial to foster mold growth

• An industrial hygienist is always recommended when dealing with microbial related issues. The industrial hygienist would complete a pre and post testing of the work area, and then submit a work plan for Yellow Van to complete. The inspection may include visual, olfactory or sampling as deemed appropriate. The purpose of the inspection is to verify that the remediation has been properly executed and that the area has been restored to what would be considered a normal indoor environment fungal ecology. It is the responsibility of the owner/entity to hire an industrial hygienist prior to the initiation of work to assist with the scope, testing and post-completion inspection to avoid any conflict of interest.