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Cost Effective Restoration Agents and Adjusters Nationwide Catastrophe ( CAT ) Response Non Chemical Restoration & Fumigation Mold & Water Damaged Books Documents
Meggan King BSc., AMRSC Midwest Freeze-Dry, Ltd.
847-679-4756 847-679-4191
COST EFFECTIVE SOLUTIONS
Lately, mold, bacteria and their associated problems have been getting an increasing amount of attention. Where has this “new” problem come from, and why all the concern? Let us first set the record straight. Mold and bacteria are not new; they have been around since the dawn of time. It is only lately that we are beginning to pay attention to them. They are found in both indoor and outdoor air and have been able to colonize virtually every known surface. There are mold spores and bacteria in our hair and on our skin. They are found in dirt, books, documents, files, pillows, refrigerators, inside wall cavities, in the ocean, growing on trees and you could even find them on the windshield of your car. They are involved in virtually every aspect of our lives whether we know it or not. To some this may sound alarming, but it shouldn’t be. Of the literally thousands of different species of mold there are only a few dozen that really cause us any problems.
Sensitive individuals can be allergic to mold in the same way that people are allergic to pollen or animal dander. Daily outdoor mold and pollen count levels are commonly reported in the weather. But what about mold indoor? Do we need to be concerned about it? That can be a difficult question to answer. The best answer to that question is “maybe” and “sometimes”. No matter how hard one tries, it is simply not possible to completely eliminate mold from a home, library or school, etc. The only thing that can effectively be done is to try and control colony growth.
Mold has 5 growth requirements: 1) Food source 2) Air 3) Surface for growth 4) Desirable temperature 5) Moisture
To control mold growth one of the requirements must be eliminated. Since requirements 1-4 are next to impossible to control (the food source for mold growing in a home may be the home’s own building material like wood and wallboard, that really can’t be controlled). However we can control moisture. Stick with this motto, “No water, no problem”. If there has been a recent incursion of water into an area, such as a basement flood or a burst pipe, it can make conditions very favorable for mold growth. The first thing to do is FIX the water problem (a “band-aid” approach is not the solution). Once the problem has been fixed then the moisture can be controlled. The easiest way to do this is by adjusting temperature and humidity. For mold to grow on a surface, the relative humidity of the surface needs to be above 70%. If the relative humidity can be brought down somewhat below 70% the mold will stop growing. The growth surface can be almost anything, i.e. leather books, papers,files,vellum documents,furs,textils, upholstery, insulation, clothing, wood, etc…
Mold growth in homes can be quite a common problem, especially after a flood or water leak. If these problems are not addressed very quickly and properly it can lead to serious issues. Sometimes a homeowner may not even know there has been a leak until mold has already begun to grow. When mold growth becomes visible it is very important to track down the source of the problem and FIX it. Often when there has been a flood the homeowners insurance company will arrange to have a restoration service come in and dry down the structure. This will normally involve the use of fans and dehumidifiers. This treatment may be sufficient, but in many cases it is not. It all depends on the severity of the water incursion. If there has been standing water, a dehumidifier will probably not combat the problem. If drywall gets wet it becomes useless and needs to be replaced. The case is the same for insulation; if it gets wet it must be replaced. Also remember that if a surface is coated in a latex paint, it can’t breathe. That means that a dehumidifier can only dry the paint surface, not what is behind it. Although the homeowner and the insurance company may think that the problem is solved, it is actually getting worse. In a matter of days or weeks there will be mold growing behind the walls.
What do you do with valuable or sentimental items that you want to save if they have become wet or been exposed to mold? At our restoration facility we have a number of restoration treatments available. We can vacuum freeze-dry material to remove water and use plasma to decontaminate and kill mold and bacteria on books, documents and files. Our restoration treatment will also neutralize odors that may result from mold or other sources.
We had a case once where a pipe burst in a condominium. After the pipe was repaired, restoration and remediation team came in and “dried” the structure with dehumidifiers, but a few weeks later mold began to grow all over the walls. We discovered that all of the studs behind the walls were steel. This meant that there was a trough where the stud fit into the beam. The trough was filled with water and was the source of the mold. No amount of drying with a dehumidifier would have been able to suck the water from the trough out through the wall. Had the restoration and remediation efforts included removing a section of the drywall they would have discovered the source of moisture and the whole situation probably could have been avoided.
In a recent court case in Texas a jury awarded a family $32 million for mold damage. The insurance company was said to have committed fraud in the way it dealt with the family. The company delayed repairs for a water leak. Had repairs and proper restoration and remediation been addressed quickly the lawsuit may have been avoided entirely!
Mold problems can also be of great concern for libraries, archives and museums, especially when they receive donated collections. These collections of books, and documents may have been stored in a damp attic, basement or crawlspace before they were donated. Before these documents and books can be introduced to the library, archives or museum they should be properly treated or decontaminated so they will not contaminate the rest of the collection
At Midwest Freeze-Dry restoration we have the capability to dry, remove excess moisture, decontaminate and deodorize valuable articles. restoration treatments can be customized to suit the specific needs of individual situations. Using vacuum freeze-dry and plasma treatment technology we can treat your material without using harmful chemicals like ethylene oxide. In fact we use inert gases in our restoration treatment so there are no harmful side effects to people or the environment. Our cost effective restoration treatment will kill any microorganism, insect or insect larva contaminating your material.
Plasma (the 4th state of matter, essentially a gaseous energy) treatment is becoming an increasingly popular method of sterilization for medical instruments because it is clean and works efficiently. There are no harmful gasses or waste to be disposed.
Johnson & Johnson markets a small plasma sterilization system for the sterilization of medical instruments in hospitals. Research in plasma technology is being conducted by many governmental agencies such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. They have funded research on using filters combined with plasma sterilization for use in buildings, hospitals and homes. Researchers at a few universities around the country and at Los Alamos National Laboratory are investigating using plasma for the decontamination of Chemical and Biological Warfare agents such as mustard gas, nerve gas and anthrax spores.
Our cost effective restoration plasma treatment can effectively kill microorganisms. When books, documents and files is placed into a dielectric field, plasma can be created. As described in one of our other articles, the plasma energy causes water molecules to flip around, which essentially scrambles DNA. Using a bombardment technique we can sputter different gasses to attack and kill virtually anything in a matter of hours, ranging from problematic indoor molds (Penicillium, Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Alternaria, Stachybotrys, etc…) to even the most resistant bacterial endospores capable of hibernating for thousands of years.
So how can simply spinning water molecules kill insects and microorganisms? Every living thing contains water. The more water a living thing contains the easier it is to kill. That is why we can kill insects with only minimal exposure to plasma, because they are full of water. Fungi (mold, yeast, mushrooms, mildew) and bacteria on the other hand are a little more difficult to kill because they are capable of forming spores and endospores which are incredibly resistant to heat, desiccation, harsh chemicals, and radiation to name a few. Spores and endospores have a very low water content, which is why many conventional methods don’t work well.
Many decontamination and sterilization procedures are only capable of treating small quantities of material or small objects. This is perfectly adequate in many restoration cases, but what about large quantities of material and bigger objects? Our cost effective restoration treatment chamber has a commercial size capacity so we can accommodate most needs.
Please feel free to search our website for more information on restoration, or contact us via e-mail mfd7326@aol.com, phone or FAX (contact information is available on our home page). · We accept Visa and Mastercharge
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RESTORATION- CONSERVATION- SALVAGE- WATER- FIRE -SMOKE MOLD-REMEDIATION-NON-CHEMICAL- ODOR- REMOVAL BOOKS PAPERS FILES DOCUMENTS VITAL RECORDS VACUUM FREEZE DRYING DESICCANT AIR DRYING NON CHEMICAL PEST CONTROL MASS DEACIDIFICATION PLASMA GAS FUMIGATION
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