The commercial mold remediation professionals at SERVPRO of Crowley and South Johnson County understand that a mold infestation or other property damage disaster can cause a significant business interruption. A mold problem can present serious health issues for employees exposed to the mold at the commercial property. Customers exposed to the mold through product contact are also vulnerable. Whatever the cause of the infestation, every hour spent cleaning up is an hour of lost productivity and revenue. Identifying a mold issue and resolving it quickly is crucial for the sake of safety and continued profitability.
Five Common Hiding Places for Mold in a Commercial Facility
In the search for mold, knowing where to look and regularly inspecting those areas is crucial to preventing and controlling mold issues. A commercial building may be harboring mold in discrete, inaccessible spaces that escape the attention of the building manager or custodial staff. Left unaddressed, the mold can explode into an infestation.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people not affected by mold can develop health issues after long-term exposure to mold spores.
Mold thrives in warm, dark, moist spaces where there is organic material upon which to feed. Mold can be fuzzy or slimy in texture or brown, black, or green in color. Routine mold inspections should encompass visible and accessible spaces such as walls, other flat surfaces, bathrooms, showers, kitchen areas, closets, and file cabinets. Some of the less obvious locations for mold growth include the following areas:
1. Carpet
Carpet padding exposed to long-term moisture can harbor hidden mold. Surface mold is easy to spot on carpeting or floor mats but not so with mold in the padding.
2. Ductwork
Condensation or water leaks that seep into the air ducts can create a breeding ground for mold. The ductwork can then transport the mold spores throughout the entire building.
3. Drain Pans
HVAC, appliance, and machinery condensate drain pans foster mold growth. These drain pans are often hard to access and properly clean, making them even more susceptible to mold spore infestation.
4. Industrial Wooden Pallets
The high moisture content — 35% to 60% — and sugar content make green hardwood pallets a prime breeding ground for mold. Mold-inhibiting chemicals are not always applied to all pallets, especially when these pallets are constructed in countries with low or no mold prevention regulations. Recent litigation regarding TBP, a mold-inhibitor, has caused some pallet customers to shy away from suppliers applying the chemical to their pallet products.
An article at Modern Materials Handling entitled “Dealing with Moldy Pallets” offers the following helpful tips for business owners who use wooden pallets at their facilities: “Understand that how you store and handle your pallet can go a long way to preventing mold. Keeping them dry and clean is a start. Avoid storing them in the yard if possible or storing a load of pallets in an enclosed trailer for an extended period of time. If you wash your pallets down for sanitary reasons, make sure they are dry before you put them back into use. Where possible, avoid storing pallets in closed trailers for any length of time.”
5. Imported Products
Product quality controllers and risk engineers need to pay special attention to imported goods, parts, or raw materials used in the production process or sold as end products.
An industry leader specializing in product quality correction offers this advice to operations officers and facility managers regarding mold growth and exposure liabilities stemming from imported goods: “Mold growth occurs when imported products travel long distances and experience damp conditions. Products coming from Asia or regions with high humidity are most likely to risk mold growth. Manufacturers in these countries may not have strict regulations about warehouse conditions that can lead to moisture being trapped in the packaging. These conditions allow mold spores to start growing and then continue to spread while the product is in transit.”
Liabilities and losses from goods damaged by goods can be large, the article goes on to state. “A small amount of mold growth can spread to affect an entire shipment by the time it reaches its destination at your warehouse…When products arrive with mold formation, your company is responsible for footing the costs to replace the product. Depending on how much of the product is affected, these costs can be high. On top of financial losses, these setbacks can cause damage to your reputation when you must explain to distributors or retailers why a product is not available on deadline.”
Mold can spread quickly through a commercial property if left untreated. SERVPRO of Crowley and South Johnson County can respond quickly, working first to contain the infestation to help prevent its spread to other parts of the building. Failure to contain the mold outbreak can contaminate not only a facility but also the internal logistics, and even worse, the extended customer supply chain network.
SERVPRO technicians will begin the remediation process, working safely and effectively to manage the situation. They have the training, experience, and equipment to contain the mold infestation and remediate it to pre-loss condition, as well as provide any other commercial damage restoration services that may be needed.
For more information about commercial mold removal in Crowley, TX, contact the office by phone at (817) 297-8588 or by email at office@servprocrowley.com.
