Avoid Mold Damage in Omaha With Proper Maintenance

4/6/2017 (Permalink)

Air conditioning ducts can quickly spread mold. Call SERVPRO to investigate if the ducts in your home harbor mold particles.

Servicing Air Conditioning Systems on a Regular Basis Can Help Prevent the Spread of Mold

Springtime is a busy time for most households. Inspecting and repairing heating and cooling systems is a crucial step in maintaining your home, but is often a neglected task. When the weather warms, and the air conditioning begins operation, failure to tune-up your central air or window units makes itself known with mold growth. The SERVPRO remediation team responds quickly when this need arises.
 
Air conditioning is all about moisture. Removing warm, humid air and replacing it with cooler, drier air within your home is the simple explanation of how AC works. Inadequate drainage of the water condensed during the process leads to the risk of mold damage. Omaha homeowners, surprised by how common this link is, find relief from the consequences when our remediation team arrives.
 
Mold is opportunistic, always present in the form of spores in the typical home, waiting for water to grow. If your cooling system is in need of cleaning, especially within the tubes and hoses that carry condensed moisture for disposal, a buildup of water is the perfect breeding ground for microbes. SERVPRO knows each system is differently configured, but all cause excess water to drip, seep, or otherwise leak down walls, into windowsills, or onto floors. Carpeting and upholstery wick up the moisture and then contain all that is needed for growth. Once we are at your home, we take a close look at the problem and plan the cleanup.
 
Mold remediation experts follow an EPA-defined set of steps to contain and remove the mold growth due to air conditioner malfunction. We clean and dry drywall, wood, and flooring affected, replacing areas that appear infiltrated with mold. A thorough cleaning and disinfection are then in order, including the replacement of filters and cracked hoses in the air conditioner itself. Furnishings that stand up to washing, like curtains, survive to be used again. Saturated furniture and floor coverings may be dispatched to the landfill because the mold persists.
 
If your central air conditioning is the source of the water, an intensive examination of the ductwork, with proper cleaning and possible sealing of unreachable areas may be required by a competent HVAC technician. Once all the machinery is reassembled, the air conditioners resume their jobs, ironically a tool in your collection to keep humidity levels low to avoid further mold growth.
 
Next Fall, take the time to clean and maintain the AC to limit microbial growth while you call SERVPRO of Omaha Northwest this spring and summer if mold arrives soon after this season's cooling begins. Our dispatchers respond 24/7 at (402) 800-2134.