There is a bevy of ways to remove mold from property. Gansevoort, New York-based Allpro Restoration Services, a full service restoration business, has dabbled in quite a few of them over the company’s 30-year tenure. Their first mold remediation technique involved encapsulation, which consisted of HEPA-vacuuming, scrubbing and sealing the area with an antimicrobial. The second technology deployed was media blasting.
While both of the aforementioned technologies were effective in getting the job done, Jim Palmieri, Allpro General Manager, disliked the former due to the “scar-like” characteristics it left behind and the latter due to the expense, mess and labor involved.
The goal was to increase efficiency of mold remediation operations, specifically in attics – the most common areas of the home that Allpro services. Their solution came in a chemical – specifically MMR Mold Stain Remover from Mold Solutions.
Allpro has been using the chemical for about two years now and has experienced an increase in efficiency and a decrease in remediation costs.
“A typical attic mold remediation job would be between $3,500 and $4,500 with soda blasting,” says Palmieri. “I’m now down below $2,000.”
Allpro did 87 attic jobs last year, 85 of which were contract jobs, or those where mold was spotted during a home inspection prior to a sale. After completing each job, Palmieri says that all 85 contract jobs passed re-inspection.
“Basically by doing that, realtors started taking note and just through word of mouth more and more of them know about me, know what’s going on and I’m constantly being called out,” he says. “We’re doing so much of it now.”
So much, that by the end of 2014, Palmieri expects Allpro to complete between 150 and 200 attic remediation jobs – a sharp increase from the 87 that were done in 2013.