How much does mold remediation cost?

This is a question everyone wants to know. The answer is of course "it depends," but what does it depend on? In this article I will give you a good idea of how much your situation may cost with our company and with other local companies.

1. The cost and quality of your mold remediation depends on the quality of your mold inspection.

First you will need to find the mold sources to understand what needs to be done. If you are seeing mold somewhere, it does not necessarily mean that mold you see is the main mold "source." Here is why: Once mold forms in a building, it sends out its reproductive organ-spores. These spores last for decades and don't go away on their own. They are in the air and they are not good to breath in. The air quality is the main issue for health. If you have a hidden mold source somewhere, say in a crawlspace or behind a basement wall or in your air ducts, or if there was an old mold source that was ripped out improperly, the spores get and stay in the air. They can and will form new areas of fungal growth somewhere in the house, say on a ceiling or a closet. You can't always see the areas of fungal growth depending on the species and location.  

To find the sources, you must hire a skilled inspector. At Pure Maintenance Wisconsin, we understand building science and can help you trace your sources based on a visual inspection, a history, and mold samples sent to an accredited laboratory. Our inspections generally range from free to $400 for the whole home, based on if we need to take samples to see if and where there is a mold problem. If you hire another inspection company, please make sure they truly know their stuff. Other mold inspectors in the area charge between $650 to $1000 for an initial inspection at the time of this posting.

2. Once you find the sources, some demolition is often needed.

The demolition is a large portion of the cost of mold remediation. Remediators carefully remove specific areas of the home that have fungal growth. They use equipment to ensure that mold does not spread to other areas of the home, and they filter the air with fine particle filtration to physically clean up mold and mycotoxins. Sanitation is used for structural areas that are not removed such as framing and subfloors.

The difference between our company and other companies in terms of demolition is that we can often minimize the cost and the extent of demolition compared to others because we have the patented vapor treatment. Other companies will often maximize demolition to maximize costs. They will even suggest demolition of condition 2 areas- areas without actual fungal growth but with spores embedded.

Our company will both minimize the amount of demolition and maximize the kill rate. The vapor will penetrate a distance into materials for a 99.9-99.999% kill rate of both mold and spores.  See our references page for independently tested studies. For example, we know that the vapor can penetrate 5 layers of cotton and still get a 99.9% kill rate, as shown in those studies. But anytime something is wet or hidden to where the vapor cannot get to it, or when there is very heavily soiled/rotted porous material, demolition is needed.

Below is how our company compares to other local companies in terms of demolition cost. Let's take a job that will take 2 people 1 day to complete, without any drying but with HEPA scrubbers left up overnight:

PMW: $1600-$2500/day

Other local companies: $3500-$10,000/day

Depending on your circumstances, it may also be possibly to do DIY demolition in combination with the vapor treatment, because the vapor will clean up the air after you're done. Ask us about this option.

3. What about the air in the rest of your home?

After demolition, even though the sources have been removed your air quality has not changed. The reason mold hurts you is not because you are licking the walls. It is because it is in the air. Other companies rely on filtering the air *only* inside of containment for 72 hours, then testing the air only inside of that containment. Of course it passes. But air spreads around your house. Mold spores spread around your house.

To deal with the rest of the house, other companies will use a vacuum with a HEPA filter and use microfiber cloths to wipe hard surfaces. This is not only ineffective for the initial remediation at the level and speed at which it is performed, but it also is something that you can do on your own. Everyone should have a HEPA filter on their vacuum and should regularly filter their air. But it doesn't work well initially when you have a significant mold problem in your air and throughout the building.

In contrast, our patented vapor treatment will eliminate at least 99.9% of the mold and spores in the air and a certain distance into building materials. We can guarantee this. And the process takes less than 1 day. The cost for this vapor treatment is between $1-$1.25/sq ft at the time of this posting, depending on how much demolition we have done, the scope of the project, and the size of the building.

4. Rebuild costs

Don't forget the cost of rebuilding after demolition. Depending on which company you use, the more demolition is done the more rebuild work there will be. This will of course vary depending on what contractor you use. Whole bathroom remodels will be more expensive than a small section of drywall repair.

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So, when all is said and done, our remediation and mitigation for the entire home **including the air** is normally between $2000-$7000 for an average size home, whereas if you employ another local company to do a whole house remediation, it is typically between $10,000- 100,000 or more.

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