Church Mould Remediation

The Challenge

The church was in the process of being turned into temporary accommodation for vulnerable people in need. However, like many churches and historical buildings the church had an issue with water ingress and high moisture levels. These issues inevitably resulted in mould growth in localised areas throughout the three floors of the building. Since the church was an active building site and mould was also present, our technicians would need to be in 5-point PPE to carry out the church mould removal service. In addition they would need to be equipped with safety equipment for construction sites.

Water Ingress & Mould Proliferation

The water ingress and mould growth were causing issues with the renovation work taking place on the church. As a result, they were not able to complete the work until the mould issues were correctly dealt with. To successfully complete the job, many areas first needed to be stripped out. By doing so our team would be able to access areas that required mould removal. The kitchen as well as a few other areas throughout the three floors were stripped out to be treated.

To complete the renovation on time church needed someone they could rely on to complete the mould remediation job. Doing so in the required time frame, whilst also allowing them to continue the building work in the areas unaffected by mould growth. The church was due to be closed over the winter period which made it even more important that they needed someone who get the job done in the time frame, despite the expected closure of the site.

They made the decision to contact Ideal Response, within a short amount of time we prepared our proposal and had it sent back to them. They liked what they saw and felt confident that we were the company that could deliver the quality service they needed on time.

The Ideal Solution – Church Mould Removal Service

The solution we devised would focus on stripping out the affected areas to gain access, once we had access, we would prioritise the mould removal of the localised areas. Once the mould remediation was complete our technicians would then begin the drying regime on the church. The reason we needed to strip out certain areas was due to the spread of mould and areas of water ingress.

The kitchen is one example of an area that required stripping out to gain access to the surfaces in need of treatment. There were areas across the three floors of the church that were inaccessible to our technicians, making it impossible to strip them out or complete the mould removal and drying service.

Once the areas had been stripped and access was possible our technicians completed our four-stage mould remediation process.

Ideal Response Four Stage Mould Removal Plan

• Stage 1: We removed the surface mould with our industry-leading HEPA Vacuum Technology
• Stage 2: Manually wash down all surfaces to ensure all traces have been removed
• Stage 3: Application of a specifically formulated fungicidal solution which works as barrier against mould to protect surfaces
• Stage 4: ULV Fogging of a broad-spectrum biocide throughout the property to remove any airborne mould spores and other particles. This final stage of the process also works as a damp odour removal solution. It also removes any unpleasant odour from the mould.

Once the mould removal portion of the service is complete the next step is the drying of the property. Our technicians installed our drying technology throughout, carefully monitoring the readings to adjust on the fly. Due to a scheduled Christmas closure of the church the drying regime needed to be restarted once the site was once again accessible. The closure affected the service and shortened our window to complete the service on time. Despite this our technicians were still able complete the service before the deadline.

Equipment used during the Church Mould Removal Service:

The Result

Removing the mould from the church and drying the affected areas was a difficult task. But, a task that Ideal Response took in stride and succeeded in completing. We proceeded to strip out the areas where possible, this gave our technicians access to the areas of the church with mould growth.

We used our HEPA Vacuum technology to remove all traces of mould and mould spores from surfaces and air in the localised areas. High Efficiency Particulate Air Vacuums are equipped with filter capable of trapping 99.97% of particles that are 0.3 microns in size. This technology guarantees that 99.97% of the mould particles were removed from the areas that had previously affected. Once this stage was completed, we manually wiped down all surfaces and applied our fungicidal solution. Our ULV Foggers were then used to sanitise and treat the air and surfaces.

However, due to the church being an active construction site we tailored our service to fit their needs. This mean that the ULV Fogging portion of our service was completed out of hours to ensure that maximum progress could be made on all fronts. Both for the construction project and our mould removal service. Once this portion of the service was completed, we set our attention on the drying regime.

Professionally Calculated Drying Regiment

Our technicians calculated the duration of the drying regime and the number of room dehumidification units needed to complete the job efficiently. To do so, moisture readings were taken in the areas we had access to. Once completed our technicians set up the units and began the drying portion of our service. However, due to the closure of the church over the Christmas period the equipment had to be turned off. This led to the drying regiment needing to be restarted once the church was open again.

Despite the closure of the church and the inevitable restart of the drying regime, we successfully completed the service in the agreed upon time frame. Certain areas in the church were not accessible, as a result we provided a drying certificate with exclusions that detailed the areas.

At Ideal Response we believe there is a solution to every problem. No matter how difficult that solution may be, we will deliver you the best results. In the case of church this is exactly what we did. Completing both mould remediation and drying across the three floors of the church. We worked both out of hours and around site closures to successfully deliver the best results. All of which was completed within the agreed upon time frame.