Mold Removal & Mold Services Before & After Photos

Homeowners in Toms River, NJ, found that groundwater had entered the basement. Fortunately, it wasn’t a great amount and the cleaned it up and fixed the crack where water was entering. Unfortunately, as this homeowner found out, it doesn’t take much water to trigger mold growth. A couple of days later, they checked the basement and noticed some mold growth on the sheetrock. Mold will attach to any organic material and use it as food, dissolving it with powerful enzymes. Even though sheetrock is made of inorganic gypsum, it has thick sheets of paper that mold will attach to.  

Here, the sheetrock was not structurally damaged and we could treat the mold directly. As often happens, as long as there is no loss of structural integrity to the materials, we can treat the mold — often in less than a day — and leave the materials alone, avoiding an expensive tear-out and renovation project. We treated the affected areas with our EPA registered anti-microbial called MAPS 1, which attacks mold on a cellular level and kills it instantly.

We then scrubbed away the mold and applied MAPS 2, which is our patented sealant that encapsulates the surface mold is growing on and renders the mold non-allergenic and harmless. MAPS 2 is also moisture-sensitive and reactivates whenever it gets wet to prevent the return of mold.

The homeowner was pleased that we could quickly resolve the mold issue. With the groundwater problem fixed, this homeowner should not have a return of mold.

A homeowner in Middletown, NJ contacted Mold Solutions by Cowleys complaining of mold growth in his family room. He mentioned that the upstairs toilet had a leak in it and flooded the bathroom. Although the homeowner had the leak repaired, it wasn’t caught in time and mold had developed.

I equipped my personal protective equipment and began my inspection. Within minutes I spotted the mold growth on the ceiling. As I took a closer look I noticed that the drywall was saturated and damaged from the leak, meaning I would have to cut out the damaged portion. I spoke to the homeowner beforehand and mentioned that I would need to remove a portion of his ceiling. He agreed it was necessary and informed me that, since he was a contractor, he will replace the hole in the ceiling once I’m done.

I cut out the damaged drywall and began treating the entire room with an EPA register solution called MAPS. MAPS, which stands for Mold Abatement Polymer Solutions, is a two-component antimicrobial solution specially designed to not only kill mold but prevent any future mold from growing. The first component of MAPS I applied was MAPS 1, which targets the mold on a cellular level and kills it instantly. Once the solution dried I applied the second component — MAPS 2 which leaves a residual on the treated area that encapsulates the mold and is moisture sensitive to prevent any future mold from growing. 

This mold treatment job in Brick, NJ had us pulling down all the insulation as well as the old vapor barrier. We bagged it and then properly disposed of it. We first treated the areas of mold growth with our EPA-registered anti-microbial called MAPS 1. MAPS 1 attacks mold at its DNA and kills it immediately.

We then applied MAPS 2, which is our patented sealant that encapsulates the surface mold is growing on and renders the mold non-allergenic, inert, and harmless. Next, we applied our patented sealant called MAPS 2. Lastly, to control the humidity levels in the basement, we installed a Sedona dehumidifier. This will keep the humidity levels in the basement at an appropriate, safe, and comfortable level.

These homeowners in Eatontown had their bathroom vent hose detach from the bathroom vent fan, and hot bathroom air was being belched straight into the attic pretty much every day someone was taking a nice, hot shower. This problem went unnoticed for about a year, resulting in significant mold growth all over the attic rafters and roof sheathing.

To help prevent mold growth in your home, it is important to move moist humid air out of the home before it can condense and lead to dangerous mold growth. It’s why we have exhaust systems for clothes dryers, attic ventilation fans, and bathroom ventilation fans. When any of these systems are not properly functioning and fail to move moist air out of the home or have been improperly installed, wood rot and other damage from moisture and the dangerous consequence of chronic moisture conditions, mold growth, often results. 

Once the problem was found, the homeowners immediately had the hose fixed. But they had a mold problem that needed to be resolved, so they contacted Mold Solutions By Cowleys to kill the mold. Since all of the building materials were structurally intact with no water damage and only had superficial mold growth, there was no need for a massive tear-out and renovation project. Instead, we were able to permanently remove the mold in less than a day with our treatment process that involves two separate products. 

First, we applied our EPA-registered anti-microbial, called MAPS 1, which targets mold at its DNA and kills it immediately. Next, we applied our patented polymer sealant called MAPS 2. This sealant is what makes our mold treatment process unique in the industry. MAPS 2 encapsulates the surface mold is growing on and renders it useless and non-allergenic. Additionally, MAPS 2 is moisture-sensitive and whenever it senses moisture, the sealant reactivates to prevent the return of any new mold growth in any of the treated areas.

Needless to say, the homeowner was quite relieved that his attic mold problem could be addressed and resolved so quickly. The lesson learned in these cases is to periodically check those seldom visited places in your home like your crawl space and attic to make sure that there are no mold issues or other hidden problems lurking above or below.

During a pre-sale inspection of a home in Oceanport, NJ mold was discovered in the basement. As often happens, the mold is discovered in the nonliving areas of the home when there is a detailed inspection pending a sale. To avoid this scenario and stay on top of problems, we encourage homeowners to periodically inspect their nonliving areas of the home, especially basements and crawl spaces, where there are often water and moisture issues because of chronically high indoor humidity levels. 

The sellers were concerned because the sale was now put on hold pending treatment of the mold problem. There was a lot of anxiety and worry not knowing the costs involved and how long it would take to be to fix. The seller had good news from Cowleys. As long as there is no loss of structural integrity of the building materials, with our mold treatment process, massive tear-outs and renovations can be avoided. Instead, we directly treat the mold right where it sits leaving the underlying building materials alone.

With this basement, we treated the mold with two of our two-part system, an EPA-registered anti-microbial (MAPS 1) followed by a patented sealant that kills mold on contact and has the ability to reactivate to kill future mold growth (MAPS 2). We then wiped down the visible mold stains. We were in and out in less than a day completely resolving the mold issue. Needless to say, the seller (not to mention the real estate agent) was happy that the pending sale was immediately back on track with no delays. Over the long term, to deal with the moisture issues in the basement, we are hopeful that the buyers will consider installing a commercial dehumidification system. By keeping basement humidity levels low, mold will not form and the home will have clean, dry air circulating throughout.