Contaminated linings, insulation and finishes removed under containment, and the water that caused it identified. Cleaning without fixing the source buys a few months at most.
Mould is a symptom. It grows where there is persistent moisture, and unless that moisture is found and stopped it returns to the same wall within a season no matter how thoroughly the surface was treated. The source is usually one of a short list: a leak, failed flashing or pointing, rising damp, a cold bridge that condenses, or a bathroom or kitchen that vents into a roof space rather than outside.
Finding which one it is takes longer than the cleaning does and is the part most often skipped, which is why so many people have had it treated twice. We look for the cause, tell you what we find, and say plainly where fixing it is another trade s work.
Hard non-porous surfaces can be cleaned and will stay clean once dry. Porous material cannot: plasterboard, insulation, carpet, underlay, ceiling tile and chipboard hold growth through their thickness, and treating the face leaves the rest of it intact to come back.
So remediation is largely a removal job, with the extent set by where the moisture reached rather than by where the staining shows, which is usually further than it looks. Fogging or spraying a contaminated wall and leaving the board in place is the commonest shortcut and the commonest reason for a return visit.
Once material is out, the structure has to be dried and the readings recorded before anything is closed up. Strip-out is handled under strip-out, floors under floor removal, and the wider scope under abatement.
Because the moisture source is still there. Cleaning treats the symptom. Until the leak, the cold bridge or the vent going into a roof space is fixed, it returns to the same wall.
No. Porous materials hold growth through their thickness, so treating the surface leaves the rest intact. Board, insulation and underlay come out rather than being sprayed.
As far as the moisture reached, which is usually further than it looks. Meter readings decide the extent rather than the visible edge.
We find it and tell you what it is. Roofing, plumbing and ventilation work are other trades, and we would rather say so than pretend the whole cure is ours.
Moisture readings, recorded. Closing a wall up on damp structure is how the whole problem restarts, so the readings are part of what you get.
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