Mold Problems Photo Album: Mold Treatment in Friendship, TN

A customer in Friendship, TN, called Frontier after they noticed mold in their crawl space. After our inspection, we decided to treat the mold with soda blasting, a highly effective, non-destructive cleaning method, to strip away fungal growth and restore the wooden joists to their natural state. By eradicating mold spores from the floor frame, we restored the home’s subfloor structure and vastly improved air quality throughout the house.

Mold Growth

Much like the basement, the nature of your crawl space lends itself to moisture issues and mildew growth. Crawl spaces are dark and often damp due to moisture from the ground or other causes. Mold forms essentially wherever oxygen and moisture are present, so it's no surprise that crawl spaces can become a breeding ground for mold.

What to Do About Mold Growth

Ideally, it is important to prevent mold and mildew from growing in the crawl space in the first place. However, that is not always possible. Once you've noticed mold or mildew in the crawl space, it is important to reach out to a mold removal specialist to handle existing mold problems.

Wood Rot

Mold can eat away at your wood floor joists in the crawl space causing wood rot.

A Fresh Start for Your Home

When wood is in a humid environment it absorbs moisture from the air. When the moisture content in the wood is elevated for long, mold grows. Active mold in your crawl space produces airborne spores that are circulated through the house into the living areas. People with asthma and allergies will react to the mold. If someone does not have sensitivities to mold, they can develop them by prolonged exposure to mold spores.

Ways to Treat Mold

Chemicals such as peroxides can kill the mold, but the mold is still there. Sodium hypochorite, otherwise known as bleach, will introduce large quantities of harmful chemicals into your home that off gas for some time. The best alternative is soda blasting. It uses sodium bicarbonate, otherwise known as baking soda - yes the same baking soda you bake a cake with.

Why soda blasting?

Sodium Bicarbonate is a granular powder that is non-toxic, food grade, with no vapors or offgassing. It is blown with air at high pressure at the infected lumber. The mold is blown off without damaging the lumber, and falls to the floor.

How the Mold is Treated

The mold is killed by the blasting action and the soda instantly changes the ph, so what falls is not active mold, but simply inert dust.

After Soda Blasting

After soda blasting the lumber looks almost like new. The mold and it's negative effects are gone.

Mold Eliminated

All the mold is gone now. Once we finish with the Soda Blasting, we will clean up the debris on the floor and remove the old vapor barrier.

What Comes Next

Soda blasting physically clears existing mold, but it does not solve the underlying moisture issue. At Frontier we recommend addressing the moisture issues that caused the mold so it won't return.