A Cautionary Tale About Mold in Greer, SC

5/29/2018 (Permalink)

A tiny amount of moisture almost became a giant problem for a church in Greer, SC.

It’s Not the Heat; It’s the Humidity

You heard the phrase a thousand times, and if you live in the south, you know that it is true. But humidity is not just the cause of frizzy hair or glasses of lemonade to sweat like they are the ones mowing the lawn, humidity can create the perfect conditions for mold to grow.

Checking for leaks and getting them repaired ASAP is a great start but dripping pipes or holes in the roof are not the only ways that microbial growth can develop in you Greer home, business, or facility. Sometimes the issue can start where there has never been any running water, and these tiny surprises can become gigantic problems if overlooked.

Recently SERVPRO of East Greenville County was called to a local church to perform mold mitigations services. The source of the mold was not from heavy rain or a busted water main, but it was from one damp box. The church had a new section added a few years ago, and during the preparation, one of the unused classrooms was turned into what was supposed to be a temporary storage room. More contents were added to the room over time, and the short-term fix became the long-term solution.

During last year’s hail storm, the activity center’s roof was damaged and rain leaked into the facility. The contents of the impacted office in the building were packed into storage boxes and deposited in the trusty storage room. But, the wet contents of the boxes soaked through to the packaging, and as the boxes sat in the dark storage room for months, mold began to grow. The mold spread beyond the container and the items within to the nearby boxes and the walls it touched. Fortunately, the youth group volunteered to clean out the storage room, so the microbial growth had not spread too far. SERVPRO of East Greenville County was able to remove the impacted section of the wall and encapsulated the part of the structure behind the affected area, then performed a detailed cleaning of the entire room after the contents had been disposed of.

Although there was never any standing or running water in the storage room, conditions were right for mold to develop and grow in only a short time. Remember to periodically check in on the areas of your property that you don’t often visit to make sure that you do not have a potential mold problem.