ESSENTIAL FOR YOU AND YOUR CUSTOMERS...

There are four mold remediation steps:

1. Site Assessment including information gathering, building inspection, preliminary determinations, and developing work plans

2. Site Preparation including protecting the building, creating a safe environment, contents manipulation, and controlling the environment

3. Source Removal including eliminating moisture sources, contaminated materials removal, HEPA vacuuming surfaces, and restoring surfaces to a point of being "visibly clean and dust free"

4. Recurrence Prevention by active or passive moisture controls to prevent future conducive conditions that could lead to re-growth

   
   

Most remediation and restoration contractors who are knowledgable and diligent in following industry standards execute the first three steps of mold remediation. But let's be honest, seldom is recurrence prevention a regular part of their customer education, services or sales. Is it because they're not knowledgable about recurrence prevention, or are they simply afraid to ask for the sale? After all, the bottom-of-the-barrel competition fogging antimicrobials and spraying surfaces with stain remover is prevalent these days; and most people aren't trained or prepared to sell in the face of cheap services.

For April we're profiling passive moisture control systems... why they should be essential to you, and to your customers.

There are five types of moisture: bulk moisture, capillary action, air-transported moisture, vapor diffusion, and condensing moisture; this blog post (which will continue to grow throughout April), will focus on the two that are most underserved and sometimes ignored: capillary action and condensing moisture.

CAPILLARY ACTION

‌Capillary action is defined as wicking moisture that moves from areas of elevated moisture content to areas of lower moisture content‌. It's best solved through the use of capillary breaks (impermeable materials, air spaces and damp-proofing materials) that prevent absorption. To start, let's kick things off on the exterior building where moisture from wind-driven rain permeates semi-porous exterior surfaces such as brick, mortar, stone, aggregate, EIFS, stucco and other materials.

Wind-Driven Rain and Exterior Waterproofing with X4

Moisture from wind-driven rain can gradually or abruptly raise the moisture content of exterior materials like concrete, aggregate, mortar joints, EIFS, stucco, wood, and composite materials. As moisture content increases, mold, moss, algae and other unsightly biologicals can grow and spread. In addition, from season to season, this increased moisture content, especially through freeze-thaw cycles, can lead to unrecoverable expansion, contraction and erosion of surfaces, drastically reducing their life expectancy. Finally, as increased moisture content wicks or migrates (as liquid or vapor) gradually into the structure substrates and cavities without the ability to dry, conditions that support mold growth are likely to occur.

While there are numerous materials that can be applied to exterior semi-porous surfaces to prevent water absorption, it's critical to choose a material that sheds moisture from the environment while not interrupted the natural permeability of the surfaces being protected. That's what you get with Enviroguard's X4 formula.

X4 Technology

X4 works by bonding to surfaces in a vertical orientation. Moisture sits on top of thevertically aligned molecule preventing surface contact and absorption. By keeping surfaces dry, the normal wear and tear associated with water's ability to erode from movement and alkalinity is eliminated thereby reducing maintenance and repair costs over time.

Preventing Damage, Looking Better

X4's ability to eliminate moisture absorption and to keep water out of semi-porous surfaces, prior to freezing temperatures, is a priority in preventing the expansion and contraction cycles associated with seasonal freeze/thaw. This dramatically increases the longevity of surfaces to minimize maintenance and repair costs. X4 is hydrophobic (water-hating) and because X4 is cationic (has a positive charge), X4 naturally resists dirt accumulation and prevents the adhesion of water-based paints. This feature helps reduce or prevent unplanned for restoration expenses. While X4 eliminates the capillary absorption of moisture into surfaces, it does not clog the pores or capillaries of a substrate thereby maintaining a building's vapor permeability.

X4 can also be incorporated into products like concrete, cement and paints to provide superior adhesion and curing as well as to impart the same resistance to water, dirt andwater-based paint already described.

Longevitity and Maintaining Efficacy

X4 is expected to last 5 to 15 years on exterior surfaces. However, since a number of environmental factors can impact longevity, a simple Rilem test to monitor moisture resistance can be used to indicate or predict maintenance over time.