PacificDecon

Month: May 2020

  • Home Inspection: Mold Found in Attic – Deal Breaker?

    Home Inspection: Mold Found in Attic – Deal Breaker?


    Mold is one of the big fear items that home buyers in Victoria, Cowichan, Duncan, Nanaimo, Parksville, Qualicum, Courtenay, Comox, Campbell River, and Port Alberni ask about during the home inspection process. Simply put if you see mold in a home there is a moisture issue.

    Once the source of the moisture is addressed and the mold is remediated by a qualified professional it won’t come back. It’s that simple. Mold needs moisture to grow.

    Is mold in my home a problem?

    It can be if left undressed. Again, mold in a building means you have a water problem. Dry buildings do not have mold problems. Focus on solving the water problem, then decontaminating the mold. If you do not solve the water problem you will be in an endless cycle of never ending mold.

    Is mold harmful to my health?

    The short answer is No. The long answer is it can be with prolonged exposure. However, we have very little science to prove that mold exposure in buildings can affect human health and a great deal of evidence to suggest it can’t.

    Mold in attic spaces.

    If we look at mold in our attic spaces it is not likely an indoor air quality issue. Air rises through the lower levels of the home and up through the attic. Mold spores do not travel against this air flow so most of this air will make it’s way out of an upper roof cavity or vent.

    If you were to find mold in your crawlspace it is much more likely that that air is going to contribute to the interior air we breathe in. Simply put, we breath the air that is below our home.

    Why does mold grow in my attic space?

    Think about when you take a shower. The warmer air from inside the shower will meet the cooler air from in the room and you will end up with condensation on your bathroom mirror. The same is true for your attic space. During the winter months your roof is very cold. If the warmer interior air from your home migrates into your attic space you will end up with condensation on your roof sheathing, which will lead to mold.

    Why is Mold in my attic a problem?

    Although mold in your attic does not lead to indoor air quality issues, it can lead to deterioration of your roof structure. Once again, if the moisture issue is not addresses the mold will continue to grow and spread and will come up each time the home is inspected in the future.

    There are three areas that lead to condensation in attic spaces:

    Not enough ventilation that will allow the outside air to keep the attic air the same temperature.

    Not enough insulation to keep the warmer air from the home from moving into the attic space.

    All ceiling penetration sealed to prevent further heat loss into the attic space.

    How to Remove, Eliminate and Remediate Mold in Attics in Victoria, Duncan, Nanaimo, Parksville, Qualicum, Port Alberni, Comox, Courteney, and Campbell River

    Pacific Decontamination Services neutralize your mold by applying our eco-friendly, safe chemical into your attic. Depending on the job, we apply our formula by spray and fog. We do not use a tent. The average time of our on-site service is approximately one hour. An additional four hours is required to achieve maximum effectiveness. We ask that you stay out of the premise for approximately 4 hours in total. Read more about how we work.

    Pacific Decontamination Services uses the world’s strongest, most effective and safe antimicrobial disinfectant, deodorization and chemical decontaminate. Our professional application will eliminate up to 99.9999% of any allergen, germ, bacteria or fungus that it touches. AND as powerful as it is, it is also completely safe.

    What do you do next? How do you solve the challenge of mold and associated health hazards?

    Call Pacific Decontamination Services at 778-269-0208 or email us!
    Serving All of Victoria, Duncan, Nanaimo, Parksville, Qualicum, Port Alberni, Comox, Courtenay, Campbell River, and all of Vancouver Island:

  • Mold Exposure and Health Hazards

    Mold Exposure and Health Hazards

    Home owners in Victoria, Cowichan, Duncan, Nanaimo, Parksville, Qualicum, Courtenay, Comox, Campbell River, and Port Alberni are particularly prone to repeated mold due to their proximity to moisture, which leave serious health hazards. Not every mold remediation company is thorough in their elimination and decontamination techniques.

    Mold can live in your home, vehicle, boat or workplace and can pose serious health risks if left undetected. Many health conditions that used to be labeled unknown are now conditions correlated with mold exposure. For example, mold exposure is now known to cause bronchitis and respiratory infections. These connections between health hazards and mold exposure are fairly new discoveries, which is why it is important that we are aware of the problem and know how to spot it.

    Exposure to mold is associated with many allergy symptoms including nasal and sinus congestion, asthma, dyspnea, sore throat and skin and eye irritations. Some other symptoms include chest tightness, epistaxis, upper respiratory tract infections, and headaches. Long term exposure to mold can have serious health effects on anyone; but infants, children, seniors, pregnant women, and those who already have compromised immune systems are all at higher risk than the average individual.

    An extremely potent toxin called Mycotoxin is produced by mold and can be more dangerous than aspergillosis diseases. They begin to change our immune systems while at the same time producing chemicals that eventually suppress our immune systems. The Mycotoxin is located in or on mold particles and is inhaled, ingested or touched by the human body. Mold has the ability to enter into the brain becoming neurotoxic and produce central nervous system effects including behavioral and cognitive changes. There is no barrier located between the brain and our blood system, making it easy for the Mycotoxins to enter our bodies. Not all molds contain Mycotoxin, but many produce harmful substances, including allergens and other compounds.

    Mold is hard to detect and can often be missed even when health symptoms do occur. When the immune system is weak from mold exposure it can lead to many negative long term health problems.

    How Do I Solve My Mold Problem?

    The solution is a unique solution formula offered exclusively by Pacific Decontamination Services that chemically cleaves the spore wall, then neutralizes the mycotoxin inside. This also changes the osmotic pressure around the cell, which causes an imbalance in the internal cellular pressure resulting in total collapse of the cellular membrane.

    Serving: Victoria, Cowichan, Duncan, Nanaimo, Parksville, Qualicum, Courtenay, Comox, Campbell River, and Port Alberni.

    What do you do next after mold? How do you solve the challenge of bacteria left after Mold?” Call Pacific Decontamination Services at 778-269-0208 or email us

  • Health Risks Caused by Rodent Droppings

    Health Risks Caused by Rodent Droppings

    Home owners in Victoria, Cowichan, Duncan, Nanaimo, Parksville, Qualicum, Courtenay, Comox, Campbell River, and Port Alberni are particularly prone to rodents infestation, which leave serious health hazards. Not every rodent remediation company is thorough in their elimination and decontamination techniques.

    As it turns out, rodents who unknowingly inhabit your home are posing some serious health risks on you and your family. Most people don’t even know they have a rodent infestation in their living space, but according to a national study by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), 82% of US homes have mouse allergens.

    What are mouse allergens? They’re similar to cat or dog allergens. Most people who are allergic to a cat or dog know that they are, simply because they’ve been around them enough to know. In the case of rodents though, people haven’t spent enough time with them to know that they’re allergic. This means it’s possible that you are living with allergies that come directly from the rodents living in your own home.

    The natural trail the rodents leave behind is the culprit of a great deal of the allergens you might experience. Symptoms that you might experience due to rodents are nausea, eye or skin irritation, and difficulty breathing. Because all of these symptoms are so common, they may go overlooked.

    Rodent droppings can be a nuisance when found in that dark corner or storage closet. But not only are they annoying to have to vacuum up, but the droppings (along with rodent urine) can be highly toxic as well, carrying various diseases. A common disease carried in rodent droppings is known as HPS, or Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome. This disease can cause people, often children, to experience serious respiratory ailments. This disease is most commonly spread rodent-to-human, and very seldom human-to-human.

    Additionally, rat feces and mouse feces can cause additional health risks. These risks are more severe than HPS because these can be airborne. If these diseases are inhaled, it is possible to become infected without even knowing it. A disease that can be contracted from rodents is Leptospirosis, a bacterial disease that can lead to kidney damage.

    Not only are rodents an inconvenience for your health, but they can also pose a threat to the health of your pets as well. Rodents can bring in parasites including fleas and lice that migrate onto the skin and into the fur of your pets.

    Also, rodents can damage or destroy many of your household items. Rodents tend to nibble on anything small enough to get their mouth over. Rodents need to trim their teeth by chewing on objects. Think of a child teething or a person clipping their fingernails. Rodents can chew through just about anything- linens, clothes, couch cushions, and even electrical wires. It’s best to keep piles of clothes or other linens out of dark, hidden, or damp corners of your house to keep rodents from finding them. This is also true of wires – often wires are hidden behind large furniture or even behind a wall- this leads to an increased chance of rodents getting to these wires and causing electrical shorts, exposed wires, and malfunctioning electrical wires.

    Rodents can lead to all sorts of problems in your home, it is in your best interest to be sure you do not have rodents and if you do- be sure to take the necessary steps to eradicate them from your home!

    Many people are allergic to rodents without even realizing it.

    What do you do next? How do you solve the challenge of bacteria left after a rat infestation?

    Call Pacific Decontamination Services at 778-269-0208 or email us!

    Serving All of Vancouver Island: Victoria, Cowichan, Duncan, Nanaimo, Parksville, Qualicum, Courtenay, Comox, Campbell River, and Port Alberni.

    Here is how we neutralize 99.99999% of all bacteria, viruses, and odors from rodents (rats and mice).