Now that I had closed and taken possession of the property (2-Jan 2016) and before I could begin designing and doing any work on the property I must first make it safe and issue free. In this case, its mold remediation. As mentioned in my earlier blogs this property sustained heavy damage due to the neglect of the bank not winterizing the property by turning off the heat and allowing the pipes to freeze and burst. Before beginning any designing, permit application and construction I had to get rid of the mold. I got several bids for the work assuring that they were licensed to abate the mold and could provide a document of certification when complete. I decided on a firm that would remove everything and anything that had mold on it or in it, in addition to any wet surfaces. This meant a total demolition of the basement and areas of the kitchen and living room. With white contamination suits on the team removed all affected areas. Since it was the middle of January and the building had no heat I had to do something temporarily to heat the building and dry it out. The old boiler system was trashed and all the radiators were rendered non-functional when the pipes froze. Upon recommendation from the mold remediation team I secured a Heating /AC contractor that dealt with theses situations. He installed a high energy efficient furnace in the basement. Since there was no existing duct work to the 1st and 2nd second floors walls and stairwells were opened up to allow the heat to circulate through the whole house and dry it out. In addition, 3 large commercial dehumidifiers ran for two weeks to remove any moisture. While the heating and drying process was going on the remediation team cleaned all affected areas with bleach and mold killing agents. Once the house was heated, cleaned and allowed to thoroughly dry the team then sealed the entire basement and other affected areas with a sealer similar to an oil based stain killer but one used for areas that had been affected by mold. We were now ready to move forward with the design, construction drawings and application for permit.
