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Westvane Mold & Moisture · Olympia

How a job works

Containment and clearance, step by step.

Nine steps from the first call to a dry, cleared room. Not every job uses all of them: plenty of calls end at step one with advice, and plenty of inspections end at step two.

The nine steps

  1. 01

    A short call

    10 minutes

    We ask what you see or smell, where, and since when. If it sounds like a small cleaning job, we tell you how to do it and don't book a visit.

  2. 02

    Inspection

    1.5 to 3 hours

    Moisture meters, a thermal camera and photos, outside and in. We find the water first and size any growth.

  3. 03

    Testing, only if useful

    Results in 2 to 3 days

    Air or surface samples when they answer a real question: a hidden source, a sale, or a baseline before work.

  4. 04

    Written scope and price

    1 to 2 business days

    Square feet, materials to remove, the containment plan, the moisture fix and a price range. Take it to anyone for a second bid.

  5. 05

    Containment

    Day 1 of work

    Plastic walls and a zipper door, vents sealed, a HEPA air scrubber pulling air out of the room so dust can't travel. Pressure is logged.

  6. 06

    Removal and cleaning

    1 to 3 days

    Porous materials with growth are cut out and bagged inside containment. Framing is cleaned, HEPA vacuumed and damp wiped.

  7. 07

    Drying and the source fix

    Varies

    Materials are dried to normal readings. The leak, vent or drainage problem is fixed so the growth has no reason to return.

  8. 08

    Independent clearance

    Results in 2 to 3 days

    An assessor we don't employ checks the area with containment still up: visual, moisture and air samples against the outdoor baseline.

  9. 09

    Rebuild and a six-month check

    Scheduled separately

    Walls and floors go back. Six months later we call to take a few readings, free, because staying dry is the real result.

Step 05, drawn out

The containment plan for a typical bedroom.

The room is put under slight negative pressure: air is pulled out through a HEPA filter and sent outside, so any leak in the plastic lets clean air in, never dusty air out.

Floor plan of a room with a sealed plastic work area in one corner, a zipper door, a covered heating vent, an air scrubber blowing filtered air out of a window, a pressure gauge outside the door and sealed bags of debris. HEPA 1 2 3 4 5 6

Plastic containment wall Airflow Growth on the outside wall

  1. 1 Plastic walls Heavy poly sheeting floor to ceiling, taped and braced, around the work area only.
  2. 2 Zipper door One way in and out, kept closed. Shoe covers come off at the door.
  3. 3 Vents sealed Heating and cooling vents in the work area are covered so the system can't carry dust.
  4. 4 HEPA air scrubber Pulls air out of the room through a HEPA filter and exhausts it outside.
  5. 5 Pressure gauge Shows the room is under slight negative pressure, so air flows in, never out. Logged daily.
  6. 6 Sealed bags Removed material is double bagged inside containment and carried straight out.

Step 08

Cleared by someone we don't employ.

The crew that did the work shouldn't grade it. Some states require the split between remediation and clearance. Washington doesn't, but we follow it on every job. Containment stays up until the area passes.

A gloved lab technician preparing samples at an analysis instrument in a clean room
  • CHECK 01 Nothing visible No visible growth, dust or debris inside containment. Every material on the scope has been removed or cleaned.
  • CHECK 02 Dry materials Moisture readings on framing and surfaces are back in the normal range for the house and the season.
  • CHECK 03 Air like outdoors Indoor samples are similar to or lower than the outdoor baseline, with no build-up of the types that grow on wet buildings.
  • CHECK 04 In writing A signed result from an assessor who did not do the work. If an area fails, it is re-cleaned and retested before containment comes down.

If an area doesn't pass We re-clean inside the same containment and the assessor retests. On our jobs, the re-cleaning and the retest are at our cost. A pass means the area met the agreed criteria that day; keeping it dry is what keeps it that way.

Who does what

While we work

Safety on site

  • Our crew wears respirators, disposable suits, gloves and eye protection inside containment.
  • Shoe covers and suits come off at the zipper door, so nothing is tracked through the house.
  • Please keep kids and pets out of the work area. We plan noisy days around naps and school runs.
  • If anyone in the home has health concerns, ask your doctor whether staying elsewhere during removal makes sense.

Request a visit

Start at step one.

Tell us what you see or smell. If it's a cleaning job, we'll say so and save you the visit.

Start the 5-step request See example prices

Prefer to talk?

Priya answers the office line.

Water coming in right now? Shut off the supply if you can and call a water damage company first. Mold work comes after things are dry.

Fictional sample site by SearchPod