Equipment: Best In Chicago Mold Removal!

Restoration Equipment

Damage restoration technicians must bring equipment for drying out the interior of a building and removing moisture from the air. Chemical cleaners and disinfectants are also needed, and moisture detection equipment is invaluable for spotting problem areas. For properties that have sustained heavy damage, some demolition tools may be required to quickly remove compromised material.

There are several pieces of water damage restoration equipment needed to complete the job properly. Before entering a job site, workers must protect themselves with special clothing.

Personal Protective Equipment

Personal Protective Equipment is any device or garment worn by an individual to prevent exposure to one or more safety and health hazards. PPE includes all clothing and other work accessories designed to create a barrier against or restraints from workplace hazards. For example:

• Chemical-resistant Gloves
• Splash Goggles
• Appropriate Respirator
• Hard Hat
• Steel Toe Work Boots
• Protective Clothing

When dressing in full PPE, the sleeves and pants should be taped at the wrists to the gloves and at the ankles to the boots. Some Tyvek suits come with built-in booties. These normally do not survive in the work place. Work boots should be used for foot protection. Each time putting on a respirator, remediators should conduct a positive and negative seal check.

Respiratory Protection

There are three ways that the human body can be compromised. They are: by dermal (contact), inhalation (respiratory) and ingestion (consumed). The most common way of providing protection is the use of personal protection equipment. One such piece of equipment is a respirator. Respirators come in a variety of styles, with different levels of protection, and are rated according to their protection factor, which is called the “assigned protection factor”.

In addition to respirators, when performing mold remediation, additional components of Personal Protective Equipment will be utilized.

Inadequately protected workers are at an increased risk for infectious disease.

These additional PPE components should include:

• Protective Suits
• Proper Gloves
• Boots With Hardened Toes
• Hard Hats
• Splash Goggles

Tyvek Suits

Protective suits made of Tyvek come in 11 different grades. Each of these grades, starting with the lightest to the heaviest, offers more protection. For sewage cleanup and mold remediation, DuPont recommends Tyvek, which on their scale of protection is a 4. This type of suit material is water resistant and reasonably priced. All of the other grades of suits made with Tyvek materials have different names: level 3 protection is ProShield NexGen, and level 5 protection is Tychem QC.

Assigned Protection Factor

The Assigned Protection Factor (APF) of a respirator reflects the level of protection that a properly functioning respirator would be expected to provide to a properly fitted and trained user. For example, an APF of 10 for a respirator means that a user could expect to inhale no more than one tenth of airborne contaminants present.

Engineering Controls

The preferred safety strategy is to establish engineering controls, which control the work environment to reduce employee exposure to hazards. For example, when working in areas containing loose soot residue, it is highly recommended that restorers use appropriate air quality controls, such as exhaust fans and HEPA air scrubbers.

Dri-Eaz DrizAir 1200 Dehumidifier

Tough enough for water mold removal technicians and simple enough for residential users, the Dri-Eaz DrizAir 1200 Dehumidifier removes up to 15 gallons of water per day from wet carpets, carpet pads, walls, floors, and more.

This Dri-Eaz dehumidifier is also great for plaster creations and drywall projects. Also, since it doesn’t have an industrial look, it works well for heavy residential dehumidifying.

Dri-Eaz Sahara Pro X3 TurboDryer Air Mover

The Dri-Eaz F351 Sahara Pro X3 TurboDryer is a three-speed air mover with a 0.33 horsepower (HP) motor that draws up to 4 amps on a 115V power supply for energy efficiency, and has a rated airflow of 2700 CFM and a tested velocity of 2071 FPM for drying applications.

The blower snout in this air mover concentrates airflow into a flat ribbon of air for efficient drying of flat surfaces, such as carpets or floors. The ground-fault circuit interrupter trips when a ground fault, short circuit, or power overload occurs for added safety.

Dri-Eaz Ace TurboDryer

There is no airmover more versatile than the Ace TurboDryer. The unit is designed to operate in seven different positions, allowing you to position it to dry just about anything. In addition, ventilation is easy with the Ace.

Use it to give clean ventilation to crawlspaces with negative pressure. Position the airmover to suck air out of the crawlspace, pulling in clean, dry, warm air from elsewhere in the structure.

Dri-Eaz F284 DefendAir HEPA 500 HEPA Air Purifier

The Dri-Eaz DefendAir HEPA 500 Air Scrubber and negative air machine uses a two-stage system to filter your air. First, air moves through a pre-filter designed to gather large particles.

Next, the air moves through an independently tested and verified top-quality HEPA filter. This filter traps 99.97% of the smallest airborne particles as small as 0.3 microns.

Dri-Eaz DriTec 4000i Desiccant Dehumidifier

The Dri-Eaz DriTec 4000i Dehumidifier uses desiccant dehumidifying technology to perform reliable and high-performance drying in extremely low temperatures and low humidity conditions. Desiccant dehumidification uses a process called adsorption. During this process, humid air is drawn into the dehumidifier and passed over a desiccant wheel infused with silica gel.

Excess humidity is adsorbed into the silica gel before leaving the dehumidifier as warm dry air. No water is collected or drained out, so there’s no need to set up a draining system or empty a water tank.

Dri-Eaz F413 Revolution LGR Dehumidifier

This state-of-the-art LGR dehumidifier features the most compact design ever achieved in a large restoration dehumidifier. The Revolution is roughly half the size of its big sister model, the Dri-Eaz Evolution, while removing more moisture and delivering more cubic feet per minute airflow. Plus, it transports quickly and easily on your handtruck as you move from job to job.

The Dri-Eaz Revolution Dehumidifier is ideal for drying spaces up to 2,000 square feet. Its space-saving design is great for crawl spaces, basements, kitchens, bathrooms, and other hard-to-reach areas.