Mold Remediation in Red Hook

Where we look first

• Brick basements and cellars, where masonry holds moisture for months
• Behind finished walls on ground floors that took water in past storms and were patched instead of opened up
• Under old floor decking in converted warehouse buildings
• Bathrooms and kitchens in older row houses with little ventilation

How the work is done

We work under our NY State mold license. The area gets sealed off so spores don't travel, HEPA filtration runs the whole time, contaminated porous materials come out, and everything else gets cleaned. Then we find and fix the moisture source, because without that step the mold comes back.

In New York, mold jobs over 10 square feet need a licensed assessor to write the plan and check the result, and the assessor can't be the company doing the removal. We work with independent assessors on that.

Rental buildings and HPD violations

If HPD has issued a mold violation on your building, we handle the remediation work needed to correct it. More on HPD mold violations.

Why brick buildings near the water stay damp

Old brick and stone walls are porous. They pull moisture up from the ground and in from the wet soil outside, and in a low neighborhood surrounded by water, that moisture never fully goes away. Add a basement with little airflow, a past flood or a slow plumbing leak, and the materials next to the masonry stay damp enough for mold: wood framing, drywall and anything stored against the wall.

Removing the mold without dealing with the dampness just resets the clock. So part of every job is finding where the moisture comes from. Sometimes it's a leak we can point to. Sometimes it's airflow, or a dehumidifier the space needs going forward.

Landlords, tenants and NYC's mold law

In New York City, Local Law 55 makes landlords of buildings with three or more apartments responsible for fixing mold and the moisture causing it. If you rent, report it to your landlord in writing, and if nothing happens, you can call 311. If you own the building, we can do the remediation and give you documentation showing the condition was corrected.

How long it takes

A small, contained area can often be finished in a day. A full basement takes longer, usually a few days, because the space has to be set up, cleaned, dried and then checked by the assessor before it's cleared. We'll give you a realistic timeline once we've seen it.

Signs of hidden mold

• A musty smell that's strongest in the basement or one particular room
• Dark spots at the bottom of walls or behind furniture pushed against a wall
• Baseboards that are warped or pulling away from the wall
• Allergy symptoms that get worse in one part of the house

One thing that looks like mold but isn't: white, chalky crust on basement brick. That's efflorescence, mineral salt left behind as water moves through the masonry. It's not mold, but it tells you the wall is wet, and a wet wall is where mold starts. See basement mold.