Laundry room mold in Highlands, NJ apartment building

I took this photo of a tenant laundry room in an apartment building. There was no dehumidification system in this room. The room had sustained high humidity and moisture because of the constant use of the washers and dryers. As often happens in enclosed areas with chronically high indoor humidity, mold took hold and started to grow on the walls. This mold was not only unsightly, but was also a potential health hazard for the building’s tenants.

The property manager recognized that this mold problem needed to be taken care of, and contacted Cowleys for a mold treatment.  A crew from the Mold Solutions division arrived to treat the area. We treated the entire with an EPA-registered antimicrobial (MAPS 1) followed by a patented sealant (MAPS 2). This sealant instantly kills any mold on contact and is also moisture-sensitive. If necessary, this product will reactivate to kill any future mold growth in the treated area. We also scrubbed the walls to remove any visible staining. The staining left by mold is not allergenic, but it is unsightly. In areas of buildings used by its occupants, we remove as much of the staining as possible. However, sometimes there are remnants of deep stains will not go away no matter how much scrubbing is done. These limited deep stain areas must be painted over.

For long-term prevention, our maintenance team is installing a commercial-grade Sani-Dry dehumidifier. These dehumidifiers are specifically built to keep indoor humidity at levels where mold cannot grow. Also, the laundry room will have clean, dry air instead of the thick, wet, smelly air associated with high humidity. These dehumidifiers are maintenance-free with no water pan to empty. They also have a built-in auto-humidistat that senses the moisture level in the space, automatically turning the unit on and off depending on room conditions.