Leaky Toilet Cause Extensive Mold Damage in the Garage Eatontown, NJ
Challenge
This Eatontown, NJ homeowner had a toilet flange that had been leaking for quite a while. The toilet flange is the pipe fitting that mounts the toilet to the floor, connecting the toilet drain to a drain pipe. Unfortunately, this connection can leak, especially if the wax ring seal is broken. Sometimes, you’ll see a small pool of water around the toilet, especially right after it’s flushed. Sometimes, however, especially with small leaks, the signs are more subtle. The floor around the toilet may feel spongy or finished flooring peeling up. Inevitably, if a leak goes on long enough, the problem will surface somewhere in the home. Here, the homeowner identified the bathroom leak in his garage! The bathroom shared a common wall with the garage, and the water from the toilet leak triggered mold growth on sheetrock in the garage. The homeowner immediately realized that the mold problem in the garage was the direct result of the bathroom leak.
A plumber was called in to fix the toilet. However, the homeowner was still left with a nasty mold problem in his garage, and he contacted us to take care of the mold issue. As part of our inspection, cut out the water-saturated damaged sheetrock so we could determine the extent of the mold problem hidden in the wall void.
Solution
We treated the affected area with an antimicrobial application called MAPS 1, which stands for Mold Abatement Polymer Solutions. MAPS 1 is an EPA registered product that attacks mold on a cellular level and immediately kills it. Next, we used our mold stain remover and scrubbed away all the mold growth throughout the crawl space.
Afterward, we applied our patented sealant called MAPS 2. MAPS 2 is a moisture-sensitive application that encapsulates the surface mold is growing on and renders it harmless, inert, and non-allergenic. One of the best features of MAPS 2 is that it will reactivate whenever it gets wet to prevent future mold growth. Now, the wall void and the rest of the garage free of mold, the homeowners can safely have the sheetrock replaced, and everything will be as good as new.
