AdvantaClean of The North Shore Our Work
Case Studies
Location: Beverly, MA 01915
Problem: "A customer called to ask if we treated mold, mildew and odor issues on boats. "Of course we do", was the answer.
We met with the customer on the dock at his yacht club the next day, did a thorough inspection of the cabin, and found mold, mildew and that "stale" old boat odor permeated the cabin. Customer stated that "he couldn't stand to be in the cabin" any longer.
We came up with a remediation protocol for both the mold and the odor, and scheduled the appointment for the following week."
Solution: "The mold and mildew remediation followed standard protocol (HEPA vacuuming/Antimicrobial spray and wipe/HEPA vacuuming). We paid particular attention to the berth areas (underneath cushions), head and galley. Once the mold protocol was completed, we attacked the odor issue.
We treated all of the cabin's "softs" (cushions, curtains, flotation devices, rain gear, etc.) with a liquid chlorine dioxide solution, as well as bilge areas beneath the floor. We used the same solution in the head, and in the storage lockers as well. Finally, we installed a slow-release chlorine dioxide cartridge in the main cabin as a leave-behind. The cartridge is humidity activated, and will continue to destroy cabin odors for up to 90 days.
The customer was amazed at the difference in the air quality in the cabin, and was able to sail away and enjoy his afternoon on the water with his family."
Location: Gloucester, MA 01930
Problem: A homeowner called AdvantaClean of the North Shore to do a mold inspection and estimate after another remediation company had started the job and left the customer stranded. There had been a major flood in the basement and attic, and the prior company was supposed to dry out the basement, do the necessary demolition work and clean up the mold. When we arrived we noticed that some drywall had been cut away, but all of the debris was still on the floor, and there was a big bottle of bleach left behind. The original remediator was no where to be found.
As this was an occupied rental property, we needed to get on the job fast, and get the mold taken care of in a hurry.
Solution: We began by isolating the basement and setting up containment. We moved on to the demolition phase, and removed all of the saturated dry wall, rotten framing and carpeting. Once the demo phase was over, we cleaned up the mold per protocol. Then, we needed to address several issues to keep the basement dry and mold free. We replaced the failed sump pump and replumbed the drain with a new 1/2hp dual sump pump with a battery back up. We installed a new Santa Fe commercial dehumidifier, and then sealed and caulked the existing bulkhead door. We were able to complete the remediation job in under a week, and the homeowner and tenant were very pleased.
The homeowner asked if we would consider seeing the rebuild job to it's completion. Normally, we sign off on the job once the remediation is completed, but because the homeowner was leery of hiring another contractor to do the job after the first ones they hired, we agreed. The job included the complete rebuild of the basement as well as a bathroom and hallway ceiling that the first remediator had started, but not completed.
In the end, the rebuild areas came out beautiful. We are honored that the homeowner trusted AdvantaClean with the remediation and rebuild portion of the job. Glad to be of service.
Location: Manchester, MA 01944
Problem: Condo owner returned from business trip to find their living room ceiling on the floor. A pipe had burst to a baseboard radiator in the unit above, and the water had collapsed the ceiling. Homeowner called the plumber to fix the pipe, and then called AdvantaClean to deal with the rest.
Solution: When we arrived, the plumber had just left, and the debris was all over the living room floor. Even though we had not actually gotten the clean up job yet, we removed as much of the wet debris and underlying wet carpet. Time was of the essence. If we didn't get the soaked plaster and blown in insulation as well as the carpet and pad out of the house, the wood floors would be ruined quickly, and mold would set in soon.
We got the job, and returned a couple of days later to deal with the rest of the clean up and treat the area for mold. We mapped the extent of the water infiltration in the rest of the ceiling and walls, set up containment, and removed all of the damaged areas to the extent necessary. We paid particular attention to cutting plaster cleanly along framing members so that the rebuild plasterer could easily replace the wall board and finish the job. We then cleaned the entire area in the containment zone to mold remediation protocol standards. After we removed the containment, we spent the extra time to completely clean the rest of the living room where any dust or debris had fallen in the collapse.
Location: Danvers, MA 01923
Problem: Condo management company was receiving complaints from unit owners that their clothes dryers were filled with moisture and lint, and that there was cold or hot air coming from the dryers while not in operation. The management company needed to figure out the problem and get it fixed.
Solution: The Condo management company reached out to AdvantaClean and asked us to trace the lines and see if we could come up with a fix. We spoke with the four condo owners, and then traced the vent ducts to the basement. All four lines emptied into a single collection box in the basement that was connected to a thermocouple sensor that energized an exhaust fan based on temperature. Two problems became quickly apparent. First, the exhaust fan did not energize until it reached a set temperature of 100 degrees, so that there was often a significant time lag before it would operate. Second problem was that there were no check valves on the individual lines so that dryer vent exhaust would backflow into the other lines until the collection box's exhaust fan energized. To fix the problem, we custom assembled four elbow check valves to fit in the box, one for each individual line, and then adjusted the thermocouple set point to 90 degrees. The check valves keep each line from allowing a backflow, and the new temperature set point allows the exhaust fan to energize sooner. Problem solved, and homeowners happy.
Location: Danvers, MA 01923
Problem: Frozen ground, 8 inches of snow melt and 2 more inches of rain led to a busy Saturday night for AdvantaClean of the North Shore. We had 4 pump-out calls within and hour. When we got to our last call in Danvers, the homeowner had almost 2 feet of water in the basement and was using a cat litter bucket to bail out the water and keep it from submerging the burner on the boiler.
Solution: Aside from the water in the basement, the first thing we noticed was that the small 1/3hp sump pump that was installed in the basement had burned out and failed. We removed the failed pump, and put in two emergency 1/2hp pumps with 1-1/2" discharge lines. We placed one in the existing sump pit and one in a low spot in the basement. It took about 20 minutes to pump the water down to the bare floor.
We replaced and re-piped the failed pump with a temporary, removed the emergency pumps, and then began the dry out. Fans and a commercial dehumidifier were placed in the basement, and it was dried out by Wednesday afternoon. We'll return in a few weeks to replace the temporary pump with a new Blue Angel 1/2hp dual pump with a battery back-up and pipe the system using 1-1/2" PVC pipe away from the house so the basement won't flood again.
Location: Beverly, MA 01915
Problem: A recent customer had an Oceanside home in Massachusetts with small crawl space under house. The space was musty and damp. The homeowner wanted to use the space as storage for outdoor sauna area, but didn't feel safe using it because items would get moldy and dirty. We needed to come up with a solution to the old torn 6mil plastic sheet that covered a ledge, and figure out an economical way to keep the space dry.
Solution: We started by removing the old plastic sheet that was torn and dirty, and then groomed the surface of the ledge. After removing the rotten boards used to hold the old plastic sheet down and cleaning up the debris, we sprayed the entire space with a strong antimicrobial solution and allowed it to dry. We then re-encapsulated the entire surface of the ledge with a new 36mil vapor barrier and side aprons, then sealed the barrier tightly along all edges. That solved the encapsulation issue.
Next, we needed to find an economical way to condition the interior space to regulate ambient moisture and temperature. Since the space is unheated and close to the ocean, a dehumidifier was not an option. We decided on an ATMOX air management system. We installed an intake and exhaust air fan assembly to the existing sill wall vent, and piped the exhaust fan with 8" flexible aluminum duct deep into the space so that the system would create circular air movement. The system utilizes an inside and outside sensor system that regulates the fans based on outside and inside ambient temperature and relative humidity. The system operates on a 24 VDC circuit and sips power. By pulling in cool dry air, and exhausting damp moist air, the system relies on natural temperature and humidity conditions to regulate the air quality in the space.
Location: Lynn, MA 01902
Problem: A high volume hair salon was experiencing long waits for towels and capes to dry. Lint was actually blowing back into the salon from separations in the dryer vent line that had been previously sealed with gray duct tape.
Solution: The owner of the salon booked an appointment with AdvantaClean of The North Shore to clean the dryer vent. When we got there the first thing we noticed was the clogged rodent/bird cage on the vent cover. We removed and cleaned this first.
Due of the length of the duct work, we needed to separate the line into three zones, clean each zone separately, and power boost fan, then reseal all of the joints with aluminum tape and clamps to code. We were in and out in about 90 minutes, all while the busy salon was in full swing.
Location: North Andover, MA 01845
Problem: Customer in North Andover, MA scheduled a routine HVAC duct cleaning. The system included a fresh air make-up unit fed directly into the supply plenum. Before we started, we pulled a vent cover on the supply side because there was some sooty dust that we couldn't account for around the edges of the louvers, and black spotting on the vent cover itself. Upon removal, we noticed that the back of the cover was covered in mold. We then removed all of the supply covers and found the same issue. We couldn't do a normal cleaning and pull all of that contamination back into the system, especially with young children in the house.
Solution: We shut the system down and sealed off the supply side from the return side. We removed each vent cover carefully, bagged it, and then brought it outside for further cleaning and disinfection. We then sealed each boot, and the supply side plenum, and pulled a HEPA vacuum at each boot individually, then cleaned and disinfected each supply side duct from the plenum to the boot so as not to spread any spores towards the air handler. Each vent was hand scrubbed and treated with an antimicrobial solution. We then cleaned and disinfected the return side of the system and the make-up air unit as well.
When everything was completed we ran a few bio-tape samples in key parts of the system. Thankfully the weather was mild and dry that week, so the customer didn't need to run the AC or heat while we waited for the lab results. The lab results came back clean, and the customer was happy with the results.
Location: Wakefield, MA 01880
Problem: New home owners scheduled a dryer vent cleaning for their second floor laundry room. The old home owners had left the washer and dryer as part of the sale, and the new home owners complained of a bad smell and lint build-up in the dryer closet. While it was nice that the old home owners had left the washer and dryer, they forgot to tell the new homeowners they had been venting the dryer into the floor for years.
Solution: When we pulled the dryer away from the wall, the first thing we noticed was the empty hole in the floor that was filled with dryer lint. We pulled all of the lint that we could reach out of the hole by hand and with a vacuum, but we couldn't actually find the vent stack. We knew there was an exit vent cover on the outside of the house, so we used our video probe to see what was going on. We found the end of the stack (corrugated aluminum duct). It had been shredded and cut about 6 inches from the hole, and was full of lint. We can only assume that someone had tried to clean it before us, got into trouble, then pulled on the duct and shredded the end. At that point, they just ended up sticking the dryer's duct connector down the hole.
We ended up having to cut the tile floor back enough to tie a new connector and elbow onto the existing stack, securing the elbow to the floor with an aluminum flange. We finished cleaning the stack and dryer internals and replaced the dryer's connector duct with a new 6 foot flexible aluminum duct. All secure, running fine, and clean as a whistle!
Location: Georgetown, MA 01833
Problem: Client selling home and needed to have mold remediated from attic for contingent P&S agreement. The mold was very heavy along the north-facing soffit interior up to about 8 feet and then abruptly stopped. We needed to clean up the mold and remove the staining. Customer also wanted to know why the mold only came up so far, and how to mitigate it in the future.
Solution: The mold remediation and stain cleaning were pretty straight forward. We set up containment and then proceeded with the remediation protocol that included a thorough HEPA vacuuming of all exposed surfaces followed by a spray/wipe down using an EPA recognized antimicrobial solution, and then a second HEPA vacuuming. This was followed with a stain removal treatment using a sodium hypochlorite solution. Mold and staining were gone! What we found was that the attic insulation had been packed so tightly into the soffit bays that no air could get through until the end of the old Rafter-mates (4' line), We pulled back the existing insulation to open up the soffit vents and replaced the old Rafter-mates to allow for unimpeded airflow from the soffit vents to the ridge vent, Case solved, sale pending!
