Mold,Mold........everywhere

[Cameron1]

We have been covered up with mold work for the last three months.


Most of the jobs have been less than 2500.00, but we have had two biggins for over 10,000.00


I am thinking about buying a soda blaster or ice blasting machine to cut the time down..... cause it has been real labor intensive. Does anybody that we know do alot of Mold work? Or, do we know anyone with either method? I need to find out the pros and cons with each. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[MicahR]

Ice Blasting is great because it doesn't leave the mess that soda does. The only problem is getting and storing the media with the dry ice. If you live near a larger metro area it isn't as big of a deal.

 

[Desk Jockey]

We do some mold remediation by nothing like the numbers we use to turn in the mold is gold days. We have a soda blaster and use it on fire damage to clean up structural materials.

If it will work for you on mold will depend on the situation. Soda it self works great on lumber, metal and most materials. The negative isn't even the clean up, it's controling the powder. Even with containment and critical barriers you can get soda to breach these preventative measures.

Crawl spaces, attics are a couple of areas where it can work, provided you are able to exhaust the soda.

Operation is easy but hot and while not exactly faster than hand cleaning it does produce a much better finished product.

Check out Grand Northern, Wayne Lawrence is the Rep and he will even come out and train you when you buy a unit.

 

[The Great Oz]

Dry ice blasting machines are really a dream to use for smoke and mold restoration. No waste blasting material, everything is clean, they even dry out greasy stuff so it can be vacuumed up. I talked with a restorer that used one to clean the cork and mahogany ceiling at the high peak inside a church. He said they placed large axial fans blowing into filter boxes (they taped together) at the main entrances and watched the soot fall and be collected through the fans. No other cleaning was required.

The problem is the cost. the machines have come down in price quite a bit, but you need a seriously big trailer mounted compressor to power them. Most commercial rental yards don't have compressors that big in stock, so if you're serious you'll need your own. If you don't have a dry ice facility nearby, you can even buy a small unit to make your own.

Next time you have a job where one might be handy, check out the manufactuer's rental programs. Might be the best way to see if it suits your company.

 

[Desk Jockey]

You need a compressor for the Soda Blaster also, you can rent them from the rental yards, but if you're do much of it you'll see you're better off buying one.

We bought a used one for around $9,000.00 from one of the local construction equipment rental yards.

 

[The Great Oz]

Maybe things have changed, but the largest compressors we could rent in Seattle were below the size recommended by the dry ice machine manufacturer. The machine still worked, but not as well as it probably would have with more air. Just something to check out before purchase.

 

[Desk Jockey]

I'm not sure what it takes to drive the Ice blasters?

Our air compressor is a 185CFM and at the construction rental yard they rent up to 375CFM compressors. I would think that would be sufficient?

Dry Ice availability and Dry Ice limited storage (5-days in the cooler provided by the dry ice vendor) are all things that need to be planed very well.

The additional costs associated with Ice Blasting would be comparable to the Soda blasting when you account for clean up.

 

[Hoody]

Maybe things have changed, but the largest compressors we could rent in Seattle were below the size recommended by the dry ice machine manufacturer. The machine still worked, but not as well as it probably would have with more air. Just something to check out before purchase.

Have you checked Sunbelt ?

 

[leesenter]

Dry ice blasters need 375 compressors.
Soda usually needs a 185.
We have both machines and we rarely use the soda blaster. Our soda blaster also uses other media like glass, nutshells and sand.
Using dry ice is great, usually easy to clean up and causes very little collateral damage.
However dry ice displaces oxygen (watch out in tight basements) and it also causes possible combustible dust in the atmosphere. Almost had a fire in a basement that had a rad boiler even with 10ACH going.
About buying large compressors-be sure you have someone who will service it quickly before buying. We are in a major market and I always rent the compressor (which is easy to find for us). I already know that if I owned a compressor and wanted it fixed it would take days if not weeks to get it back. My volume is nothing to the repair shop next to the major construction companies they are dealing with everyday.