Mold remediation requires expert handling

Cleaning Contaminated Contents: The Neglected Aspect of Remediation

A Large and Complex Challenge for Restoration Professionals
The challenge of properly dealing with damaged contents is present in just about every loss. The cumulative effect is quite astounding from a monetary standpoint with the latest available estimate of the annual cost of damaged contents in the U.S. from fire and floods at 2.7 billion dollars1. Nor does that represent the total cost. Unfortunately, getting an estimate of the cost of contents damaged from sewage backflows and trauma incidents is difficult because many of those losses are not covered by insurance. As State Farm insurance company bluntly states in their website factsheet entitled Reduce sewer and drain losses in your basement:

• Each year, sewer and drain backups cause millions of dollars in damage to the homes owned by State Farm® policyholders. State Farm homeowner policies do not cover losses incurred from sewer or drain backup.

Cleaning of hard non-porous contents that are subjected to fire and smoke damage, flooding, sewage backflow, or blood borne pathogens is fairly straightforward. However, considerably more time and effort is expended on the cleaning of soft contents to the point where cash out of such materials has become the norm for the industry. The difficulty in salvaging soft contents is related to both the concerns of the contractors as well as the claimant and other individuals involved in the restoration process. Specifically the difficulty in salvaging soft contents is related to four different concerns:

• Anxiety of the contractors about their ability to properly clean a wide variety of items.
• Hesitancy of safety and health professionals to document that the cleaning was conducted appropriately.
• Perception of the claimant that such items cannot be restored.
• Reluctance of insurance adjusters to undertake cleaning rather than cash-out if the insured is going to resist accepting the items.

Dealing with fire, flood, sewage, or blood contaminated contents raises a host of safety and health questions for both the contractors responding to the situation and the occupants who must live with the consequences of decisions made in the field. Because of the wide variation in cleaning effectiveness of standard processes for such losses (such as onsite vacuuming and hot water extraction or off site cleaning using standard laundry or dry cleaning techniques) it has been difficult for restoration professionals to determine if such impacted contents have been
properly cleaned without destructive testing or massive testing protocols. As such, the response to such losses has generally involved the cash out of any soft goods or porous materials which are damaged in such cases. While this conservative approach does protect the occupants, it is expensive and wasteful if a proven alternative is available.