“Very quick response, friendly, and informative. Answered all my questions and provided us with a number of options.”
Serving Spokane · the Inland Northwest
Black Mold Removal in Spokane, WA
Color alone does not tell you what mold you have, so we start with an accredited lab test and end with one. Between the two, the VaPURE process treats the whole house in a single visit.
Lab Tested, Not Guessed
Whole-Home Treatment
Most Homes Treated in a Day
Workmanship guaranteed
On every My Pure Environment treatment
Is the dark growth on your basement wall the dangerous kind? Black mold removal in Spokane, WA starts by finding out, because color alone does not identify a species, lab testing does. Several common molds look black or near black on drywall, and the species most people mean by black mold (Stachybotrys) is only one of them.
We take samples for an accredited third-party lab before we touch anything, so you know what you are dealing with and have a baseline on paper. Then we find the water that is feeding it, treat the property with the VaPURE process, remove what is too far gone, and test again. What some people call black mold cleaning or black mold treatment is the same job here. For questions about mold and your health, see our Mold Toxicity page; we treat the house and leave the medical answers to the people qualified to give them.
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Trusted by homeowners across the Inland Northwest.
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“Terry came and inspected my apartment wall for water damage/moisture in the wall. He did a very good job assessing the damage and used the proper equipment to do so. He was honest and even gave me knowledge about how professionals assess for damage. I would highly recommend My Pure Environment. They are the best and the most honest in the area.”
“Terry and his team were wonderful to work with. They were quick to schedule, answered all my questions, and were very responsive. I would definitely recommend this company!”
What do people mean by black mold?
Usually they mean Stachybotrys chartarum, a slow-growing mold that likes materials with a lot of cellulose, such as the paper face of drywall, and needs them to stay wet for a long time. But Cladosporium, Aspergillus and a few others can look just as dark on a wall, and Stachybotrys itself can look greenish or slimy rather than black. Nobody can name a species by looking at it, including us. A tape or swab sample goes to an accredited lab, and the report names what grew.
That report matters for two reasons. It tells you what is in the house, and it gives the after test something to be compared against. We do not skip it to get to the treatment faster.
Why does black mold keep showing up in old South Hill basements?
Spokane's footing policy puts foundations at least 24 inches below grade, so the older neighborhoods were built with full basements rather than slabs. Many of the basements in Manito, Cannon Hill and Browne's Addition date from the early 1900s and were never meant to be dry living space. When the snowpack goes with the first warm wind of late winter, the water finds the same low corner it found the year before.
Winter makes it worse from inside. Spokane's relative humidity sits in the high eighties through December and January, the furnace is on, and the windows stay shut. The Spokane Regional Health District recommends keeping indoor humidity at or below half saturation, which most hygrometers show as fifty on the dial; a damp basement with a dehumidifier that never quite catches up sits well above that for months. Slow, chronic damp is exactly what the slow-growing species need, which is why the dark patch behind the water heater is back after every scrub.
What happens to drywall after a pipe bursts in a cold snap?
The other way black mold gets started in Spokane is fast. A pipe freezes in an outside wall during a cold snap, splits, and thaws into the wall cavity. The drywall soaks it up, the paper face feeds the mold, and the furnace keeps the house warm enough for it to grow. The EPA's guidance is that materials dried within 24 to 48 hours usually do not grow mold; a wall that stayed wet for two weeks while the plumber and the insurer sorted things out is a different story. That drywall usually comes out, cut back to dry material, and the framing behind it gets treated.
How do you remove black mold without tearing the house apart?
We start with an inspection and moisture mapping, because treating mold without stopping the water wastes your money. Then we treat the property with the VaPURE process: a sterilant vapor first, then an antimicrobial protectant that helps treated surfaces resist regrowth once the moisture cause is fixed. The vapor reaches wall cavities, the attic, crawl-space framing, ducting and the air itself, so the mold you can see and the mold you cannot get the same treatment.
The home is vacant during treatment. People, pets and plants go out, we work for four to six hours in most homes, and you are back the same evening. Most jobs avoid demolition. When drywall or insulation is past saving, we tell you upfront, remove it, and treat what is behind it.
Should I test before I treat, or just have it removed?
Test first. It is a small step, and it settles what the mold is, whether it has spread beyond the room you found it in, and what a clean result looks like afterward. Our mold testing service covers surface samples and air samples, and you keep the written report. After treatment the same accredited lab tests again, which is how the job gets proven rather than eyeballed.
Why My Pure Environment
Why homeowners choose us.
Lab Tested, Not Guessed
An accredited third-party lab tests before and after every job. You get the written report, which names the species and shows the change.
Whole-Home Treatment
The VaPURE process reaches wall cavities, framing, ducting and the air, not only the black patch on the wall.
Most Homes Treated in a Day
Typical treatment runs four to six hours while the home is vacant, and most families are back in the same evening.
Frequently Asked
Frequently asked questions.
Have a question we haven't answered? Contact us, or call 866-940-1153.
We do not give health advice, and no remediation company should. The CDC notes that some people are more sensitive to mold than others, and both the CDC and the EPA say the practical answer is to fix the moisture and have the mold dealt with. Our Mold Toxicity page (mypureenvironment.com/mold-toxicity) collects what those agencies say, and your doctor is the person to ask about symptoms.
On a hard, non-porous surface a household cleaner can remove the stain. On drywall, wood or grout the growth is in the material, bleach mostly wets it, and the patch is usually back within weeks because the moisture is still there. It also tells you nothing about what is inside the wall.
We do not know until the lab tells us. A tape or swab sample identifies the species, and a moisture meter tells us whether the wall is wet enough to grow anything. Soot and mildew stains get mistaken for mold often enough that testing is worth doing before paying for treatment.
Mold needs water. With the source fixed, the protectant stage of the VaPURE process helps treated surfaces resist regrowth, and every treatment carries our workmanship guarantee. Ask us about re-treatment options if the water problem turns out to be bigger than the first fix.
Only during the treatment itself, usually four to six hours, and the same goes for pets and plants. You come back the same evening. Nobody stays in the home while the vapor is working.
Schedule Your Free Consultation
Get a lab answer, not a guess, about the black patch.
Book a free consultation. We will sample it, map the moisture, and tell you plainly what it is and what it will take.
Head back to water damage restoration and mold remediation in Spokane or browse all our Spokane services.
Or call us directly
866-940-1153
Where We Work
Serving Spokane & the Inland Northwest.
Spokane is home base, and most of our work is across Spokane County and Kootenai County, ID: Spokane Valley, Liberty Lake, Cheney, Mead, Coeur d'Alene, Post Falls and the smaller towns in between, with Sandpoint and the Silver Valley on request. See our full service area list.