Attic Mold Remediation in Metairie, LA
A Metairie attic in July is 130 degrees and holds the coldest equipment in the house. Most of the ranches here have the air handler up there, with flex duct laid across the joists and a condensate line that runs to a drain that clogs about once a summer. Add a bathroom fan that vents into the insulation instead of outside, a roof that has been patched since Ida, and a ridge vent that was never quite right, and you have a space that is warm, dark, and wet in three different ways. Call and tell us what you saw up there.
Why Metairie attics grow mold
Cold air. Warm humidity. Condensation happens. The outside of a supply duct at 55 degrees sits in air that is 100 degrees and wet, and it drips. The drip lands on the ceiling drywall below, which is where the dark patch in the hallway comes from. Meanwhile the bathroom fan is pushing a shower’s worth of steam into the batts every morning, and the roof deck over it goes dark in streaks. None of it looks like a leak. All of it is moisture.
Moisture near ductwork shouldn’t be ignored
- Sweating duct and a dripping air handler wet the attic floor and the ceiling below it, so a stain in a hallway often traces back up.
- Insulated flex duct that has gotten wet or moldy can’t be cleaned effectively; EPA says it gets replaced.
- A bathroom fan venting into the attic puts a shower’s worth of moisture into the insulation every day.
- Growth on the roof deck and rafters gets cleaned in place; wet batts come out.
Tell Us What You Saw Up There, 24/7
What to do now
Don’t pull the insulation yourself — EPA, CDC, and FEMA all say to keep children out of mold cleanup, and an attic is the worst room in the house to disturb growth in without containment. The attic hatch gets sealed from the living space, the roof deck and framing get cleaned where the growth is, wet or moldy batts and duct come out, and we tell you what has to change — the fan vent, the drain line, the roof — for it to stay clean. Note whether the stain on the ceiling below is directly under the air handler or under a bathroom; that tells us where to start.
