Lakeview took some of the deepest water in the city when the 17th Street Canal floodwall failed in 2005 — eight to ten feet in places. The neighborhood came back as a mix: 1950s slab ranches that were gutted to the studs and re-sheeted, and new construction raised on piers or fill beside them. Both sit several feet below sea level on soft ground between the lake and the drainage canals.
We take mold calls from Lakeview at any hour. Tell us what you’re seeing and what got it wet.
In the rebuilt ranches the call is often a baseboard that softens, a musty closet on an outside wall, or a cut line from 2006 that was closed a little too early — mold removal work. In the newer, tighter houses it’s more often the air handler in the attic sweating onto its platform, which is HVAC and duct mold remediation. If one room has never smelled right since the flood, say that first.
If we can pick up, you’re connected right then; if we’re mid-job you get a callback time and the number it will come from. Removal only — we don’t test.
Call before the affected area gets larger.
Dark staining on the roof deck above a bathroom fan, a sweating air handler, or the leak that opened up in the last storm. Cleaned in place with the attic sealed off from the rooms below.
The ceiling over the tub, the wall behind the toilet, the floor of the vanity cabinet. Small rooms that never dry out in New Orleans, and removal that holds once the water is under control.
A musty blast every time the air conditioning starts. Growth at the coil, in the plenum, or in sweating insulated duct — cleaned or replaced so the system stops moving it through the house.
Shotguns, doubles, and raised cottages on piers hold damp air and standing water under the floor. Joists and subfloor cleaned, wet insulation out, and the space set up to stay drier.
A room that smells like a wet box and looks fine. Finding the growth that makes the smell and taking it out, instead of covering it with a spray.
Work area sealed and under negative pressure, the wet drywall, trim, and insulation out, the framing cleaned and dried before anything gets closed back up.
Dark, slimy, or greenish-black growth on drywall, ceilings, or baseboards. The color doesn’t change what we do; what got it wet does.
Growth through several rooms after floodwater, a roof that leaked all summer, or a house that sat shut with the power off. Room-by-room containment and removal on one plan.