Mold Removal & Remediation in Old Hickory, TN

Local conditions

Old Hickory began as a DuPont company town on Hadley Bend, and its historic district still holds rows of worker bungalows and larger management homes, many listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Cumberland River wraps the north and west sides and Old Hickory Lake lies to the east, with the lock and dam to the north. In May 2010 the National Weather Service documented high water at Old Hickory Dam, on the lake and at a bridge across Langford Cove.

About 49.7 percent of homes were built before 1980, and roughly 68 percent are detached houses. Century-old framing, plaster walls, original wood windows and crawl spaces that were never sealed all behave differently from new construction when they get wet.

Save it or remove it?

Ask the company how it handles older materials. A careful crew will try to keep original wood and plaster where it's sound, while still removing anything that can't be cleaned.

Signs to look for

• A heavy, earthy smell in the hallway or a back bedroom
• Paint lifting off plaster below a window
• White fuzz or dark spots on joists under the house
• Water marks around a lakeside home's lowest floor after high water
• Rusty nails or dark staining on subfloor seen from the crawl space

Older homes often have more than one moisture source at once, such as a leaking window and a damp crawl space, so ask the company to check the whole house rather than one wall.

Timing

Dry wet materials within 24 to 48 hours, as EPA advises, and assume mold if a flooded area stayed wet longer than that. Summer humidity off the lake and river is the slow, steady driver, so check crawl spaces in late summer. Any rebuild that replaces supporting walls or load-bearing members needs a Metro Codes permit. In Davidson County, residential jobs from $3,000 to $24,999 require the state Home Improvement license, and jobs of $25,000 or more require a Tennessee contractor's license with the S-F mold remediation classification.