A stain on the ceiling is already a mold problem.
By the time a ceiling shows a mark, whatever leaked has been wet for a while and the growth is on the side you cannot see. We treat ceiling mold across the Front Range, most jobs in a single working day.
What we find up there
A ceiling is always somebody else's floor
That is the part people miss. A ceiling stain is not really a ceiling problem, it is a sign that something above it is wet: a roof, a bathroom, a supply line in the joist bay.
So we treat both sides. The four we see most are the ceiling under an upstairs bathroom, the ceiling below a roof leak, a basement ceiling under a kitchen or laundry, and the ceiling in the bathroom itself where shower steam has nowhere to go.
How it starts
What is usually above a moldy ceiling
Ice dams and snowmelt
Meltwater backs up under the shingles, runs along the decking and comes through at the ceiling. Classic Colorado, and it happens every February.
Hail damage nobody replaced
A roof takes hail, the damage is too small to claim, and the ceiling underneath takes on a bit of water every storm after that.
The bathroom above
A toilet flange or a shower pan that seeps. The ceiling below is where it finally shows up, usually months later.
Supply lines in the joists
A pinhole in a line running through the floor above. Slow, quiet, and it soaks the insulation before it ever marks the paint.
Steam with nowhere to go
In a bathroom with a weak fan, the ceiling directly above the shower is the coldest surface in the room, so that is where it condenses.
Basement ceilings
The underside of the floor above is open framing and subfloor. Anything spilled in the kitchen or laundry lands there and stays.
The treatment
How our ceiling mold remediation works
We use Anti-Microbial Dry Fog Treatment (ADFT). The fog goes through the ceiling cavity and treats the joists, the back of the drywall, the insulation and the underside of the subfloor above. That is the whole point: the mold is on the hidden face, and fog gets there where a cleaner and a ladder cannot.
If a section of drywall was wet for too long, it often has to come down. ADFT then treats everything above and around it that remains.
Fix the leak above it first. We will treat a ceiling once the source is stopped and the cavity is dry, and we will say so if it is not.
What it costs
How we quote a ceiling
Send us a photo of the stain and, if you can get one, a photo of whatever is above it. Tell us roughly how big the affected area is. We send back a real number, usually the same business day.
What moves it is the size of the area, how many rooms are involved and how easy the space is to reach.
If the leak is still active, get that repaired before we come out. Treating a ceiling that is still getting wet does not hold, and neither does the guarantee on it.
Real Colorado jobs
Ceilings we have already cleared
Two jobs are written up in full: mold growth in a bathroom ceiling in Lakewood, and a living room ceiling in Louisville.
If you are trying to work out what you are looking at first, our team wrote a plain guide to mold on a ceiling and what to do about it.
More rooms
Mold somewhere else in the house?
Basement Mold Removal
Musty smells, wet walls and window wells.
RoomBathroom Mold Removal
Spots that come back after cleaning, leaks under the sink.
RoomKitchen Mold Removal
Under the sink, the dishwasher and the fridge.
RoomAttic and Crawl Space Mold Removal
The two spaces nobody looks in.
Start hereMold Removal in Colorado
Every room we treat, and how our treatment works.
Questions
Ceiling mold questions we get every week
There is a brown ring on my ceiling. Is that mold?
Can I just paint over it?
Will you have to cut the ceiling open?
Do I have to fix the roof first?
Is this the same as attic mold?
What will it cost?
Guaranteed clear
Our guarantees, in writing.
Money-Back Guarantee
If a verified post-treatment lab test still shows active mold after we re-treat, you get your money back. In writing.
One-Year Guarantee
Keep moisture in check and if mold returns to a treated area within a year, we re-treat it free. Fully transferable.
Colorado Local Since 2013
Family-owned. Front Range based. Real people who answer the phone.
Stain on the ceiling?
Send us photos. We'll send back a number.
Usually the same business day. Northern Colorado, call (970) 469-9030.