Over the summer, the excess temperature and moisture present in schools work in concert to create an ideal environment for mold to thrive. High humidity, in particular, makes it easy for mold to damage soft goods. A wide variety of materials in school environments—ranging from musical instruments to library books—can serve as ideal media for mold growth. If you’re a school administrator dealing with the consequences of a mold outbreak, you may feel as if these items are a total loss.

The good news is that doesn’t need to be the case. In occurrences of mold damage, Polygon’s document recovery solutions can help return school materials to working condition.

Mold Damage Shuts Down Popular School Activities

The “Sonic Boom” band at Stephen F. Austin High School in Houston, Texas, knows just how expensive mold damage can be. Over the summer, HVAC issues led to a mold issue that decimated 40 musical instruments and cases ranging from brass to woodwinds, resulting in thousands of dollars worth of damage. The incident caused many students to miss out on participating in halftime shows, parades, and other once-in-a-lifetime events.

Student-athletes and coaches at Fillmore Middle School in Fillmore, California, know the inconvenience of mold damage as well. The boy’s locker room, coach’s office, and stage area of the gymnasium building closed because of safety concerns when mold was found to be present in the drywall attic space over these areas. While repairs take place, coaches are being forced to use classrooms to conduct athletic activities and instruction—not an ideal situation.

Environments Where Mold Thrive

Mold grows when airborne mold spores land on a damp “food source,” such as wood, paper, carpet, insulation, and other building materials, and begin digesting it in order to survive. In schools, excess moisture could be present due to leaky roofs, pipes, windows, and foundations, or even from fresh paint or carpet cleaning. In fact, just the increased humidity of summer weather in building areas where the air conditioning has been shut off can be enough to trigger mold growth. Thus, it’s not much of a stretch to recognize that materials such as schoolbooks, musical instruments, ceiling tiles, and carpeting can provide the perfect environment for mold spores to take hold and grow. The key to managing mold in schools: controlling moisture.

Polygon Is the Best Solution Provider for Mold Growth and Damage in School Settings

Polygon’s innovative equipment restoration technology employs state-of-the-art vacuum freeze drying chambers that use negative pressure to create the industry’s most effective drying solution, capable of returning school materials to working condition rapidly. And Polygon’s desiccant air-dry distribution system is an energy saving technology that provides customers real-time access to documents as they complete the restoration process.

Find out more about Polygon’s document recovery process today.

Read more at polygongroup.com