Commercial Mold Remediation in Gig Harbor, WA

Which Gig Harbor buildings tend to call about mold?

Gig Harbor calls itself the Maritime City, and its historic waterfront of boutiques and restaurants sits right on a sheltered Puget Sound bay. Older storefronts close to the water deal with salt air, wind-driven rain on siding and windows, and kitchens that put a lot of steam into the air. Inland, the housing stock is newer, with a median build year of 1996, but newer buildings still get roof leaks, plumbing failures and condensation in rooms where air does not move. Restaurant walk-ins, back-of-house storage and upstairs offices over retail space are common trouble spots, along with apartment units that share walls and ceilings.

Can a waterfront business keep serving customers during the work?

Often it can, at least for part of the building. EPA's guide for commercial buildings scales containment to the size of the problem, roughly under 10 square feet, 10 to 100, and more than 100, with sealed work areas and negative air for larger jobs. A small area behind a prep sink might be handled before opening hours. A wall cavity that runs under a dining room or a stained ceiling across a sales floor usually means closing that section, or doing the work over a few nights. Ask each company how it will keep dust out of occupied rooms, where debris will be carried out, and whether the HVAC needs to be shut down, since EPA warns against running a system that may be contaminated.

Who handles permits and complaints inside the city?

The removal itself is cleanup, but putting walls, floors or framing back can need a permit. Inside city limits that goes through the City of Gig Harbor Building and Fire Safety Division, which takes applications on its Public Permit Portal. The city also regulates flood hazard areas, bluffs, ravines and erosion-prone slopes under its critical areas code, which matters if the leak is tied to drainage or shoreline repairs. Tenants with an unfixed leak inside the city report it to City of Gig Harbor Code Enforcement; Pierce County Code Enforcement says city complaints go to the city.

A Gig Harbor note

Gig Harbor sits about 23 miles from Seattle across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, so ask any company you call how it covers the peninsula and who will actually be on site. Washington has no state mold license, so check the company's L&I contractor registration before work starts. The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department's Healthy Homes program publishes mold resources that are useful to share with staff or tenants who have questions.