If the leak has been there some time then the plywood sub roof should have some stains on it. Many times you can back track these stains to the source of the leak. Other things to look for in the attic are spots where water has been dripping on the insulation. Once the area of the leak is found then the repair can be done. Do you have a photo of the area of the roof that is leaking?

Its great to hear your happy with your mold removal project. Your right on getting professional cleanups when required.

The first thing people should consider when confronting mold is to determine what the scope of the project is. small bathrooms or effected areas in most cases can be handled quite easily with some home owner elbow grease and the correct materials to do the work. But as in your case removal of damaged surfaces and encapsulation is best served by professionals trained in controlling the spread of mold spores in the house.

But what everyone should need to consider if your thinking of having professional help is to have an independent evaluation performed and have that same contractor monitor the work that is performed.

As a company that does both testing and remediation work its very important that the cost estimates are compared based on a specification report. When we do remediation reports we always ask for the cleanup guidelines before we provide a price to do the work. People would be amazed how many projects are bid on and each contractor is doing what he or she thinks needs to be done to accomplish proper and safe removal. The result is costs all over the place and no assurance that job is being done correctly.

Oftentimes we are called back to check the work because of mold returning only to find that the contractor failed to complete the job properly. Not that they did not do what they said but because they failed to determine the original cause of the mold and not correct or suggest that this be corrected.

A proper remediation specification report should include types of mold and perhaps their description, quantify the mold and the area effected. determine the encapsulation type of the area and write a scope of work needed to be done. What results of post testing would be considered a passed clearance result. What cleaning methods that should be used. Or considered acceptable to accomplish the goal of clearance. What caused the mold and what is required to be done to prevent it from coming back.

Head to your nearest health food store and ask for a bottle of pure peppermint oil. By dropping eight drops of oil on a cotton ball and placing it around your home about every five feet. The reason this works is mice are highly allergic to peppermint. I'm guessing you could plant some outside to deter them from getting near your home to, but we've not tried that since it would only work in the summer months and we only had trouble in the winter. They have plenty of corn and bean fields to live in during warm weather.

If I've remembered any of this wrong, like how many drops and how many feet apart, I'll come back and edit. My hubby is the one that does this each winter. We live in a country home and when we moved in to our new home nine years ago there were over two dozen mice in the basement. That's where I stopped counting.

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