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Mon–Fri 8am–6pm · Sun 8am–6pm · Closed Saturdays4.9 · 279+
(845) 262-6530
Strauss Cleaners

Passaic County, NJ · ~45 min away

Mold Remediation & Removal in Paterson, NJ

Paterson is about 45 minutes out for us. On covered mold claims we document the work and bill your insurance carrier directly, so you're not assembling the file yourself.

Two- and three-family frame houses mean stacked kitchens and baths, shared basements, and several tenants affected at once — we contain floor by floor, document unit by unit, and keep landlords and tenants on the same page about scope.

Free inspection with a written scope before any work begins. Covered claims are billed directly to your insurance carrier.

Process

How the job goes.

Containment goes up first, the affected material comes out second, and the moisture source gets fixed before we finish. Here's the short version; the service page explains each step and why the order matters.

  1. Inspect & find the moisture
  2. Contain the work area
  3. Remove what's colonized
  4. Clean the air & surfaces
  5. Fix the moisture source
  6. Verify

The full mold remediation process, step by step →

Local knowledge

What we see in Paterson

The housing stock, the terrain, and the drainage in Paterson all change how we plan a job. Here's what we run into:

Getting to you

Route 208 gets us here in about 45 minutes. Street parking is tight in the dense wards, so we stage small, protect the common stairs, and keep equipment secured and out of hallways overnight on multi-day dries.

Water & drainage

Much of the city's flat land sits low inside the river's bend, where storm sewers drain slowly whenever the Passaic runs high. Streets can pond long after the rain ends, and basements keep taking groundwater until the river drops.

On the ground

The Passaic River horseshoes around Paterson, and Ida in 2021 showed what that means: hundreds of residents rescued, the river still cresting days after the rain stopped. In the river wards we plan for water that keeps arriving after the storm is over.

Heavy rain in the forecast

After a storm floods the basement in Paterson: the mold clock

Storm water in a basement turns into a mold job when the drying waits. Here is what matters in the first day.

In the first day

  • Wet materials start growing mold in 24 to 48 hours. Drying fast is the mold prevention.
  • Do not run the furnace fan or box fans to dry the house. They move damp air and spores through every room.
  • If a floor drain or toilet backed up with the rain, the water is contaminated and porous materials it touched have to come out.

Full walkthrough: what to do when your basement floods in a storm. Water in the house now? Call (845) 262-6530. Same-day emergency response, six days a week.

Common problems

The problems we're usually called about.

A musty basement or crawl space smell

That odor usually means microbial growth somewhere you can't see yet. We find the moisture feeding it, whether that's ground vapor, seepage, or condensation on cold surfaces, and we scope the remediation to what's colonized rather than to the whole basement.

Mold found during a home sale inspection

One line in an inspection report can hold up a closing, usually with about two weeks to deal with it. We inspect quickly, scope only what's there, do the work under containment, and provide documentation, plus third-party clearance testing if the buyer's side wants numbers.

The previous 'mold guy' sprayed and painted over it

Encapsulant sprayed over live growth on a wet wall doesn't hold, because the water is still there. We open it up, remove what should have come out the first time, dry the area and fix the moisture source, and document the work this time around.

Black mold behind a wall, under a sink, or on the ceiling

Black is a color, not a diagnosis, and black mold removal follows the same steps as any other active growth: find the moisture, contain the area, remove what's colonized, clean and dry what stays. We do the mold cleanup and the repair to the wall or ceiling afterward, under one scope.

Insurance

We work with your insurance, and we bill them directly

  1. 01

    Call us

    We answer, ask what happened, and get a crew moving. Same-day emergency response on active water.

  2. 02

    We document everything

    We take moisture readings and photos and write up a scope of work before drying starts, so your adjuster has the file from day one.

  3. 03

    We bill your insurer directly

    We work directly with your insurance company on covered water and mold claims, so you're not fronting the full cost and chasing reimbursement.

Your deductible is still yours to cover, and we'll tell you that number before any work starts rather than after. You also don't need a claim to hire us. Plenty of our jobs are paid directly by the homeowner, and after the free inspection we'll say which way makes more sense for the damage you have.

Who's showing up

Local and independent since 2019.

The person on the phone is the person planning the job. We're in Paterson every week.

  • IICRC Certified
  • Licensed
  • Bonded
  • Insured
  • Eco-Conscious Products

FAQ

Questions we get most.

Can I clean up mold myself?

Yes, if it's small. The EPA's rule of thumb is about 10 square feet, roughly a 3-by-3 patch. Under that, a careful homeowner can handle it with gloves, an N95 mask, and detergent, as long as the moisture source gets fixed too. Call a professional when it's bigger, inside walls or the HVAC system, involved sewage, or when someone in the house has asthma or mold sensitivity. We'll tell you at the inspection if it's a DIY-sized job.

Does homeowners insurance cover water damage?

Usually, yes, as long as the damage was sudden and accidental: a burst pipe, a failed water heater, a washing machine hose that split. Policies generally exclude gradual damage, like a slow leak that ran for months or deferred maintenance, and they exclude flooding from outside, which needs a separate flood policy. When we inspect, we document the cause of loss carefully, because that's the first thing the adjuster looks at.

Is mold in my house dangerous?

Mold can irritate eyes, nose, and throat, trigger allergic reactions like sneezing and skin rash, and aggravate asthma in people who have it. Sensitivity varies a lot from person to person. That's the EPA's position and ours. It's worth taking seriously, but it isn't the health catastrophe some sites describe. Mold is a moisture problem in the house, and it's a fixable one.

What's the difference between mold removal and mold remediation?

"Mold removal" is a misleading term. Spores exist naturally everywhere, indoors and out, so no company can remove all mold from a house. Remediation is the accurate word: contain the affected area, take out materials too far gone, clean what can be cleaned, filter the air, and fix the moisture problem that caused the growth. Skip that last step and the mold comes back no matter how thorough the cleanup was.

What is containment and why does it matter?

Containment keeps a mold problem in one room. Disturbing moldy material sends spores airborne, so before any demolition we seal the work area with plastic sheeting, cover HVAC vents, and run HEPA-filtered machines that hold the space under negative pressure, meaning air flows in and not out. Without it, cutting out moldy drywall spreads spores through the rest of the house.

Service area

Paterson, NJPassaic County.

We're about 45 minutes out, six days a week. The homes run to dense pre-war two- and three-family frame houses, brick rows, and converted silk-mill buildings. We cover every block, including Eastside, Hillcrest, Riverside. Paterson is known for Great Falls National Historical Park, its silk-city industrial history, and Eastside Park's historic district.

Free inspection

Start with a free inspection in Paterson.

Call or send the form. We look, we measure, and you get a written scope and a straight answer. Sometimes that answer is that the work can wait.

Office hours: Mon–Fri 8am–6pm · Sun 8am–6pm · Closed Saturdays.

Free estimate

Send the details — we'll take a look.

Faster by phone? Call (845) 262-6530.