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Serving Northern VA
Stachybotrys handled to the same containment standard as everything else — because the response does not change with the species.
Free inspection in Northern VA
Pick a time on the calendar, or call and we will get you in today.
Pick an inspection timeActive water right now? Call 202-798-7663 instead of booking a slot — mold starts in 24–48 hours.
When people say black mold they usually mean Stachybotrys chartarum, a dark, slimy-looking growth that colonizes chronically wet cellulose — the paper facing on drywall, cardboard, ceiling tile, the back of wallpaper. It needs sustained saturation rather than ambient humidity, which is why it tends to show up after a leak that ran for weeks.
It deserves professional handling. So does every other colonized building material, which is why we do not upsell species testing before starting. Find the water, contain the area, remove the substrate, correct the source, verify with an independent clearance test. The protocol is the same whether the lab comes back Stachybotrys or Cladosporium.
Northern Virginia's problem is different from the District's, and it is mostly a story about basements and grading. The 1960s–1990s subdivisions across Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William sit on heavy clay soil that holds water against the foundation instead of draining it, and the finished basements those homes were built or expanded with put carpet, pad, and paper-faced drywall directly against below-grade block. In the townhome corridors of Arlington and Alexandria, the recurring culprit is the exterior envelope: EIFS and hardboard siding with failed flashing at windows and decks, quietly wetting sheathing for years before anything shows on the inside.
Pricing
Northern Virginia jobs usually land mid-range. What moves the number most here is how much finished basement has to come out, and whether the envelope repair — flashing, siding, grading — is in the same scope.
| Scope | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Contained patch, hard surface | $600 – $1,500 |
| Single room with drywall removalPaper-faced drywall rarely survives | $1,800 – $4,500 |
| Finished basement | $4,500 – $13,000 |
| Species identification, if you want itPer sample — rarely changes the scope | $75 – $150 |
Typical range for this market — not a quote. Every property is different, and the number that matters is the written scope you get after the free inspection.
Code & regulation
Virginia does not issue a standalone mold license, which means anyone can print "mold specialist" on a truck and be within the law. What Virginia does regulate is contracting itself, through the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, where the class of license is tied to the value of the work. The credentials that actually mean something in this trade are IICRC certification, work performed to the S520 standard for mold and S500 for water damage, and clearance testing by an independent third party. Ask for all three.
Permitting is handled locally rather than by the state: Fairfax County Land Development Services, Arlington County, the City of Alexandria, Loudoun County, and Prince William County each run their own building permit process. Remediation itself is not permitted work; structural repair, and reconstruction that touches plumbing or electrical, generally is. Thresholds and review times differ across those jurisdictions, which is worth knowing if you are working against a real estate deadline.
The Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act is unusually specific about mold. A landlord must disclose visible evidence of mold in the written move-in inspection report, and where mold is present and not remediated, a tenant has the right to terminate the tenancy. That makes the independent clearance report the operative document for both sides — it is what closes the question. We use an outside hygienist for exactly that reason.
Before we arrive
In order. The first two matter more than everything after them.
Why Northern VA specifically
Northern Virginia's problem is different from the District's, and it is mostly a story about basements and grading. The 1960s–1990s subdivisions across Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William sit on heavy clay soil that holds water against the foundation instead of draining it, and the finished basements those homes were built or expanded with put carpet, pad, and paper-faced drywall directly against below-grade block. In the townhome corridors of Arlington and Alexandria, the recurring culprit is the exterior envelope: EIFS and hardboard siding with failed flashing at windows and decks, quietly wetting sheathing for years before anything shows on the inside.
How the work runs
No hand-offs, no second contractor to hire for the rebuild, and no testing done by the same people who did the removal.
A licensed technician walks the property with moisture meters and a thermal camera, finds the water source, maps the affected square footage, and photographs everything your insurer will ask about.
You get a written scope and line-item estimate the same day, built in the estimating format carriers expect — plus the photo log and moisture readings that support the claim.
The work area is sealed in 6-mil poly with a negative-air machine and HEPA filtration so spores are not pushed into the rest of the house while we work.
Non-salvageable porous material is cut out and bagged, framing and salvageable assemblies are HEPA-vacuumed and treated with an EPA-registered antimicrobial, then the space is dried to a documented moisture target.
An independent hygienist samples the area and issues a clearance report. We do not test our own work — the document is yours, and it is what a buyer, a lender, or a tenant will accept.
Remediation without repair guarantees a callback. We correct the roof, siding, window, flashing, or grading failure that let water in — then put the drywall, paint, and flooring back.
Straight answers
It can cause real respiratory irritation, and reactions are worse for people with asthma, allergies, or compromised immunity. We are contractors, not physicians — if anyone in the house has symptoms, that is a conversation with a doctor. What we can tell you is that the building material needs to come out regardless.
Not to decide what to do. Colonized porous material comes out either way. A test is worth paying for when someone else — a landlord, a buyer, an insurer — needs to be convinced.
It depends on the water event, not the species. A burst pipe or a storm-driven roof leak is usually covered; a slow drip you knew about for two years usually is not. Most policies also cap mold at a sublimit. We tell you where your claim is likely to land before starting.
What we do
Every service page carries the typical price range, what the code requires in that jurisdiction, and the steps to take before anyone arrives.
Moisture mapping, thermal imaging, and independent lab sampling — so you know what you have before anyone sells you a remediation.
See pricing & steps →Containment, negative air, removal, and independent clearance — with the leak that caused it repaired under the same contract.
See pricing & steps →Stachybotrys handled to the same containment standard as everything else — because the response does not change with the species.
See pricing & steps →The most common mold job in the DMV — finished lower levels built tight against below-grade block, with no drainage correction.
See pricing & steps →Vented dirt crawl spaces in a Mid-Atlantic summer are mold factories. Removal, then encapsulation so it stays fixed.
See pricing & steps →Almost always a roof leak or a ventilation failure. We remove the growth and correct whichever one caused it.
See pricing & steps →24/7 emergency extraction and structural drying — the 24-to-48 hour window where a water loss has not become a mold loss yet.
See pricing & steps →Growth in the air handler or duct liner does not stay in one room — it gets distributed to every register in the building.
See pricing & steps →Free, written, no obligation. If it turns out you do not have a mold problem, we will tell you that and leave — it costs you nothing to find out.