Before

After

Powdery Mold

Before and after of wood framing with powdery mold growth. This demonstrates why we use hepa filtration vacuuming to remove mold spores before sanitizing the affected materials with antimicrobials.

A HEPA or high efficiency particulate air filter is a filter that removes 99.97% of particles that are 0.3 microns or larger. This high degree of filtration is important since there are many more very small mold spore fragments found than whole mold spores. The use of HEPA filtration helps ensure that these small particulates or fragments as well as the larger intact spores can be safely removed from the indoor environment. Although many vacuums may claim to have HEPA-like filtration, very few vacuums actually meet the rigid criteria to be called a HEPA vacuum. True HEPA vacuums not only have a HEPA filter but are also specially sealed so that no air is able to escape before passing through the filter. This means that the particles you vacuum up actually remain in the vacuum rather than being dispersed into the air that you breathe. HEPA filtration is also important for people that suffer with allergies to dust mites, pets, pollen, or other environmental allergens.