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October, 25 2019

Case Study – Guano

OVERVIEW:

With the winter season often bringing rodents into residences to escape from the cold, it was only a matter of time before a century-old farmhouse in Virginia became the escape for a colony of bats within the attic. Left unchecked for quite some time, bat guano began to accumulate and seep through to the lower levels of the house. The lurking threat of histoplasmosis, a fungal spore posing a threat to those with weakened immune systems, became apparent. The farmhouse owners filed a claim with their insurance provider, and Creative Cost Control Corporation was called to address the threat of histoplasmosis with SteraMist® technology.

SCOPE OF WORK:

25,000 Cubic Foot Farmhouse

LABOR:

Two-day dedicated time frame with 4 hours of fogging

SOLUTION USED:

3 Gallons of SteraMist® BIT™ Solution

“This claim was in a word ‘complicated’…Contamination was rampant as the historical construction led to uninhibited spread of the guano… The remediation was successful, and the iHP™ fogging was an integral component.”

  • Greg Whitt
    Environmental Hygienist, Hurt and Proffitt
MEETING THE NEED:

To begin, Creative Cost Control Corporation began to strip the walls to the frame and utilized dry ice to remove the guano deposits without risk of further contamination. After the removal, the house remained vacated for two days and, using only 4 hours of fogging for the upper and lower levels, the SteraMist® Environment System was used to remotely apply ionized Hydrogen Peroxide (iHP™) to every nook and cranny in the surrounding environment. Only
three (3) gallons of BIT™ Solution were needed for the 25,000 cubic foot farmhouse.

THE RESULT:

Working throughout multiple floors, wall frames and floor joists, Creative Cost Control Corporation and SteraMist® were able to
disinfect the farmhouse with a complete histoplasmosis kill. 4 to 5 individual samples were pulled for validation. Most showed no growth while a couple indicated the presence of common environmental bacteria that can easily enter spaces through containment. Overall, the remediation effort was overwhelmingly successful.