Post-Remediation Clearance Testing in Tomball, TX

Tomball's water picture

Tomball is a small city of about 12,300 people in northwest Harris County, roughly 24 miles from downtown Houston, built around the railroad that reached it in 1906. It lies in the Spring Creek and Willow Creek watersheds. The Harris County Flood Control District lists Tomball among the communities affected by the April 2016 Tax Day flood, and during Hurricane Harvey in 2017, water rose into homes near Spring, Willow, Mill and Walnut creeks. The city's floodplain administrator stresses that FEMA maps are estimates and that homes outside the mapped 100-year floodplain can still flood, often from local stormwater ponding.

What to do now

1. Pull out the protocol you received before remediation and find the clearance criteria.
2. Call the consultant who wrote it to set the return visit; a different consultant cannot declare clearance.
3. Ask the remediation contractor for its project stop date, which starts the 10-day deadline for your photos and Certificate of Mold Damage Remediation.
4. Keep the AC off in the work area if the system may be contaminated, as EPA advises.
5. Apply for rebuild permits only after the pass, through the City of Tomball Building Division's SmartGov portal.

Signs and likely causes

Cost factors

Expect separate bills from the consultant and the remediation contractor, since Texas law bars one company from doing both on the same project. The consultant's clearance fee reflects the size of the work areas, the number of lab samples in the criteria and any repeat visit after a fail. Angi's Houston cost data puts typical inspection and testing at $355-$563. Renters with ongoing leaks can turn to City of Tomball Code Compliance, which enforces the 2021 International Property Maintenance Code.