The Best Mold Removal and Cleanup in Fairfield

A 1757 Stone House and a Town Built Around It

Fairfield sits on land John Miller bought in 1755 from Charles Carroll of Annapolis, 247 acres of a larger tract called Carroll’s Delight. Miller built a stone manor house there in 1757, licensed it as a tavern in 1786, and it’s still the Fairfield Inn. His son William platted the town in 1801 as Millerstown and renamed it Fairfield when it turned out another town already had the first name. The borough was incorporated in 1896.

That’s the house stock in a nutshell. Stone farmhouses from the 1700s and 1800s, older village houses in the borough, and newer homes on lots cut from the farms. Thick stone walls with no waterproofing, sitting at the base of South Mountain, take on groundwater and runoff after every hard rain.

What We Check in Fairfield and Hamiltonban Homes

Stone cellars and farmhouses. Moisture meter readings on the foundation walls, the grading and downspouts on the uphill side, the sump if there is one, and every pipe, pump, and tank in the cellar. We treat the basement humidity as its own measurement, separate from the rest of the house.

Mountain and weekend houses. Anything that sits closed up between visits. We check the HVAC, the crawl space or slab edge, and the bathrooms, where a fan that ends in the attic is the usual cause.

Roofs and attics. After a storm, the roof sheathing. Staining there tells us whether the problem started from outside or inside.

Well and septic setups. Pressure tanks, softeners, and supply lines in the cellar, which are common sources of slow leaks.

How the Job Goes

Every job: containment, negative air with HEPA filtration, remove what’s grown on, HEPA clean and treat the framing, dry to standard, verify, then patch and paint. The mold removal page walks through it. The basement mold removal page covers the stone-cellar version and the crawl space mold removal page covers vapor barriers and encapsulation.

If water is on the floor right now, water damage and structural drying comes first. If you’re not sure what you’re looking at, mold inspection and testing is the place to start, and our guide on old stone basements and humidity explains why these cellars behave the way they do. The Gettysburg page describes the company, and the cost page has planning ranges for the work.

Streets and Corners We Know in Fairfield

Fairfield is a small town, 0.67 square miles at an elevation of about 600 feet. John Miller’s town plan had 45 lots when his son resurveyed it. By 1789 thirteen of them had houses on them. Hagerstown Road ran through the pass here and was the retreat route in the summer of 1863.

The old center. The Fairfield Historic District and the Fairfield Inn are both on the National Register. After the Civil War the town added shoe factories, a knife factory, a short-lived newspaper, a book plant, and five churches.

Carroll’s Tract Road. The cavalry fight known as the Battle of Fairfield was fought on July 3, 1863, about two miles north of town on Carroll’s Tract Road, between the 6th U.S. Cavalry and Jones’ brigade. Union wounded were treated in local homes and in what is now St. John’s Lutheran Church.

Iron Springs Road. On July 4, 1863, one of two Confederate columns retreated through Fairfield, up Iron Springs Road and over South Mountain through Monterey Gap.

The townships. Hamiltonban Township, the farm and mountain country around the borough, was chartered in 1749 as Hamilton’s Bann. Carroll Valley Borough was carved out of parts of Hamiltonban and Liberty Townships on September 30, 1974. We have a page for Carroll Valley.

Schools, Parks, and Landmarks Around Fairfield

Schools. The Fairfield Area School District has an elementary school, a middle school, and a high school in Fairfield. The teams are the Knights.

Airport. Mid-Atlantic Soaring Center Airport is two miles from town and has a 2,700-foot asphalt runway.

Old buildings. St. John’s Lutheran Church was used as a hospital after the fight of July 3, 1863. The homes of Sarah Amanda Blythe and Rufus Christian Swope were used for the same purpose.

Neighborhoods and Areas Around Fairfield

• The old borough center and the Fairfield Historic District
• The streets near the Fairfield Inn
• Farms and mountain lots in Hamiltonban Township
• Homes along Carroll’s Tract Road and Iron Springs Road
• Carroll Valley, just to the east

Things to Do in Fairfield

Fairfield Inn

A stone manor house built in 1757 and licensed as a tavern in 1786.

Battle of Fairfield Site

Carroll’s Tract Road, about two miles north of town.

Monterey Gap

The pass over South Mountain used by Lee’s retreating column on July 4, 1863.

Top Sites in Fairfield

Fairfield Historic District

The National Register district covering the old center of town.

St. John’s Lutheran Church

Used as a hospital for Union wounded after the cavalry fight of July 3, 1863.

Gettysburg National Military Park

About 10 miles northeast of town.