Bids are being accepted until Monday from companies that want to try to rid five homes in Wheatland of mold.

Andrew Mason, field services supervisor for Microbac Laboratories, Erie, said the homes will be put through an industrial-strength cleaning.

He said he does not believe any building materials in the homes have been damaged to the point that they will need to be replaced.

Microbac was hired to develop a remediation plan for the homes.

A water run-off problem is believed to have caused the houses' basements to be constantly wet, allowing mold to grow quickly.

Frank Schwartz and Son, Hermitage, has installed a new drainage system, designed by Hickory Engineering Inc., Hermitage, to take water away from the homes.

Mercer County Housing Authority Executive Director L. DeWitt Boosel said he believed the majority of Schwartz's work is complete, and an inspection was to be held Thursday.

Boosel said he had not heard a report of the inspection.

The authority's non-profit affiliate, Community Homebuyers Inc., was developer of the five homes on Woodland Avenue, which were built in 2000.

Mason said it will take one to three days to clean each home.

The houses will be encased in plastic tents and subject to "negative pressure" so that air will not be able to escape, Mason said.

Employees who enter the tents to work in the homes will shower before they get in and wear disposable clothing, which they will doff as soon as they leave the work area for another shower, Mason said.

"It's quite an operation," he said.

There will be a waiting period after work is complete, and then the houses will be inspected and air tests will be conducted.

Residents will have to be out for about a week, although some already have moved out to temporary housing, Boosel said.

Microbac will keep tabs on the homes for about a year. Relative humidity monitors will be placed in the basements and an inspector will download information from them regularly and walk through the homes, Mason said.

In preparation for the cleaning, Microbac had dehumidifiers placed in the homes, cleared clogged gutters and fixed crushed down spouts.

Mason said he hopes a contract can be awarded by Oct. 18 with work starting the week after.

Residents could be back in their homes by the first week of November, Mason said.