You may have assumed that seasonal allergies or a minor cold caused your itchy eyes, coughing, or sneezing, but what if you were reacting to mold? Many people are concerned about mold or fungus in their homes. It is frightening to think that something living in your house and on your walls could be affecting your health and possibly causing damage to your home.
Mold in your home can cause various severe health issues you may be unaware of. Because you can find mold in almost any environment, everyone, regardless of where they live, is at risk of toxic mold exposure.
How does indoor mold affect your health?
Indoor mold is not only unsightly and smelly, but it also impacts the air quality in your home. Molds reproduce by producing tiny spores that are not visible to the naked eye. Spores fly through the air and land on surfaces searching for water to grow in. Mold spores can survive in almost any environment, including environments where mold would not survive.
Black mold, which describes “Stachybotrys Chartarum,” is one of the most common toxic types. However, many types of mold appear black. Living with mold can be hazardous. If you think that you require the services of mold removal or a property restoration specialist, you should not take any chances. Mold in large quantities is a significant health concern, not to mention the damage it can cause to organic building materials like wood throughout your home.
How to Prevent Mold Growth in Your Home
To prevent mold growth in buildings, you must first understand how mold grows. Consider starting with the outside. What are the environmental conditions that keep mold at bay? The air continues to move.
Because there is so much ventilation, it is more difficult for the concentration of mold and mold spores to reach a dangerous level. Mold concentration is difficult to achieve outside due to the vastness of the environment and the constant blowing of the wind. You must be mindful of ventilation in your home.
Carpet Mildew
Just because mold is not immediately visible on a carpet’s surface does not mean mold growth is not taking place. If you suspect mold in the carpet, you should eliminate it immediately. If the conditions are right, area rugs and wall-to-wall carpeting can provide an ideal breeding ground for mold. The first step in identifying mold in carpet or mildew in your home is determining its exact location and depth. Mold in the rug usually indicates that you should discard it. That means the best way to combat carpet mold is to prevent it. You must get help from a water damage restoration specialist if you can’t locate the source.
What causes mold to grow?
Mold only starts to affect you at high concentrations. So there is far less air movement within your home’s walls than outside, and even the most significant homes would not be considered “vast” compared to their area outside. That is, a home reduces ventilation, which keeps mold spores flying around and away from you while also confining the mold spores to a small area. When mold becomes a problem, your home has a high concentration of mold spores.
These spores locate and adhere to a moisture source. The dust or material on which the spores land becomes a food source. The spore develops into the mold, and the mold colonies disperse more mold spores throughout the house. The HVAC system aids in spreading the spores, as do your vacuum, people, and anything that moves within the home. Mold spores eventually find suitable environments to thrive and produce millions of new mold spores.
Mold prevention is a step-by-step process.
- Remove all moisture sources
- Increase ventilation
- Remove the mold
- Keep an eye on the situation.
Conclusion
If you are worried about mold in your home, you can contact certified mold remediation specialists. Most companies will gladly answer any questions about the mold removal process. They are skilled and trained to detect even the most hidden mold, such as mold within walls or beneath tiles. After all, is said and done, awareness is the key to prevention. Watch out for mold in your home and contact a professional as soon as you notice it to stop mold in its tracks.
