Stop Mold and Mildew Once and For All (part 1 of 2)

Mold is great for penicillin, but it’s terrible for your home. Unfortunately, mold is pretty sneaky and crafty, and it can grow just about anywhere.

Whether it’s in or underneath your carpet, on the ceiling, inside your bathroom, behind your drywall, or hanging out in your basement, mold can present huge problems to your health and well-being while compromising the structural integrity of your home. And once mold shows up, it can be difficult to get rid of all of its spores and restore your family home to health. Because mold presents such problems for Colorado homeowners, we want to spend some time on the subject. In this two-part post, we will discuss how to determine if your home has a problem with mold, how to eradicate these issues, and how to prevent further growths.

Mold Detection

You might think that figuring out if your home has been plagued by mold is pretty simple, but there’s more to it than meets the eye. In fact, when it comes to mold detection, you may not be able to rely on your eyes at all! While you may be able to spot mold in some instances, spores are often growing in places that can’t be visually detected. It’s smart to assess your home for possible problems with mold, even if such a problem doesn’t seem obvious.

Here are a few simple tips for determining if your house has mold:

• Know Where to Look – Although not all mold can be seen, it’s wise to start with a quick visual inspection in the areas of the home that are most prone to mold growth. Because of higher moisture levels, bathrooms, kitchens, and basements are common culprits. Look around bathtubs and showers, check your ceilings, floorboards, pipes, and even window sills. Mold can be found in a range of colors, including black, gray, green, white, and even orange.
• Don’t Ignore Musty Odors – The nose knows! If you’ve been noticing a musty or “mildewy” odor in your home, chances are mold is the underlying cause.
• Evaluate Your Health – Are your allergies acting up? Are your kids having more frequent asthma attacks? Is your husband snoring even louder than normal? These could all be the result of the presence of mold inside of your house.
• Consider Leaks and Flooding – If your roof or pipes are leaking (or were recently repaired for leaks) or if your home has recently had problems with flooding, you’re at a significant risk for mold.

If you believe that mold might be an issue in your household, it’s important to have your home professionally evaluated immediately so that you can address these issues before they become more dangerous. Don’t be tempted to put mold removal off by another day. When left untreated, mold can create major headaches for homeowners, including:

• Interior and Exterior Damage – When mold goes undetected or ignored for long enough, it can completely cover walls, ceilings, and the backside of drywall, creating a blanket of spores. It’s extremely difficult to get rid of all these spores, so excessive mold growth could mean that you will need to completely rip out these problem spots and have repair work done – a major expense and hassle.
• Aggravated Health Symptoms – If you already suffer from health problems or allergies, mold will make them much worse.
• New Health Complications – People who were once perfectly healthy may find themselves with upper respiratory illnesses, weakness , fatigue, or even the development of asthma as the result of mold exposure.
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Knowing that you have mold and that it needs to be dealt with is only half the battle. Be sure to follow up with our next post on how to effectively remove and prevent mold. In the meantime, feel free to reach out to the experts at Abbotts Fire & Flood for more information.