You Visibly See Mold Spores
Of course one of the most obvious ways to determine that you have mold in your house is if you can see it. The downside? If you see a ton of visible mold, it can be an indicator that you have a big problem on your hands.
“Once you see it, you’ve got a big mold problem because what you’re seeing is literally just the tip of the iceberg,” Kelly Hayes-Raitt, a housesitter and the former director of the HomeSafe Campaign in California, told INSIDER.
Simply scrubbing the visible mold with soap and a sponge won’t actually get rid of the mold. So if you see visible mold, you need to reach out to a mold remediation company or another expert to help you get things under control, including any leaks that may have caused the issue in the first place.
How To Prevent Mold
Controlling moisture is the key to preventing mold from growing in your home. The following tips will help stop mold from becoming a problem:
- Keep the humidity in your house below 50%. Using an air conditioner or dehumidifier can help with this.
- Make sure your house is clean, dry, and well-ventilated.
- Fix any water leaks immediately.
- Use ventilation fans in your kitchen and bathrooms.
- Dont put carpet in rooms that are likely to become wet such as the basement, kitchen, or bathrooms.
- Make sure wet floor mats are dried quickly.
Do You Have Toxic Mold In Your Home
How to tell if you may be dealing with toxic mold in your home:
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Fungus In The Furniture
Mildew is attracted to moist leather and wood, and mold particles are more likely to be retained in porous materials like upholstered furniture and foam. Frequently inspect thefibers of your furniturefor any discolored spots, fuzz or spores.
Does your furniture seem a little funky? Mold particles are attracted to porous materials like upholstered furniture and foam. Be sure to inspect the fibers of your couches and chairs for any discolored spots, fuzz or spores.
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Dont Leave Wet Stuff Laying Around
Anyone who has young children knows how much water ends up on the floor during bathtime. Its safe to assume that the bathmat is soaked, and you may have a couple of wet towels leftover too. Dont leave these lying around! As soon as youre done using them, get them off the floor and hang them on a towel rack or over the shower rod to dry.
If you have older children, regularly check their rooms for wet towels and clothing. Even something as simple as a sweaty soccer jersey can grow mold if its left to its own devices. Although it may not seem like its worth the argument that ensues every time you ask your teenager to pick up their room, we promise its worth it in the long run.
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The First Step To Getting Rid Of Mold Is Identifying It In Your Home Here Are 5 Tips To Help You Figure Out Identifying Mold In The Attic
Its not uncommon for people to only go into their attic a handful of times each year. Unfortunately, this can allow mold to cultivate and spread.
While it may seem that this isnt an immediate issue because its confined to the attic, the mold can spread through air ducts and cause health problems for your family.
It can also lower the value of your home.
Need to figure out if youve got mold but arent sure what to look for? Dont worry, weve got you covered.
Check out these five tips for identifying mold in your attic.
Looking For Signs Of Mold In Your Home
Mold can occur anywhere it finds a damp location where it can feed upon the organic components in your building materials. When looking for mold in your home, its important to keep an eye out as well as a nose out for possible signs. Often times mold can hide behind furniture or appliances, making it more likely for you to smell the mold than see it for the first time.
Black mold will have a strong earthy, dirty, and musty smell and is the laymans term used for Stachybotrys mold. This type of mold can have a particularly strong smell making it more noticeable when starting to form. Unfortunately, mold only needs water, organic matter, a dark environment, and time to grow, meaning its often found in places that arent heavily trafficked in the home.
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Where To Look For Toxic Mold
When toxic mold grows, it will usually be in a place that is out of site. Additionally, toxic mold requires a lot of humidity. Thus, if you have experienced flooding recently, you should inspect your house for toxic mold. This is also the case if you have recently had a pipe leak inside the walls or in your basement.
How Much Does It Cost To Test Your House For Mold
Getting your home professionally inspected for mold isnt cheap. The average cost for an inspection is around $650. But, it can range between $250 and $1000 depending on the size and location of your house .
Many homeowners are enticed by the affordability of DIY test kits, usually available at around $40 or less. However, its crucial to get the house inspected by professionals if mold is detected or suspected.
ByJessica Stone, Andy Hartup14 July 2020
Worried your house or apartment has mold? Here are the telltale signs you may have a damp or fungus problem.
Does your home have mold? If you own your house or apartment, mold can be an expensive issue to fix, and a persistent problem. And it isnât just the cost either â many forms of mold are extremely bad for your health, if ingested over a period of time, so you need to get it sorted. If youâre in any doubt about whether you have mold, what type you have, or where it is concentrated, you should pick from any of the best mold test kits and check it out for yourself. Theyâre all inexpensive, and can help you start to fix the problem.
Hopefully, though, youâll spot one of the signs your home has mold early, and get it fixed before it spreads.
Also Check: How To Find The Source Of Mold In Your Home
Looks Like Finger Prints
Outside of appearing like a dark-colored area, a separate characteristic that black mold can have is to appear in patterns.
When mold grows, its similar to a tree. You have the roots, which in the case of mold is called the mycelia, and then it will start to grow like a tree that will grow branches and leaves.
When this occurs with Stachybotrys, it will often appear as if somebody put their fingers on black ink and just went to town, placing their hand on the water damaged building material.
Finding the appearance of fingerprints will typically only occur on drywall and not other materials such as wood or plaster.
Where To Look For Hidden Mold On And Under Carpeting And Flooring
Lift carpets to inspect carpet tack strips and carpet padding and carpet underside.
Water stains on carpet tack strips and rusty carpet tacks on those strips are other indicators of the leak history in the area.
Remember that mold may be present on the under-side of the carpet itself or on the top or under-side of carpet padding located below the actual carpeting. Hidden mold may be found on the floor surface below the carpeting, or even between layers of finish flooring and subflooring.
We also find mold quite often on the under-side of subflooring. Look up at subfloors from basements or crawl spaces where a wooden subfloor is installed on furring or âsleepersâ placed over a concrete slab, it may be necessary to cut small test openings to explore these hidden cavities.
The best place for a test cut to look for mold over an inaccessible floor or any other building cavity would be where we suspect that water has been most likely to be present, but openings may also be made in unobtrusive spots nearby, such as in a closet or under shelving where the cosmetic damage will be minimized.
See TRAPPED MOLD BETWEEN WOOD SURFACES for a discussion of the question of need to remove mold from mated building surfaces.
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How Do I Identify Black Mold
We get this question a lot!
In 1994 there was a major health scare in Cleveland. Within about 48 hours, 4 infants were brought to a local hospital with a relatively rare condition at the time: their lungs were bleeding internally. This activity was reported to the CDC, as normally only 1 in 1 million infants suffer from this sort of sickness. They thought there was some kind of epidemic.
After a two year case study, the realized that the majority of the cases were coming from a lower-income neighborhood where homes were constructed of wood, and prior to the outbreak there was heavy rain that resulted in flooding. A lot of the locations were poorly maintained and never treated property by the property owners.
The mold that was causing all of the problems is called Stachybotrys Chartarum. This is what we all know as black mold. It grows in high humidity or where standing water has been. It is typically what we refer to as a marker spore, demonstrating there might have been a water intrusion issue in a property at some point. It will grow on wet cellulose materials such as drywall, wallboard, jute, biker, straw, and other paper materials.
There are over 5.1 million fungal species on the planet. That means fungi outnumbers plants 6 to 1. Scientists simply have not had time to study the extent of human reactions to each one. That is why there is not a lot of research done on humans and our interactions with mold.
There are multiple ways mold can be sampled:
Mold Testing And Removal Cost
When the mold in your home is more than you can manage, its time to call in some professionals. The cost of black mold removal varies depending on the severity of the infestation and the location in your home.
Complete mold removal typically runs from $500 to $3,000 depending on the extent of the damage.
Professionals can help identify the cause of mold if youre unable to do so yourself. In some cases, they may remove portions of drywall, and in others, you may need to have your foundation sealed to prevent moisture from building up in your walls.
A repair for this problem ranges between $2,100 to $6,200. While you may be able to have the mold thoroughly removed without sealing your foundation, not doing so when its necessary will result in more growth in the future.
Preventative measures are one way to avoid getting black mold in the future after a removal. To learn more about mold removal procedures and to get a free quote, fill in the banner below.
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How To Test For Toxic Mold
If you have mold in your home, your nose is one of the most inexpensive devises you can use to detect it. Mold smells, and chances are, you’ll be able to detect the distinctive odor that taints the air around moldy walls, carpeting and other objects. The struggle is in understanding when mold is dangerous to your family or home.
The term toxic mold is a little confusing. Some molds, like Stachybotrys chartarum or black mold, produce mycotoxins, toxic substances that cause health problems in some people. There is no direct link yet between mold-produced toxins and serious conditions like idiopathic pulmonary hemorrhage in infants, but there are concerns that exposure to these toxins can exacerbate existing lung conditions and allergies, and possibly cause problems in otherwise healthy people. Common molds that aren’t considered toxic also have the potential to cause reactions in some people, which makes it important to get rid of any type of mold you find in your home as soon as possible, particularly if you suspect that someone in your family is having a reaction to it.
Mold can be scary. There are potential health implications for your family, and a mold outbreak can take a financial toll, too. Once established, mold can be very invasive, releasing millions of spores into your home. Many homeowners’ insurance policies now exclude or limit coverage for mold related problems.
First up, let’s learn a little more about household mold.
You Identify Mold Visible On Your Walls
If mold is visibly growing on your walls or ceilings it is often indicative of a deeper mold problem. Getting a mold test right away is important to determine the type of severity of your visible mold.
Only then can you start the mold remediation process. If there is mold on your walls try peeling back the wallpaper to see if it has grown inside your walls. It may be necessary to get a complete mold inspection to see if is growing within your drywall.
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Toxic Mold Test Do They Help
Professional inspection and testing can tell you definitively if you have this fungus in your home. The tests can reveal if the fungus is toxic and what type it is for sure. They can also identify where the fungus took root and from what areas in your home it has spread.
The tests can confirm signs that you may have suspected and give you positive results in a matter of minutes. They can also confirm that you need to take immediate action like hiring a professional remediation service to eliminate it and prevent future fungal growth.
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Growth Spots Of Varying Colors
Black mold, as the name implies, is often dark in color. When searching for black mold, look for circular-shaped spots that are black, dark green or dark brown. Some black mold can also take on shades of orange or have flecks of white within it.
Most of the time, black mold has a slightly furry appearance. Larger growths of mold may appear as a black stain that stretches along your wall, floor or ceiling.
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The Importance Of Removing Molds Moisture Source
One of the most common mistakes when dealing with mold is cleaning up the visible mold and calling it a day. This is not unlike treating the symptoms of an illness instead of the cause. Until you fix the source of moisture that is feeding the mold, it will continue to come back no matter what. Every time you clean up small spots of mold without correcting the issue, you expose yourself to more spores and possible toxins.
Its possible to perform some basic DIY waterproofing, but for the bigger issues, its best to leave it to the pros.
If You Decide To Diy Anyway
- Make sure to consult with a remediation company first and foremost. There is usually a company that will give a free consultation, and that would help you get a good grip on your situation. We always give free consultations.
- Wear a N-95 mask respirator at all times when near the affected area.
For More Mold Information
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Problems With Diy Mold Removal
Theres a reason molds are one of the most plentiful fungi on planet Earthbecause theyre very difficult to control. Mold produces tens of thousands of spores, which are easy to spread and invisible to the naked eye. As a result, just the act of trying to dry out or clean an area with mold can spread spores through air vents to other areas of your house. Whether you use a commercially available mold and mildew remover, or create a DIY mix using vinegar or bleach, youll only be able to clean the surface, but not the source of the problem. And theres nothing more frustrating than scrubbing down a huge mold colony only to have it come back later!