She Laughed And Told Me To Get A Dog
I laughed too but realized there was some truth to her suggestion. Caring for houseplants often feels like an uphill battle. If you dont get everything exactly right, you end up with a sick or dead plant on your hands.
And often, these same species have the nerve to grow well in the most unpredictable climates in the wild.
Keep The Top Of The Soil Clean
Make it a habit to remove any dead leaves or debris that has fallen onto the top of the soil. Left unchecked, this organic matter will start to decay and invite rot and disease.
If your plant is large and bushy, making it difficult to see the soil, this step is especially important. Not only will you have a mess on the top of your soil, but because its harder to see, you may not catch it before it turns into a larger problem.
Will Attic Mold Go Away
Yes, butit can be a slow process. Some types of attics will respond better to this than others .
It is difficult to distinguish how extensive mold growth is within an attic. Sometimes it may appear that there is very little mold growing because the area exposed to view has been isolated. However, this may not be indicative of how extensive the mold growth is within the entire attic space.
Mold may grow in an attic for many years before it becomes visible on rafters or sheathing boards. Left uncorrected, mold can damage building materials and harm occupants. Be aware that dark stains are usually a sign of moisture. This can be a condensing surface for mold.
Molds are part of the natural environment and play an important role in nature by breaking down dead organic matter such as fallen leaves and dead trees, but indoors mold growth should be avoided. Mold colonies can grow on almost any substance when moisture is present. There are many types of molds that can grow indoors, some produce allergens and irritants while others are potentially toxic.
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Just Found White Mold On My Basement Sofa And Wall To Wall Carpeting Only 1 Year Old Brick Exterior Home
The first step is to identify the moisture source. There are 3 possibilities. 1.) Vapor emissions from the concrete slab. This occurs when water vapor travels upward through the slab. Its most common in older homes with missing vapor barriers. This can cause excess both moisture in the carpet and increased humidity in the air. The increased humidity can lead to mold growth on contents such as a sofa. 2.) Liquid water intrusions can have the same affect, but these are typically obvious .
3.) The second possible cause is excess humidity due to poor ventilation and insufficient heat. Basements without adequate air flow and heat are prone to high humidity. Over time, this high humidity creates an environment conducive to mold growth.
Action steps: Purchase a relative humidity gauge and monitor the RH. Pull back the carpet in a corner and look for signs of water intrusion on the concrete and the carpet pad.
Mold On The Exterior And Interior Walls Of Your Closets
Mold loves to grow in dark, damp spaces. Closets are a great environment for mold for a number of reasons. Its likely damp clothing that sits against the closet wall, creating a wonderful place for mold to grow. You dont know its starting to grow until it is too late. Then you will need to remediate the mold correctly.
If there is a leaking pipe inside the wall and you see mold on the exterior of the wall, chances are you have a colony inside the wall that is twice the size of the growth you can see on the exterior wall. Mold likes darkness, and therefore, the wall cavity is one of molds favorite places to grow. You can use this knowledge to assess your situation. to test and remediate the mold is your best course of action. That way, you are confident the mold will not spread to other home areas by improper techniques.
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Is Mold In Closets Dangerous
As with any mold growth anywhere in your home, mold in a closet could be harmful to your health. In reality, you cannot tell whether mold growth is dangerous or not, and testing is the only way to know what type of mold is growing inside your closets. Contact Mold Busters to get a sample taken and tested to ensure what type of mold is growing inside your home.
So What Is White Mold
Despite its name, white mold can appear as a white, grey, or green powdery fungus depending on the surface its growing on. It includes multiple fungal species like penicillium and aspergillus.
Regardless of the species of white mold, youll commonly find it in high moisture areas of a building. That means basements, bathrooms and showers, attics, and crawl spaces are all strong contenders for an outbreak. Within those spaces, the mold will typically grow on wood or drywall. It lives on the cellulose in those surfaces.
Unfortunately, white mold can be hard to detect when it is first developing. Its not until colonies form that the mold can be seen with the naked eye. The mold spreads in cool weather when the white mold fungus releases spores. The wind then carries the spores until they reach a surface where they can grow, like the ones in your home.
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Monitor Indoor Plants Closely
Anyone with indoor plants needs to remove mildew spores from them as soon as possible. If you leave plants inside your home with mildew spots on the leaves or the soil it could contaminate the air you are breathing and spread.
Even if you have an outdoor garden, if you notice mildew growth on one of your cucumber plants, get rid of that plant before the mildew has a chance to spread. You don’t want to harvest recently grown tomatoes, forget to wash one of them, and take a bite without realizing that the mildew has already jumped from one plant to the tomato plant.
How To Prevent White Mold
The best way to prevent the spread of white mold is by removing any conditions which encourage its growth.
First of all, keep your home as dry as possible by using a dehumidifier and a fan in areas that tend to accumulate moisture, like laundry rooms or bathrooms. If you can, open up your curtains on the sunny side of the house and keep air circulating throughout.
If you cannot avoid humidity in your home, then make sure that all surfaces are properly sealed and cleaned at least once a month with white vinegar and water solution, so they do not get stained. Keep any areas of your home close to water sources free of dust, and use a dry mop on tiled floors.
On the other hand, white mold is not harmful unless you are susceptible or immunocompromised nevertheless, if left unchecked, it can cause significant damage to your homes structure. You may need professional help to remove it from walls or surrounding areas depending on the extent of the mold growth.
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A Homeowners Guide To The Risks Of White Mold In A Crawl Space
When was the last time you had a good look around your crawl space or basement? Is it possible that one or two horrors might be hiding in plain sight?
Environments like these are naturally humid, so white mold could be present and dangerous. What potential harm could it pose, to your house and health?
For starters, studies have estimated that 21% of asthma cases are relatable to mold. Read on, and well break down everything you need to know about these harmful fungi.
What Happens If You Breathe In White Mold
If youre healthy and dont have allergies, breathing in most types of white mold for short periods shouldnt have any lasting impact on your health. If you have an allergy or asthma, breathing in white mold can be outright dangerous. Inhaling certain white mold spores can also be dangerous for those with a weak immune system.
Individuals with allergies have an immune system that identifies certain substances as dangerous, and in response, they launch an attack on it. The EPA states that mold allergies are common and when an individual with a mold allergy breathes in white mold, especially the spores, they may find their eyes and nose streaming, their chest wheezing and rashes, and dry, scaly skin forming. A severe allergic reaction or the triggering of an asthma attack is when breathing in white mold is at its most dangerous.
If you have a weaker immune system, an existing lung condition, or if youre very young or very old, the prolonged inhalation of white mold may cause respiratory issues. A notable white mold-related illness is aspergillosis. The NHS advises that the inhalation of the mold species Aspergillus causes breathing difficulties and other respiratory symptoms such as coughing and sneezing. Untreated, this can damage your lungs.
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Where Does White Mold Grow
As a fungus, white mold has its designated ideal environment for growth water and moisture. As a rule of thumb, if mold is present, it means theres improper water drainage somewhere in the building.
In nature, mold is crucial for rotting and soil enrichment. Indoors, however, it can pose a threat.
Common places you can find white mold in your home are:
What all of these have in common is that theyre all made of organic material. Note that mold spores travel by air. As a result, mold has a serious potential of damaging your home and your familys health.
What Would Cause Mold On My Dresser In A Carpeted Room
The first goal is determining whether the mold is due to excess humidity or a liquid water leak/intrusion. In most cases, mold on the furniture is due to a combination of excess humidity and poorly insulated exterior walls. When a dresser is right against an exterior wall, the airflow is restricted and condensation can form. In time, this condensation creates an environment conducive to mold growth.
Try to keep your humidity beneath 55% during the winter months. Often this can be achieved by simply running your bathroom exhaust fan 8-12 hours per day. Also, if your home has poorly insulated walls, keep furniture and bedding 3-4 away from all exterior walls. Lastly, be careful with humidifiers, which can greatly exacerbate the issue.
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I Live In Va But Have Been In Ma For A Few Months Taking Care Of My Granddaughter While It Is Cool In Ma It’s Still Quite Warm In Va When My Husband Arrived Home Yesterday He Found Mold On Several Pieces Of Furniture The A/c Was Off And There Has Been A Lot Of Rain There Recently I’m Somewhat Surprised At The Problem Although I Understand Why It Happened The Couch In The Picture I Attached Will Be Tossed As It Wasn’t Expensive However The Rest Of The Furnishings Were More Costly My Question Is If It’s Worth Trying To Save Any Of The Other Pieces That Are Just Beginning To Show Signs Of Affectation Should I Just Clean House And Start Again Or Try To Get Things Under Control My Granddaughter Will Be There Over Christmas And I’m Scared For Her Health
The mold growth on the couch is pretty extensive. Your intuition is correct, this should be discarded. The ability to salvage the other furniture depends on the materials. If its hard, non-porous items like wood tables, cleaning is fairly easy and theres little fear of lingering spores. If its upholstered, the cleaning is much more difficult. I recommend HEPA vacuuming the furniture outside . Even the best HEPA vacuums bypass a fairly large amount of spores into the air. After cleaning, you could have a local mold inspector collect an air sample while you gently agitate the furniture. This should give you a fairly good picture of whether youve removed the latent mold spores.
Is White Mold Harmful
When mold stains appear, it is a sign that moisture has condensed in the walls.
Unfortunately, it is accompanied by a characteristic odor, which can already be smelled even though no stains have yet appeared, especially if the mold has taken up residence behind visible materials .
Whether the stains are orange, greenish, or more often black or white, it is unhealthy to live in the affected rooms.
Indeed, mold is attributed to important health problems, such as fungus, allergic reactions, and, more seriously, respiratory tract damage, including asthma.
Be particularly careful when cleaning a wall of its mold: in addition to gloves and goggles, bring a mask so as not to breathe the micro-organisms released into the air.
Its easier to keep mold from taking hold than it is to get rid of it once its there. Even so, if you do have mold on your walls, you can clean them with white vinegar.
Many cleaning solutions contain white vinegar and are an excellent alternative to bleach, which should be avoided in this case.
You can mix in a sprayer 3 measures of white vinegar for 2 measures of water, to which you will add, if possible, some drops of essential oil of tea tree to eradicate the mushrooms.
Spray on the stains, leave for two hours before wiping with a dry cloth.
If white vinegar is not available, use ammonia: soak a cloth in it to rub the stain, then rinse. If traces remain, remove them with hydrogen peroxide .
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What Causes White Mold On Wood
First, we will look at some of the common causes, and then we will take a look at what you can do to prevent mold from taking over your home.
Causes:
Mold needs porous surfaces such as drywall or wood to grow. Wood has millions of small pores and spaces which allow it to absorb and hold liquids. If wood gets wet, it will try to expel the liquid through the gaps in the surface. This process is known as capillary action. It can successfully get rid of any water that seeps into it, but only if the moisture level at its core is low.
However, if the wood is kept wet for long periods, the moisture level at its core will rise to levels where capillary action can no longer expel it outwards. This causes mold spores to grow in the spaces between the pores, and eventually, these spores will start to make their living conditions outside by forming colonies. This process is known as hyphae. This works in the following way: Firstly, mold releases millions of minuscule spores. These spores spread around in open air and settle down on any surface exposed to them for long enough. If that surface happens to be damp, then mold will start growing there because it needs moisture for its survival.
Causes of wood getting moldy include:
Common Causes Of Mold In Your Home
Mold may grow almost everywhere, although it is most often seen in bathrooms, kitchens, basements, cabinets, and near pipes or ducting. It just requires a few elements to develop and spread throughout your home, the most important of which is moisture.
Mold behind drywall is one of the most prevalent household issue locations because drywall, wood, and cotton are all excellent feeding sources. Ceiling mold is also quite frequent as a result of a lack of ventilation and moisture accumulation.
Mold will develop and spread if the temperature is suitable, there is a moisture supply, and there is adequate oxygen.
The following are ten of the most common causes of mold in your home:
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Issues That Cause Mold And Mildew
Moisture is the chief cause behind the growth of mold and mildew. Mold spores entering your home are inevitable this is difficult to stop. But you can stop the factors that help mold and mildew to grow. Besides moisture, lack of sunlight, poor ventilation, and dirt and debris can cause mold and mildew to grow. Because of this, mold and mildew tend to develop in the home:
- Under carpeting
Why Mold Growth In Crawl Spaces Or Under Houses And Commercial Buildings Is Common
Mold typically needs moisture and a food source like wood in order to grow properly. Due to the high moisture and humidity levels that are often found in crawl spaces and under buildings, mold is commonly found growing there. In fact, the humidity is so high in a crawl space that mold growth actually requires less water than it might need in a less humid part of your property.
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Mold On Shoes Inside Your Closet
This follows the same rules as clothing inside your closet. If you put footwear inside your closet that is wet and damp, chances are you will see mold growing on them in the not-too-distant future. You must ensure that you dry your footwear entirely before storing them inside your closet to prevent mold growth from water, snow, sweat, and moisture on footwear from regular use.
