Tips To Remediate Mold in Your Home
Monitoring Indoor Air Quality is Key to Mold Remediation
Air quality monitoring is necessary to fight mold effectively. Keep in mind that mold thrives with moisture while releasing spores and VOCs – all three types of pollutants can be detected by sampling indoor air.
Keep Relative Humidity Below 60%
If you visit the website on mold by the US Environmental Protection Agency, you will notice that they emphasize the relationship between mold and moisture. Basically, mold is alive and it requires moisture to stay alive and spread; controlling humidity is easier and more cost-effective than cleaning mold on an ongoing basis.
Prevent Moisture Condensation
The complement to controlling air moisture is preventing its accumulation on indoor surfaces. To prevent this, the following measures are recommended.
If You Find Mold, Make Sure It Is Cleaned Properly
If you find mold growth in your home, the first step is deciding between cleaning it yourself or hiring a mold remediation company. The US EPA suggests professional remediation for any mold growth larger than 10 square feet, of if there has been extensive water damage. Most international standards agree that occupants can clean mold on their own if the area does not exceed 1 m2 (roughly equivalent to 10 ft2).
Avoid Wasting Time and Money with Ineffective Measures
When dealing with mold, avoid measures that don’t address the problem effectively. They are just a waste of time and money.
Tips For How To Handle Mold Remediation
Understand Moisture’s Role in Mold Formation.
Evaluating mold in home infestation involves more than a visible check for mold growth behind wall, flooring, or in corners. For that reason, any commercial mold damage assessment requires analytical approaches. Understand that the presence of free moisture affects mold growth significantly. Secondly, familiarize yourself with how moisture originates and gets into your home. As a homeowner you must determine the sources of moisture in your property and use its presence to locate mold growth; SERVPRO of Lynnwood specializes in providing these services at competitive prices.
Create an Appropriate Remediation Plan and Documentation.
Document your mold situation in writing, video, or photography. Documentation assists cleanup experts to develop an appropriate mitigation strategy. Details of the plan include what renovations or repairs are scheduled, necessary evaluation tests, or tenant relocation during remediation. A mitigation plan helps you manage liability and identify mold growth trends.
Identifying Mold Contamination Extent
As indicated before, growing mold in home can be deceptive, so it is necessary to determine the extent of contamination in your home. Determining your level of contamination influences the approach used in addressing mold damage within your home and lets you avoid exposing others to contamination.
Mold Mitigation
Mitigating mold growth involves a combination of various methods inclusive of Level 1 and Level 2 remediation practices. Both levels comprise the following listed steps: Fixing leaking plumbing. This approach significantly reduces mold growth, black mold, fungus, mildew as well as using deodorization to eliminate smelly odor. Isolate contaminated areas; this entails closing all windows and doors on contaminated doorways, and other access conduits. These help to avoid the spread of black mold, fungus, mildew, dry rot, and mold spores to other locations within the home as well as reduces smelly odor. Use misting and deodorization to reduce smelly odor caused by growing mold. Discard all mold-infected, black mold, fungus, mildew, dry rot, and other materials using appropriate disposal bags. Entrust the removal of contaminated material to a certified restoration company; such as the team at SERVPRO of Lynnwood. Ensure that you clean all wood surfaces and nonporous materials of any mold damage, dry rot, mildew, fungus, or black mold. Perform a visibility test. Inspect all infected areas of any visible contamination and mold debris, dry rot, black mold, fungus, mildew.
Evaluate the Mold Removal Plan The last step in this activity is determining whether the mold removal project achieved its objectives. Pay particular attention to any mold growth behind wall. You should implement a comprehensive mold mitigation strategy to avoid future issues.
Mold Removal And Remediation: How To Get Rid Of Mold
What Is Mold?
Mold is a fungus that reproduces by expelling microscopic spores into the environment. When these spores land in a damp environment, they grow and spread and can potentially cause rot. Mold thrives in damp environments, such as bathrooms, kitchens, attics, basements and crawl spaces.
Identifying Different Types Of Mold
Mold comes in many different forms; in fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are probably tens of thousands of types of mold, if not more. While many types of mold are harmless—and in nature, mold even plays an important role by breaking down dead leaves, plants and trees—in your home, harmful types can lead to respiratory distress, manifesting itself in symptoms that include stuffy noses and wheezing. The effects will be more intense for those who are allergic to mold or have asthma.
Alternaria
This type of mold, which can cause asthma-like symptoms in the upper respiratory tract, is frequently found in showers and tubs, beneath leaky sinks, and in homes that have recently suffered flooding or other water damage. It has a velvety texture with dark green or brown hairs.
Aureobasidium
Typically found behind wallpaper or on painted or wooden surfaces, this mold starts as a pink, brown, or black hue, then turns to a dark brown as it ages. This type of mold can cause eye, skin, and nail infections.
Black Mold (Stachybotrys)
This mold appears slimy and black or dark green and is commonly found in organic materials such as wood, hay, and cardboard. It is also known as “toxic mold” because it releases mycotoxins that can cause a host of medical issues, including difficulty breathing, sinusitis, fatigue, headache, a burning sensation in your airways, a persistent cough, nose bleeds, fever, and even depression.
Mold Removal Tips You Should Know About
Find The Source
First, you have to find the source of the mold. The most common culprits include leaky pipes and cracks in the foundation. Not having windows and doors properly sealed are often the source of mold, and so is damage to the roof, condensation, and poor ventilation. If you have mold in your home, the chances are it’s because of one of those.
Perform Inspection To Find Mold
You want to perform a thorough inspection of your property. The objective is to find visible signs of mold. Even if you’ve found the source and have found a tiny amount of mold, you still want to do an inspection. Mold can quickly spread, so simply finding the source and removing the small traces of mold near the source probably won’t be enough.
Use Mold Removal Methods
You’ll want to mix a bit of baking soda with water and use the mixture to clean away the mold. Bear in mind this is only recommended if you have a small amount of mold that needs to be removed. While you’re at it, use a dehumidifier, as this will remove moisture from the room and the area where the mold has developed.
COMMERCIAL & RESIDENTIAL CLEAN-UP & RESTORATION
Mold prevention
Mold needs moisture and oxygen to grow, which means mold can grow on virtually any organic substance. While it is impossible to eliminate all mold and mold spores in an indoor environment, moisture control is the key to mold control. Some steps to thwart mold include.
Signs of mold
Indoor mold growth may not be obvious. It can grow unnoticed on hidden surfaces—on the backside of dry wall, underside of carpets or pads, or hidden within utility tunnels.
Taking care of mold
Mitigating the risk of mold and exposure to mold is relatively easy, if property managers handle the problem correctly. Here’s how to find a mold expert.
