Mold is, in hindsight, harmless – at least from a particular point of view. However, it’s important to realize that mold can indeed be harmful for your home if not dealt with properly. And if left alone to its devices, mold can actually be extremely detrimental to your home’s overall safety and integrity. If you’ve decided to take a stand against mold, it’s important to know just how hazardous it is, how to find it, and how to potentially deal with it. Push comes to shove, you may also need to learn just how to ask services for aid in order to remove your pesky mold problem, and avoid further damage to the rest of your household.
It might help to get to know more about mold before you go about inspecting it. Firstly, mold can be found everywhere, because it can be found even on many surfaces and in the air. You’re likely going to find mold where there’s moisture, so dealing with mold is really all about management than removing it. Perhaps more important to learn about mold is how its presence can affect your health, especially when you’re exposed to moldy and damp environments.
- Those sensitive to mold tend to suffer skin irritation, eye irritation, wheezing or coughing, throat irritation, and nasal stiffness – which can become severe if you’re allergic to mold.
- If you possess obstructive lung disease, chronic lung illness, and immune disease may also get serious lung infections should you become exposed to mold.
- If you’re exposed to mold indoors, you may also encounter wheezing, coughing, and upper respiratory tract symptoms.
Mold Safety: Inspection, Removal Tips For Your Needs
With the above in mind, it can be considered a bit inconvenient just to see mold in places at home you know is crucial for your household’s utilities and stability. However, seeing these first hand may really be a sign that you ought to have these checked out by services such as Precision Mold Removal. Here are other mold inspection and removal tips that can greatly aid you in assessing the potential damage molds can do to your home as well.
How Does Mold Testing Work?
If you’ve ever wondered just how mold testings works, it’s essentially just a way to determine if you have a mold problem at home – especially if there are hidden mold areas. However, not all kinds of mold testing are the same, and as such it’s important to know what kind you should do and what it does to benefit your tests:
- Professional Mold Testing is done by qualified professionals, as they are trained in the collection and analysis of mold samples. Being trained to do this often yields the most accurate results, given the equipment they use are more professional in nature.
- Mold Test Kits can be used by the general public, as they can be purchased and are less expensive than professional tests. These test kits are used to collect samples that will be sent to testing laboratories.
- Multiple Mold Tests allow you to have a much more accurate representation of how mold grows and interacts in your home. This allows you to determine the amount of spores over time, and which areas they grow.
What Are Types Of Mold Tests?
Now that you know the kinds of testing you can do to your home, there are actually various kinds of mold tests that can be done to get various kinds of data for your benefit.
- Air testing allows professionals to get a concentration of spores in your household air. These are later examined in laboratories. Air sampling can help you determine if you have a mold problem even if there are no visible signs of mold growth.
- Surface testing takes samples from surfaces of the household to find just how much spores and mold are deposited around the house. These samples are often collected by tape lifting and swabbing. Results can vary, though, as mold spores are spread evenly at home, and can’t exactly determine the concentration of spores in the air.
- Bulk testing means taking various samples from various materials from the household, which can then help you better determine where the concentration of mold in your home is located.
How Do You Remove Mold Naturally?
If you haven’t been able to contact a professional immediately, but at the same time want to remedy your mold situation, there are in fact a few natural things you can do in order to eliminate mold.
- Bleach can kill almost any species of indoor mold, though this works best with counter tops, glass, bathtubs, and tiles. Bleach doesn’t work when the mold is in porous materials, and as such can’t be used on drywall and wood.
- Borax can also help kill mold, and as a natural cleaning product doesn’t emit dangerous fumes and chemicals. It’s commonly used to clean drains and toilets, and can be a fungicide, herbicide, and insecticide. You can mix borax and water for a solution that can remove and kill mold.
- Vinegar is mildly acidic, and as such can kill as much as 82-percent of mold species. Not only that, but it’s natural as well, and as a non-toxic material doesn’t give off dangerous fumes. You can simply spray vinegar on places where there is mold.
- Ammonia can kill mold on surfaces that aren’t porous such as tiles, glass, and counter tops but aren’t as effective when dealing with mold in drywall or wood. Ammonia can be toxic, though, especially the gas it produces so be careful while using this.
The Bottom line: Molds Can Be Serious Business
Mold can sometimes get challenging to deal with, especially if you’re not aware of how it works, how to look for it, and how to remove it. With the tips above, you hopefully can get a better understanding on how mold functions and how you can deal with them appropriately. Remember, while you yourself can find ways to deal with mold, it may be much more beneficial for your household if you have a professional service remove the mold for you. Nevertheless, having a foundational understanding on how molds work can put you one step ahead in terms of household management and making sure everything in your home is up to par.
Jacob Douglas used to be a gas fitter before he started to become fascinated about Radon gas. Today he works with 