I found mold in my house – Should I worry?
Mold. Just the word itself sparks fear in every homeowner’s mind. And for good reason. Mold in a home can lead to long-term health issues as well as expensive home repairs if not greatly promptly once found. If you’ve recently found mold in your home or business, here’s what to do next.
What exactly IS mold?
Mold is a type of fungus that grows naturally in our environment. Any place that’s damp and dark can grow mold.
What makes mold so hard to treat is that it spread via spores, microscopic “seeds” that catch the air and float around until they find a new place to take root and grow. Drywall, wood, plastic, paper, food … there’s almost no place that mold won’t grow.
Mold spores are floating around in the air in our homes every day. Other than air purifiers and filters, there’s not a lot you can do to keep mold spores out of your house. But there’s plenty you can do to keep spores from taking hold and growing in your home, like taking care of leaks and properly sealing around doors and windows.
Uh-oh, how did I get mold?
Mold happens. Many times, homeowners will open a wall to do a repair or renovation and find that the inside of their wall, between the two pieces of drywall, is covered in mold. Most of the time, mold is caused by a hidden leaky pipe or insufficient sealing to keep rain or drainage outside the home from seeping in. Sometimes, mold takes hold in an area of high humidity, such as a room with poor ventilation. If you live in an especially humid region like Georgia, this may be more of an issue for you.
Mold is a health issue
Aside from being unsightly, having mold in your home is a serious health risk. Mold spores, when inhaled by a human, can trigger allergies, respiratory problems, and infections of the sinuses and lungs. These problems may be more significant in children, the elderly, and people who are immunocompromised.
How to get rid of mold in your home
If you’ve found mold in your home, don’t waste any time in trying to get it cleaned up. The longer mold stays in your home, the more it can spread and the more health problems it can trigger in your family.
The first step in mold remediation is to figure out how mold-feeding dampness is getting into the area. Mold can’t grow without water, so finding the source of the water is key to ending your mold problem. And you can clean up all the mold you see, but if you don’t get rid of the water source, the mold is going to come right back and waste all your efforts.
If your water source is easily found and fixed, like a leaky pipe under a bathroom sink, you may be able to do it yourself. But many mold problems are not so easily remedied. With a large or complicated mold issue, call a mold remediation specialist. A mold remediation specialist has specialized tools and training to find the source of the dampness, repair it, and eradicate mold at its root, so you won’t have to deal with it again.
Got mold?
M&W Restoration is Atlanta’s mold remediation specialist. Call us today, and we’ll help keep your family safe from dangerous indoor mold.
