Have you noticed brown or black spots inside your home or business? You could have a mold contamination problem. Indoor mold can be any color: black, white, green, or even blue. Whether your spots look like benign mildew or scarier black mold growth, we can help you return your residence or place of business to normal. Read on to discover more about indoor mold, why it’s a problem, and why you should seek professional help for mold removal rather than remediating the mold yourself.
What Is Indoor Mold?
Mold, fungus, mildew, and related organisms are all part of nature, and they are very common in the United States. Mold spores live in the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the soil we walk on. Most mold is harmless, and when it’s outdoors, it can be a good thing because it can help decompose rotting foliage and logs to pave the way for new life. In some ways, we depend on mold to keep the balance of nature.
Why Is Indoor Mold a Problem?
When it’s indoors, mold can take on a more sinister role and grow where there is water damage and little airflow. It can weaken the structure of wood and give off nasty smells in the basement, bathroom, or crawlspace that infiltrate your HVAC system and the rest of your house. It can make building occupants sick and cause allergies, asthma, and more severe health effects as well. It’s always best to prevent mold growth in the first place, but if you can’t do that, or if you’ve already found mold you didn’t know was there when you moved into the home or office, you should develop a plan for remediation as soon as possible.
Health Effects of Indoor Mold
Mold-allergic individuals may notice a flare-up of symptoms like sneezing, watery eyes, and a runny nose when they stay in a home plagued by indoor mold. It’s especially dangerous for people who have asthma, who can suffer from life-threatening attacks due to mold spores if they are allergic.
Even people who do not have allergies to mold can experience health risks because of its presence. You may have heard of black mold or toxic mold, which is not always black in color but can certainly cause ill effects that can be avoided. Pregnant women, immunocompromised individuals, asthmatic people, young children, and older adults are at the highest risk for health issues related to any color of mold.
Do-It-Yourself Mold Prevention/Remediation Strategies
If you notice an area of mold in your basement, attic, crawlspace, or bathroom larger than 10 square feet, you should call a professional. If you have some minor mildew or mold growth between your bathroom shower tiles, this is not as severe of a situation and is likely a result of moisture issues and poor airflow. In this instance, you could do the following to improve your mold problem:
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- Run the fan, leave the door open, or crack the window when you shower to decrease humidity in the bathroom
- Purchase a small bathroom unit for proper dehumidification
- Remediate the mold yourself with a DIY solution, vinegar, or a mold cleaner
Mold Prevention Tips
Maybe you moved into a home with a hidden mold problem, or perhaps your business location was contaminated by the last owners. Whether or not the mold was caused by you or someone else, it’s nobody’s fault that it grew. That’s what mold does! However, you can schedule professional remediation and afterward follow our recommendations to keep the remediated area mold-free. Fixing your problem may be as simple as installing more ventilation in your bathroom or basement and purchasing a dehumidifier, or it may be as extensive as replacing pipes that burst and contaminated your home with water damage and resulting mildew or mold growth. Some homeowners may head off the problem by choosing to encapsulate their crawlspaces to prevent future water damage.
As a rule of thumb, it’s always a good idea to keep spaces clean, dry, and ventilated. Check problem areas regularly to look for dampness and potential moisture buildup. For a more thorough evaluation, get in contact with us so that we can address your unique situation and give your home or business a more tailored treatment.
When To Schedule a Professional Mold Remediation and What Is Involved
As stated above, if your situation is a larger area than 10 square feet — which is roughly an area of three by three feet — if it looks too severe or “scary” to handle on your own, or if you would just like someone else to take care of it (maybe you have asthma or are otherwise sensitive to the spores), please call in a professional for a remediation job.
Professional remediation is not a one-size-fits-all job. We take into account the area of the damage, the size of the mold growth, and the individual structure of your home or business as well. We may ask you to clear the home (and take your pets with you) depending on what type of remediation we have to perform. In general, if you call us to remediate your mold, you can expect us to do one or more of the following.
- Meet you at your residence, survey the scope of the problem, and give you a remediation estimate
- Perform containment of the mold and the surfaces in question using professional-level equipment
- Use high-quality HEPA filters during the containment and remediation process
- Perform mold remediation and stop the spores at their source
- Encapsulate a crawlspace, basement, or attic to prevent the mold or moisture problem from returning and cutting off any moisture source
- Make recommendations for future use of the area, including fixing leaks and providing better air circulation
Let Brouwer Brothers Steamatic Help You With Your Mold Problem
Brouwer Brothers Steamatic has years of experience remediating mold and restoring homes and businesses to their former glory. Let us take care of your mold problem as soon as possible — and before it gets worse! Give us a call or at 1-888-STEAMATIC or contact us online as soon as possible.
Featured Image: Burdun Iliya/Shutterstock
