How to Get Rid of Mold in Your House
It is now fairly common knowledge that certain types of mold can cause illness in susceptible individuals. With symptoms ranging from headaches and body aches, nausea, fatigue, severe rhinitis and difficulty breathing to even death; mold can present a clear and present danger. So what can we do? How can we protect ourselves and our families from this insidious yet common household threat?
1) Have your home tested. Whether you are buying a new home or simply suspect that mold may be a problem in your current residence, you can have your home tested. While it is not an automatic or standard inspection in a new home transaction, your Realtor should be able to refer you to a reputable laboratory in your area that can do the test or you can find one yourself in the phone book or on the internet.
There are two fundamental problems with mold testing at this juncture: First of all, mold tests can be prohibitively expensive, commonly ranging from $500 – $1,500 for a simple airborne spore test. The second problem is that these tests may almost always come back positive. Mold is, in fact, everywhere, with literally hundreds of innocuous varieties floating in the air around us all the time, posing no threat to anyone, except, on some occasions, the most sensitive among us. These factors can make accurate identification of dangerous molds in your home very difficult.
2) Know the conditions to look for in your home yourself. When purchasing a new home, you will have opportunity to inspect the property and to have professional inspectors look it over as well. Although the typical inspections ordered during a home purchase transaction do not include a mold inspection (see Item #1), other findings in the reports may serve as clues to potential mold infiltration areas.
Whether it is a new home you are considering or the house you already call home, of particular interest should be areas that have sustained any kind of water damage, big or small. Mold grows where water or moisture lands or lingers on materials such as wood, stucco, sheetrock, tile or even bare ground. Has the structure suffered any water damage such as a roof or plumbing leak? A hot water heater failure? Does it have bathtub or shower doors that don’t properly seal, allowing a slow drip to escape over long periods of time? Even poorly ventilated laundry rooms and bathrooms can lead to mold growth right on the surface of painted or papered walls. Whether a brief and sudden exposure or a slow, constant and seemingly inconsequential one, water on wood or other materials can and will lead to the growth of mold if not intentionally prevented.
3) Check for mold growth beyond surface repairs. That leaks and water events were rectified and repairs made may not be adequate assurance that the threat of mold growth was also eradicated. If, for instance, an upstairs hot water heater failed and water leaked to the floor below, simply stopping the leak and replacing the appliance will not stop mold that may have begun to grow in the floors, walls and ceiling beneath. Even tearing out and replacing some obviously soaked boards may not insure that all mold growth was stopped. Check repair records to see if all effected areas were opened, thoroughly dried and tested before they were closed over to be sure that mold and wood rot was stopped rather than simply boarded off and allowed to grow for years undetected. If they were not and you have reason to suspect that the wood is rotting and mold growing (staining, bowing, etc.), start by opening a small hole in the wall or ceiling to have a look around.
4) Properly Stop Mold When You Find It. The most important thing you can do is stop mold in its tracks when you find it. Whether it was in rechecking a past repair or a water intrusion that occurs on your watch, be sure to follow the trail that the water may have taken and work to assure that all boards are dry BEFORE closing any walls, ceilings or floors. Remove all effected lumber and sheetrock and replace with dry materials. Where there is only minor moisture or small amounts of mold on weight bearing or difficult to remove members, dry and treat them to kill the mold before closing the wall. It may also be advisable to open up some areas and walls where there is no obvious water spotting and thoroughly dry inside those areas as well. A very effective but less invasive method for drying inside walls is to use heater fans made for this purpose. Although as loud as a jet engine running in your house, a few days or a week of the inconvenience can prevent years of future woodrot and mold problems in the future. For all of these suggestions, I highly recommend you use a professional contractor who is experienced and equipped to properly handle water damage and potential mold situations.
It’s important to understand that some mold in your home is normal and should not pose a health threat. It is also a relatively small percentage of people that are truly sensitive to ordinary household mold exposure. The young father who lost his life to mold had been working in an enclosed basement, tearing out visibly moldy boards and releasing massive amounts of mold spores into a confined and inadequately ventilated area. No doubt unaware of the danger, he was, tragically, exposed to a more massive dose of live mold than most of us will ever have occasion to see. For most of us, while we should take reasonable precautions, we do not need to fear mold, we simply need to sensibly keep our homes as free of it as possible.
