You may be wondering what mold remediation is and if your home needs it. Mold remediation simply means the removal of mold to the point that the house will be free of even small colonies. You know that your home has mold when there are black spots on damp surfaces within your house, because mold loves high humidity. Those spaces in your home that often go unnoticed until the water damage has spread are usually where mold spores will thrive.
Signs That Your Home Needs Mold Remediation
Here are some signs indicating that you will need home mold remediation!
Sign 1: Existence of Water Damage
Mold colonies will gain the upper hand if there are certain spots that are water damaged and then neglected within the home. This often happens when your home has recently been flooded during a storm. You should go through your home with a checklist and jot down the areas where you have detected water damage. This will help you when it is time to tackle those mold colonies yourself through mold remediation.
Sign 2: Mold in Wood Starts to Rot
Although not every wooden surface may be exposed to water damage, the ones that are starting to rot may actually have mold colonies already. If you were not able to clean up yet after a storm flooded your home, you can expect a lot of wooden parts of your home to start rotting. Since wood is organic matter, mold will thrive where the wood is rotting. You may have to rip out all that rotting wood and install new wooden parts as soon as the room has sufficiently dried out.
Sign 3: Grout in Bathroom and Kitchen Starts Turning Black
This is another clear indication that mold has taken hold of your home. The reason the grout becomes the new home for mold is that usually there is some organic matter that sticks to the surrounding tiles and the grout. Add the constant presence of water and the mold will break out the champagne and do a happy dance because they will love it there. Your job is to break up the party by removing that new mold colony.
Sign 4: Musty Smell in House or Rooms
If the dampness in the house is not addressed right away, you will soon notice that the air smells rather musty – this is one way of finding mold colonies within a room. Mold colonies are nasty health risks, especially to people who may develop an allergic reaction to it or a fungal infection because of it. So, you really need to remove mold, as soon as possible. You may also need to wear protective clothing and an industrial face mask to avoid getting mold spores on your skin and in your lungs.
Sign 5: Air Inside Rooms is Stagnant
Another way to get clues about the presence of mold is to check the ventilation. A room that doesn’t get aired out well will probably have mold colonies thriving in it too. This is because sufficient ventilation would allow water trapped in the room to evaporate and go out of the house. An example of a room that usually has poor ventilation is the attic. The basement is another part of your house that won’t get adequate ventilation so check there too. Also, the bathrooms & toilets that have no exhaust fans may also face these problems.
Sign 6: Carpet in Rooms Doesn’t Dry Out
Like previously mentioned, mold loves surfaces that have plenty of organic matter and remain wet for long periods of time. Carpets are notorious for this, especially after a storm or flood sent a lot of water cascading over floors inside your house. The problem with carpets is that in many houses the carpets are wall-to-wall flooring already so you will have to rip out all the carpets and throw them away if you want to get rid of mold. Ripping out the carpets will also allow the flooring underneath to get aired out and to dry off faster.
Sign 7: Insulation of Walls Not Exposed to Sunlight
Although letting sunlight shine on wet areas within your home is a good way to start drying out your house, the wall insulation in every room might still be wet. You will have to tear open your walls and remove the wet insulation so that any mold colonies that are already forming will be exposed. You can then start cleaning out the surfaces inside the walls so that the mold will be eradicated from there. Once the walls are dry enough and mold remediation has been done, you may have new wall insulation added in.
Sign 8: Furniture Remains Damp
If you have furniture that is soaked in water still, you should brace yourself – because you might have to throw them out. This is because furniture (especially those made of wood and foam) is pretty hard to dry out. The foam inside is particularly difficult to get at so even if you put them out in sunlight, the covering over the foam parts will prevent water from escaping. You will literally have to peel away the covering and let the foam get exposed to sunlight. But the effort at doing all this will probably be more than if you bought brand new furniture instead.
Sign 9: HVAC System is Still Wet And Non-Functioning
Your heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system should be inspected for possible mold colonies too. Rainwater could have gotten the system wet so it is important to make sure it is functional first – you will need a qualified electrician to do that for you. Since water evaporates upward, the HVAC ducts could have mold growing there already. This can be rather hard to do by yourself so you may ask a friend to help you get to those parts.
Final Takeaway
Mold remediation can be tedious and physically draining. But it is necessary so that your household won’t be coming down with allergic reactions or even fungal infections that can be hard to address. You will need to spend time, energy, and money to get that mold cleaned up. If you can hire someone to do this for you, that would help you to get your home mold remediation done right away so that your house will be ready to move back into at the soonest possible time.
With this piece of information, you may also like to read on causes of roof leakages.