Dealing With Home Mold
Mold can be an unattractive sight in your home and also poses serious health hazards, aggravating allergies and respiratory ailments – especially among people living with asthma.
Mold can grow anywhere there is excess moisture, such as from leaky pipes or saturated carpets. By rectifying the cause of the moisture problem, future outbreaks of mold growth will be prevented.
Remove Moisture
Mold thrives in moist environments, which is why damp bathrooms, kitchens, laundry rooms or basements can be breeding grounds for it. No matter the source of moisture in these spaces, however, you must address it to avoid future outbreaks of mold growth.
Once the problem has been addressed, take extra steps to prevent moisture from returning. Damp areas provide ideal breeding grounds for mold and mildew growth that can spread throughout your house via airborne spores.
Keep humidity at bay by installing a dehumidifier in your home and leaving windows open when possible. In hot, humid environments, insulation may also help bring down humidity levels.
Protect Yourself
Mold can be an invisible threat that threatens the air quality in your home and poses serious health hazards. It produces toxins which weaken immunity systems and cause serious respiratory conditions like asthma and lung infections.
As soon as there is a moisture source- such as leaky pipes or flooding- mold will soon reemerge and require additional remediation steps to stop its recurrence.
Wear a N95 level protection level mask when cleaning mold off surfaces in buildings or entering.
People with compromised immune systems or chronic lung conditions, including those receiving cancer therapy or organ transplants, are especially prone to serious mold infections in their lungs. These infections may appear days or weeks after being exposed to environmental fungi.
Wear Clothes That Can Be Laundered
If mold infestation has become an issue in your home, clothing that can be washed may be an effective solution to remove its smell from clothing and reduce potential discomfort.
If your clothing is white, adding some tablespoons of bleach can help remove mold stains more efficiently from set-in mold stains in the wash machine.
If the stain persists, vinegar or citric acid could also provide relief. Simply mix a solution of either with water and apply to moldy areas before washing as usual.
Use Disinfectants
When dealing with mold issues, disinfectants are crucial in eliminating their spores and stopping their spread. These chemicals kill microorganisms as well as those which could potentially be hazardous for health reasons such as bacteria that cause illness.
Disinfectants work by oxidizing microorganism membranes and disrupting their cellular membranes, leading to cell death and cell lysis. Chlorine bleach is the most popular disinfectant available; however, other chemical solutions may also prove effective.
Clove oil, for instance, is an all-natural antifungal that can be mixed with water to form an effective yet gentle disinfectant solution. Tea tree oil has also proven its efficacy against various forms of mold growth.
Use Bleach
Bleach is an effective household disinfectant used to temporarily eliminate small amounts of mold growth; however, this does not provide long-term relief and may pose health risks as well.
Bleach can kill surface-level mold but does not reach its source, allowing regrowth within days or even hours.
Because bleach does not penetrate deep enough into materials to effectively kill mold roots, vinegar should be preferred when dealing with porous surfaces for mold removal. Vinegar penetrates more deeply into materials than bleach can and kills it all at its source.
