Mold Remediation

Your home is the place where you retreat for comfort, relaxation, and safety. But when mold moves in with you, your place of safety can, depending on levels of exposure and individual immune response, become hazardous to your health. Common mold exposure symptoms include runny nose, coughing, shortness of breath, headaches, recurring colds, eye irritation, dizziness, nausea, and asthma. Therefore, steps should be taken to contain and remove a mold problem as soon as it is discovered. The first step to take in combating mold in your home is to find and correct the source of moisture that is causing mold to grow in the first place. Without moisture, mold can't grow; however, when an area becomes damp, mold can take hold in as little as 48 hours. An effective mold remediation plan must involve drying out the area and ensuring that the water problem has been remedied. If you don't fix the water problem, you can count on recurring issues with mold. Once you've identified the source of the water, dried out the area, and fixed the source of moisture, you can focus on removal of the existing mold. The area which is being remediated should be blocked off from the rest of the building with plastic sheets to mold spores which will be disturbed during the remediation process. If mold has affected drywall, carpeting or other building materials, those materials should be removed and replaced. Any personal items such as books or clothing that have mold growing in them should be discarded. Inactive mold can still be a health hazard, so it's important to carefully remove all sign of fungal growth and clean all surfaces where mold is visible once the remediation process is complete. The next step in the mold removal process is to test the environment for elevated levels of mold spores. If your home receives a clean bill of health, you can begin the process of replacing any drywall, wood, or carpeting that had to be removed due to mold contamination. Although you may be tempted to skip this step, it's an important part of the process in order to ensure that you haven't missed any part of the infestation. Remember never to paint over mold as this will not fix the problem; rather, remove all surface mold and then apply a fungicide. If you don't feel able to effectively treat your home for mold yourself, look into hiring a professional mold remediation company. In fact it is strongly recommended that when dealing with areas of mold growth of more than 10 square feet, that a professional be brought in. Mold removal is a process that can't be skimped on, so be sure you understand exactly what the company will and won't do before you sign the deal. Your home and the health of your family are at stake. While mold is naturally everywhere in the environment, both indoors and outdoors, and it's impossible to remove every mold spore from the air in your home, you can and should make sure they don't find a friendly place to grow in your home.