Mold Costs More Than Just Your Health

So, if it wasn’t bad enough to have to consider all the health risks of mold, have you ever stopped to think about the other expenses associated with a mold problem? From damaging personal items such as furniture, mementos, carpet, you also have to consider other costs to your home. First, there’s drywall, and don’t forget the insulation behind it. If carpets become moldy, they’ll have to be replaced as well. Furthermore, all of this assumes you’re doing the cleanup yourself. What if you can’t do the cleanup because you’re allergic to mold or the infestation is just too big for you to handle? These are just some things to keep in mind. As an example, here’s an article about how a mold problem ended up costing a school system millions of dollars:
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061218/NEWS02/612180305/1007

While your problem wouldn’t likely end up that expensive, it just goes to show you how bad it can get.

Mold Prevention

Controlling humidity in your home is a great way to prevent mold from growing in your home. I found that if you control the humidity and keep it at a level of about 50% and under, that it is hard for mold to germinate and grow.

 

The use of dehumidifiers is a great action step to control the atmosphere in your home. A great website to find some tips on preventing mold is at http://www.toxic-black-mold-info.com/prevent.htm.

 

This site offers some great advice on mold prevention.

The Many Faces of Mold

You’ve most likely heard of toxic black mold. But, did you know that mold doesn’t necessarily have to be black to be harmful to you? Particularly if you are allergic to mold, and even if you aren’t, many molds have the potential to make people sick. In fact, prolonged exposure to high amounts of mold can make an otherwise healthy person develop an allergic reaction. So, maybe you’re wondering what mold might look like? Here’s a couple of pages I found with a variety of different molds and how they may appear in your home:

http://www.moldnews.net/search.htm

http://www.epa.gov/mold/moldcourse/imagegallery5.html

http://www.epa.gov/mold/moldcourse/imagegallery6.html

Sniffing Out Mold

There’s a new tool to aid in mold detection. Here’s a great article about Zena a dog certified to detect toxic molds. http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/sited/story/html/265399 Her innate instincts and keen sense of smell make her a perfect weapon in the fight against mold. Mold detecting dogs are not very common, there are only about 20 in the entire United States. The great thing about dogs are they can find mold that a human wouldn’t be able to see or smell. The handler will then take a sample and have it analyzed at a lab to confirm which type of mold it is. If you’re concerned about mold in your home and one of these dogs are available in your area, it’s worth looking into.