Have you noticed spots on the walls, floors, or ceiling in your home? Is the spot growing? If it is, it could be mold. Mold isn’t always dangerous to a person’s health, but it does have the potential to be hazardous to those living in a mouldy environment. That goes extra for folks with allergies, asthma, cystic fibrosis, or a compromised immune system.
The best way to fight mold is by preventing its growth in the first place. But that is easier said than done. If you find mold growth in your home, you should have it removed as soon as possible to minimize any potential health risks.
In this important article, we discuss what mold removal is and why it’s so important.
Why Is Mold Removal So Important?
Mold in the home doesn’t only pose a risk to the health of you and your family. It also poses a threat to the structural integrity of the house itself.
Structural Damage
Molds have the ability to travel through both moisture and air, which means once it starts growing in your home, it can spread quickly from its point of origin to almost anywhere in the house, as long as conditions for growth are satisfactory. Molds can grow on anything such as the home foundation, the roofs, drywalls, HVAC systems, gutters, furniture and many more, and with time they tend to damage the surface where they grow.
To avoid extensive and invasive mold removal operations, you should contact professional mold removal specialists as soon as you find the first signs of mold.
Health Problems
As mentioned above, mold can cause serious health problems. Especially if you’ve been exposed for extended periods of time or have underlying health conditions that could get triggered by breathing the toxic spores. Molds can cause a large number of side effects on your health such as headaches, allergic reactions, breathing difficulties, skin irritation and aggravation of asthma symptoms.
Can I Remove Mold On My Own?
It is not recommended that you try to get rid of mold all by yourself. Molds can cause harmful damage to your health, and it requires skilled and trained experts to remediate mold with intensive care and rid the house of any mold traces. If you need mold removal, you should contact professionals to help you get rid of molds systematically and safely.
How Does Mold Removal Work?
Testing
Before professionals set up shop in your home and start cleaning up the mold, they need to know what type of mold they are dealing with first. Testing for mold requires samples to be taken from the surface, the air, and surrounding dust in the area. These samples are then usually sent off to a third-party lab to determine the exact type of mold that has made its way into your house. Some restoration companies will even use infrared thermal imaging to detect moisture and damage in areas that are difficult to test with conventional means.
Equipment
Professional mold removal requires some pretty heavy-duty equipment. The equipment used for professional mold removal includes:
- HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) air scrubbers
- HEPA vacuums
- Commercial strength dehumidifiers
- Antimicrobial chemicals
Once the cleaning process begins, the first thing taken care of is the physical removal of mold right from the source. But since mold spores can be airborne too, this is when the HEPA air scrubbers are used to remove the dirty mold-filled air. Next, new fresh air is brought into the area via basic air ventilation. Larger, more complicated jobs may require additional airflow management, but most restoration companies will be able to handle it.
Cleanup & Mold Prevention
Since mold can spread quickly and doesn’t need much to get started, it’s critically important to dispose of contaminated materials in the home safely. Mold removal professionals will usually take care of your moldy building materials like drywall and insulation.
