Cleaning Up Mold: Some Guidelines
Mold spores are everywhere in your home, and in the right condition can easily settle down on surfaces and grow rapidly. This not only causes staining and damages your house, it can also cause serious health problems such as allergies and breathing difficulties.
Mold Prevention
Prevention is obviously better than a cure, and you can try to limit mold growth by:
- Ensuring good ventilation, especially in naturally high moisture areas such as bathrooms or kitchens.
- Making sure that you deal with any plumbing leaks as soon as possible.
- Tackling any problem as soon as you notice it; not allowing it to take hold and spread.
However, even if you do everything right, you are still likely to encounter the occasional problem, given the high humidity of the Treasure Coast. So how can you clean up mold effectively and safely?
Dealing with Mold
- Breathing in the spores is dangerous to your health. Make sure that you are wearing the right protective clothing. This includes an N-95 respirator, widely available in hardware stores or online, long rubber gloves and goggles.
- Make sure that all water leaks in the area are fixed before starting the cleanup. Otherwise the problem is likely to return quickly.
- Do not just attempt to paint or caulk over moldy surfaces. The paint is likely to peel, and the mold will come back. Clean up the surface and dry it thoroughly before painting over.
- Scrub hard surfaces with water and detergent until you’re satisfied that no living cells remains. Be aware that a stain often will remain, but will not contribute to future problems.
- Porous objects or materials, such as carpets or ceiling tiles, are often impossible to clean completely, since the fungal cells can live inside the pores where you cannot reach them. Such objects often have to be thrown out and replaced.
For more expert help on controlling your home’s internal humidity, and other issues related to home comfort, please contact us at NisAir Air Conditioning & Heating. We have been serving Martin, Palm Beach and Indian River counties since 1973.
