LIVING HEALTHY Published February12, 2020 By Staff Reporter

Protecting Your Home and Health: How to Prevent Mold

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Mold
(Photo : Bigstock)

Present everywhere, these microscopic organisms commonly found both outdoors and indoors, mold along with yeast and mushrooms are known as fungi. Fungi have a crucial role in nature, their main purpose is to break down dead material and of and recycle various nutrients in the environment. It's very common to find moles inside homes, they grow on surfaces and can usually be recognized as coloured, fuzzy and powdery spots.

Indoor mold is one reason for concern in many people since it may cause detrimental effects on both your home belongings and your health. The most common effects produced by mold may include irritation, allergy, toxigenic effects and seldom infections. To prevent mold from ever appearing in your home here are some tips you might need to consider:

(Photo : Pixabay)

Image Source: https://pixabay.com/photos/weather-station-digital-display-572856/

Identify Problematic Area in Your Home

To protect your home from moisture and rain you might need to consider small home improvements. These are highly necessary especially if you're leaving in a Hurricane-prone area such as Florida. It's important to know that you can make it mold resistant. Make a short reassessment of your home. If you have a condensation problem, check what you can do about it.

Replace that old damp carpet in your basement or improve the airflow. If possible, you can install a few mold-resistant products or repair the damaged gutter. To find solutions you'll have to identify the main causes.

You may also consider investing in Florida homeowners insurance quotes to avoid the high costs of a hurricane and get quality and affordable coverage for your home. Having homeowner insurance will help you avoid huge costs encountered after your home has been damaged by a flood resulting in mold. To avoid such issues, it might be necessary to address this problem now and not when the mold continues to grow unrestrained affecting both the health of your family and your home.

Dry Wet Areas Immediately

It's widely known that mold can't grow if they don't have moisture. So, in case you have problem areas in your home, make sure you tackle them as soon as possible. When your basement is as damply as tropical forest and you've already spotted the signs and odours of mold, a great idea would be to invest in a more efficient dehumidifier.

Make sure you thoroughly inspect your home after heavy rainfall and identify possible leaky pipes and remove them along with other wet and damaged belongings. This must be available even for smaller everyday occurrences, such as a wet floor after a shower or a wet umbrella thrown in a corner. Don't ever leave your wet clothes in the washing machine if you want to prevent bad odours and mold from spreading.

Improve the Airflow

Ventilation is essential in a home, especially if your routine domestic actions are promoting the growth of mold in your home. Maybe you can't realize it yet, but daily activities such as showering, cooking or doing the laundry are evident factors that produce mold if your home is not sufficiently ventilated.

An ideal way to avoid humidity produce by those appliances that produce moisture would be to vent them outside of your home as often as possible. You can also use a dehumidifier or even the AC, but it might be necessary to check them periodically, so you make sure they don't produce moisture themselves. When none of these solutions has given you acceptable results, a simple and more efficient idea would be to open your windows every time you start cooking or showering.

Consider Mold Resistant-Products

A renovation might be suitable if you're looking for a way to improve the air in your home and avoid eventual health risks produced by mold. In order to avoid mold exposure, when you renovate your home you should consider mold-resistant sheetrock or mold-resistant drywall, even numerous mold-inhibitors for your paints.

The usual drywall is a mix of gypsum plaster core forced together between piles of paper, while the mold-resistant drywall is known to be paperless -and its gypsum core is entirely covered in fibreglass and totally water and mold-resistant. Experts recommend using such material only in the areas of your home which are prone to humidity, such as kitchen, bathrooms, basements and laundry rooms. Making these improvements are essential if you're wondering how to tackle mold and prevent its harmful effects in case you struggle with allergies.

Replacing your old walls might not be as easy as it sounds but is totally necessary if you simply can't find a better alternative. A traditional wall is even more expensive to replace, more predisposed to mold the paperless type and difficult to clean. You can avoid such issues by investing in mold-resistant gypsum which is perfectly developed to tackle moisture absorption and prevent the nasty fungus from harming your family's well-being.

Monitor Humidity

A great way to determine the level of humidity in your home would be to track it. An EPA device is simple to use, efficient, and affordable, which can be purchased from any local hardware store. Be aware of the humid area in your home and find a suitable place for your new EPA. To identify problematic areas, you should recognize any sign of condensation on your wall, windows or pipes. Make sure you take necessary precautions, dry these areas and look for the source of moisture.

Because no matter where you live it might be essential to learn something about the climate of your region. This may help you prevent possible health risks produced by humidity. Be it the wet and cold Northeast or the hot and wet south, researching about your climate is more important than you think. Knowing how your climate works will help you determine which solution might work best for you and your home. Mold should not be such a big problem if you're taking necessary precautions for your home and educate yourself about this matter.

 

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