Dealing With Mold in Your Home

By Mercia Tapping

The health problems that occur as a result of mold can be felt immediately (acute) or can be longer term (chronic). The immediate problems that are often associated with exposure to high levels of mold include the following:

• Mild or severe headaches
• Itching eyes and breathing difficulties
• Difficulty in concentration.

If someone removes himself or herself from the mold source in what usually is known as a "sick building" these symptoms usually disappear shortly thereafter.

There are also chronic conditions, which are associated with high levels of mold exposure. These are often quite difficult to diagnose and patients have often been accused of hypochondria. These chronic conditions include:

• Asthma
• Allergic Rhinitis
• Pneumonia

What is disturbing is that these conditions may not go away immediately or ever even after the person is removed from the mold source and indeed their condition may even worsen. The mycotoxins emitted by mold spores have been postulated to be particularly toxic and research is currently underway to pinpoint the disease and mycotoxin link.

How do you know you might have mold?

• Are there any musty smells especially in the basement?
• Is their any visible mold growing in bathrooms, window sills, books, shoes or walls?
• Are there water stains on the ceiling or walls?
• Is there peeling paint? This often occurs after intense condensation.
• Are the wood floors warping?

Mold Allergies: Decrease your Exposure to Mold

While conventional wisdom recommends opening the windows to increase ventilation this well may not be enough to eliminate or prevent mold from growing. Firstly, the outside air may well be more humid and increase the indoor humidity. Secondly, the outdoor air at certain times of the year is laden with pollen or tree molds.

• We recommend keeping the indoor humidity at about 50%, which is below the threshold
    where most molds are known to flourish. Monitor moisture levels with a hygrometer.
   
• Your first line of defense is to correct all leaks sources - roof, gutter, plumbing and drainage problems.
  
• It is critically important for you to clean out your humidifier, air conditioner and dehumidifier according to manufacturer instructions. Some humidifiers are more vulnerable to producing the conditions for mold spore production so choose carefully.
   
• Use a low temperature dehumidifier in your basement to keep mold at bay. Basements are notorious as mold breeding grounds.
   
• Avoid using carpeting in your basement. Sooner or later you will either have a flood from the outside or a water heater will break. Either way you will end up having to throw that carpet out.
   
• We believe that bare earth basement floors are mold problems waiting to happen. At the very least cover the area with a heavy plastic vapor barrier. Better yet use a dehumidifier and put concrete on the floor.
   
• An exhaust fan in a crawl space or basement during warm weather is helpful. Dehumidification is even better
   
• Keep a clean house and use hepa vacuums and steam cleaners to achieve that goal.
   
• We have found that we are healthier without houseplants, which tend to have molds in the potting soil.
  
• Replace insulation materials, which have become wet and choose allergen friendly materials.
  
• Cooking pots should be covered so as to contain steam, which can increase humidity the basic conditions for mold.
   
• Use exhaust fans both in bathrooms and kitchen and keep those fans running for 10 to 15 minutes after cooking or bathing.
  
• Wet laundry evaporates and puts moisture into the air, so do not hang it to dry inside.
   
• Always vent your clothes dryer to the outside.
   
• Using an air conditioner in summer definitely reduces the humidity in your home but a dehumidifier is much more energy efficient.
   
• It is important to heat all the rooms in your house during winter to prevent mold growth especially the basement where condensation is likely to form on cold walls and floors.
   
• Clean your refrigerator drip pan and rubber sealing gaskets so that mold does not grow where condensate forms. Vapor steam cleaners are especially helpful as a tool here.
   
• If you are painting your basement, or where walls are cold, a mold inhibiting paint is helpful.
   
• If you are building a new house and have damp or green lumber some way for the lumber to dry out is essential. The most forward thinking builders are now using a dehumidifier during the construction process. A responsible builder will also recommend you use a dehumidifier after construction as the concrete will "sweat" in a new building.
   
• Triple or double thermo paned windows help with preventing condensation which gives rise to mold growth conditions. A storm window works best when installed on the inside.
   
• Mold in bathrooms can be kept at bay with the diligent use of steam cleaners, which kills mold growth.
   
• Buy mold resistant shower curtains or clean the runners in the shower doors, which is a hiding place for mold.
   
• Use tile in your bathrooms and never carpets. If you have bath mats wash them in very hot water on a regular basis.

While prevention is better than cure, room hepa air purifiers, air sterilizers and high-efficiency furnace filters will catch the remaining mold spores.

• Central vacuuming is the most healthful way to vacuum since all the dirt is exhausted out doors, which helps with reducing the spread of indoor pollutants. A high efficiency disposable vacuum bag is the most effective and healthful way to collect particulates.

For additional product information on mold remediation products go to our Mold Solution Center and for more informational articles go to our Mold Center.

Top

Walls Need Special Care After Flood

By Mary Yearns, Iowa State Extension

Reproduced with Permission

Walls need special care following contact with floodwaters, said Lois Warme, Iowa State University Extension art and design specialist. Plastered walls and wallpaper need different treatments than painted walls or concrete block walls.

Walls may be difficult to clean and dry. If insulated, the baseboards and some siding may need to be removed to ventilate wall cavities, Warme said.

In some cases, insulation may also need to be removed, dried or replaced. Allow at least two months before applying paint because paint applied to damp walls will later blister and peel.

Plastered walls and wallpaper can be cleaned without replacing the paper, Warme said. Allow plaster to dry thoroughly before washing it. Brush off any loose surface dirt.

Use mild soap or a nonsudsing commercial cleaner to wash a painted wall. Warme suggests using one bucket of cleaning solution, another bucket containing clean water for rinsing, and large sponges for cleaning and rinsing.

"Always start washing a wall at the bottom and work up," she said. "Starting at the top will result in water running down over the soiled area and streaking it, but water running over a clean area can be wiped off without damage."

Wash an easily reached area without changing position, then rinse the area immediately. Wash the next area, overlapping the first one, and proceed until the wall is finished. Ceilings should be done last. Badly stained walls require redecorating.

After walls are cleaned and before wallpaper is replaced, paint or spray walls with a quaternary disinfectant, available from janitor or dairy supply outlets. Add one ounce or two tablespoons of the disinfectant to two gallons of water. This will make the walls mildew resistant. The same solution may be applied to washable wallpapers.

Cleaning basements with concrete walls and floors requires a slightly different cleaning strategy, Warme said.

First bail or pump out water and remove mud from the floor, then remove mud and surface film on ceiling, walls and floor with a coarse brush or long-handled broom. Spray or wet ceiling and walls with lukewarm water, then scrub with hot soapsuds. Repeat if necessary, using clean soapy water. Rinse walls and ceiling with a clear, lukewarm water moistened brush.

To remove odors, use a chlorine bleach solution, or use common rock salt, or stock salt, Warme advises. Rock salt is a good disinfectant. Use 1 cup of rock salt per gallon of water. However, do not use rock salt on concrete surfaces--it will ruin concrete, causing it to chip, fragment or flake. You can use rock salt on dry wall or plaster--but be sure to rinse well afterward.

Sprinkle the salt over the basement and, if the floor is dry, spray or pour a small amount of water over the salt. This mixture of salt and water makes a strong brine that should be allowed to stand on the floor until dry. When dry, sweep and wash the floor with soapy water. This treatment will disinfect the basement as well as remove odors.

Top