Mold is one of the worst problems you can find within your home, but when it does occur, it is best to handle it appropriately to remove it from your home. Mold spores within your home get into the ventilation and the air and can cause health problems and allergies. Here are some recommendations to help you clean up and remedy a mold growth problem in your home.
Remove Affected and Damaged Materials
When you discover mold growth, you need to clean up the area so you can remove the mold from your home. Some types of materials within your home are not salvageable and need to be discarded to fully clean your home of the mold. These types of materials which you need to remove from your home can include drywall, upholstered furniture, carpeting, and mattresses.
Other surfaces that are nonporous, you can clean by wiping the mold off and disinfecting the surface with a bleach and water solution. However, be sure to always hire a professional mold remediation service to remove mold if it exceeds ten square feet in size.
Inspect For Additional Mold Growth
Once you have removed any mold-damaged items and the visible mold itself, you need to make sure all mold is gone from your home. And the best way to accomplish this is to hire a professional mold inspector. Because mold usually grows in dark areas, it can be difficult to find all areas where it has grown, and therefore it can be necessary to complete testing that does not rely on a visible inspection.
Your professional mold inspector can use one of several types of mold tests. First, they may complete a surface swab test or a tape sample test on surfaces within your home that appear clean but might have microscopic mold spores upon them. This can indicate there is still mold growth somewhere in your home that has allowed mold spores to settle on the counter, walls, and tops of the cupboards, for example. The inspector will wipe the swab onto a culture dish to see if any mold grows.
Another type of test is an air test, which collects a sample of the air in your home to see if there are any mold spores present within your home's air. The mold inspector may place several air tests in various places of your home, such as in a basement room, in the attic, or in a back bedroom that might have mold exposure. These types of inspections will also determine what type, if any, of mold is present in your home, such as black toxic mold or another type of mold growth.
Reach out to a mold inspection company to learn more.
If your home was being appraised today, would you be alright with the condition of the property? Oftentimes, people don't think too seriously about how much they need to do to the space until problems start to occur with their home, which is why it is so important to stay up-to-date with cleaning.
Check out great tips and tricks about cleaning, and learn when it might be time to contact a professional cleaning company instead of taking care of things on your own. By making the right choices now, you could keep your property in great condition, which could save you money down the road.