What is mold and how is it bad for your house and the health of its residents?
Mold is a natural part of the environment and it is present everywhere in the form of spores. Mold spores are always in the air around us and we are inhaling them right now but when does it become the problem to have mold around you when this is a fact that it is already present everywhere? Mold becomes a problem when the amount of mold present inside your house is greater than the amount present inside which means that it is growing inside your house. How does it grow? Mold grows on wet, damp and dark surfaces often not visible because of the area it chooses to grow but if you have a visible mold growth present inside your house, this is the time to get mold testing done in order to know the intensity of the problem. Mold not only does look bad but also creates a problem related to the health of individuals present inside the house in which the amount of mold spores is higher. Mold plays an important role in maintaining the ecosystem of nature by decomposing material like dead plants, trees and leaves etc but it should be completely avoided indoors and here are some reasons why:
- Many people are sensitive towards mold or are allergic and for those mold presence inside the house causes symptoms like stuffy nose, red eyes, wheezing, itching, sneezing etc.
- People with asthma or other respiratory issues are more sensitive towards mold as it causes difficulty in breathing for them and other issues.
- In 2004, the Institute of Health found out that mold was responsible for upper respiratory tract problems in healthy people as well like cough and wheezing.
- In 2009, the World Health Organization suggested that at early age, if children are exposed to mold, there is a higher chance that they may develop asthma.
- People with immune suppression and allergies are most likely to be affected by the presence of mold as it has been proven to cause many problems for them
How do we know if we are allergic to mold or not? There is no blood test for mold allergy as of yet but some physicians can perform allergy tests on you in order to know if you react to such allergens or not.
How does it grow inside the house? There are certain common happenings inside our house that we avoid which may result in increased growth of mold inside your house. These places are leaks in windows, roofs or pipes or where a recent flooding was experienced. It grows on card boards, ceiling tiles, paper products and wood products. We may not expect or know it but it also grows in paints, dust, drywall, carpet, wallpaper, fabric and upholstery.
Most people ask that if we cannot see it, how do we know that it is present inside our house? Well mold has a specific kind of smell which most of the people are aware of, so if you have large mold growth present inside your home, you will be able to smell it and if you look keenly, you may be able to spot it as well.
There are certain methods as well to see if mold is present in front of your or not, in Mold testing Atlanta citizens can use two methods to check if mold is present inside their house or on a surface or not.
One is to take an air test and the second one is to get a sample and then check if it is mold or not. There is a device called spore trap which is placed in an area where mold presence is suspected. Once the sample taking is done, the trap is tested in order to know if mold was present in that air sample or not.
The second one is pretty simple and can be done without any specialized equipment but the limitation of this test is that it can only be used to know if visible mold is present on a surface or not. It is done but dipping a swab in diluted bleach and then dabbing it on the surface where the test is being done. If the spots present on the wall lightens, this means that mold is present or it even comes back after cleaning then you can certainly say that mold is present on the surface.
As from this article, we have deduced that mold not only looks bad but also creates many health issues for the people present inside the area where mold is present, we can, to some extent, test the presence at home but to get rid of it, we will need the help of some professionals who will make sure to complete the whole process with care and make your house problem free again.