5 Signs You May Have Mold in the Home

10/28/2016 (Permalink)

Most people know that mold in the home can present problems for the health of you and your family. But not everyone knows what to look for. After all, mold in your basement doesn’t always present itself as obviously as green growing on an old loaf of bread. Still, if you wait for more visible signs, you risk deeper, more significant structural damage in your home, resulting in greater removal and restoration costs. More importantly, it allows threats to your respiratory health to grow and fester for longer. If you notice any of these signs of trouble, it may be time to reach out for professional Mold Removal Services.

1. Discoloration on Your Walls

One early sign of mold is discoloration on your walls. This, by itself, may or may not signal that mold is present; other staining on your walls can come from fading paint, water spots, or rubbing against the surface. You can determine whether the discoloration comes from mold in a few ways. The most obvious is textural: if the spot is soft, fuzzy, or fibrous, it has a greater chance of being mold growth. Another comes from where the discoloration occurs. Mold tends to grow more in cool, damp places. A basement and/or near a water heater or water line is the most obvious example.

Finally, if you cannot tell, you can test the sample. Home tests are available, or a professional mold removal service can inspect and test the spots, and the area in general, for the presence of mold. In either case, you want to find out quickly before mold has a chance to spread further into your living environment.

2. Musty Smells

Often, even before you can see mold emerging, you notice a stale, musty smell lingering in the air. It may be subtle at first, but it provides an important signal for potential mold growth in your space. What’s more, because mold spores spread in the air, it can also start clinging to your clothing and other fabrics in the area. One way of figuring out whether that scent comes from mold is to keep track of whether the scent stays away after you address it. Air freshener should help remove the scent from the air, and washing your clothing, shower curtain, or other materials should get rid of it there. If the smell keeps returning, there is a good chance you do have a mold problem. On the other hand, you want to be careful about letting airborne spores spread through your home. Having the air tested can be an important safety precaution to prevent it from advancing into other areas.

3. Cold or Allergy Symptoms

Seasonal allergies are common, and can present themselves in any family.But some of the same symptoms—runny noses, scratchy throats, headaches, and the like—can be signs of mold present in the air in your home.If the symptoms linger longer than normal, or if they come up in times of the year you would not expect, you may want to look into it. Most of the time these symptoms do not become larger health problems, but the symptoms can be frustrating and prevent you or your family from feeling or working your best. And if anyone in the home suffers from asthma, mold spores can exacerbate the problem and bring on shortness of breath and even full-fledged asthma attacks. If you start to see symptoms or breathing difficulties develop in yourself or your family members, have a professional test the areas potentially affected.

4. Soft, Soggy, or Damp Materials

Because mold grows better in cool, damp places, you find a softer, damper feel to materials that it has infiltrated. If you touch cardboard or wood and find it squishy or softer than you would expect those materials to be, there is a good chance that mold has worked its way in. This kind of damage can be troubling in two ways. First, the more mold works into the materials, the weaker those materials become. Deep mold damage can disrupt the structural integrity of your home. Similar to termite damage, mold seeping into your woodwork can create problems that remain invisible until too much has been done to remedy it. Second, when mold works into porous structural parts, it can be difficult or impossible to remediate in a way that allows you to save those elements rather than replacing them. Merely cleaning these surfaces with antibacterial cleaning materials will not remove the problem; you need to work with a professional mold removal service to truly get rid of this level of mold in your home.

5. You See It!

Sometimes you can see mold growing and do not need to do any kind of analysis or deeper investigation. If you see black and white specks on the wall or ceiling, or gathered around appliances that run water, you have mold. It may also appear just as a black or white or orange mass of crystalline structure gathered in those places. If you look with a magnifying glass, you will usually see spores or fibers present on the substance. This is clear evidence of mold present in your home, and something you need to address right away before it can spread.

Get Rid of Indoor Mold

If you see any of these signs of mold invading your home, trying to take care of it on your own is usually a mistake. Wiping surfaces by itself might remove the mold from those surfaces, but it has the side effect of pushing mold into the air where it can do more damage if inhaled. And for all of that, the mold will likely return to the surface you wiped down to begin with! We take a thorough, professional approach to removing mold from the surfaces, structures, and air in your home. When you think mold may be present in your home,Contact Us for all of your professional mold removal needs.