5 min read
Mold is an unsightly problem that should be addressed as soon as it emerges. It can adversely affect your property and your health, which is enough reason to observe best practices for preventing mold growth.
The Consequences of Mold
Those allergic to mold spores can suffer severe symptoms like fatigue, coughing, headaches, and memory loss. Others who don’t have immediate adverse reactions to mold exposure can still develop health problems in the long term. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), frequent or prolonged mold exposure may result in upper respiratory tract issues like wheezing and difficulty breathing. It can also exacerbate symptoms in people with asthma.
A mold infestation can adversely affect your property’s market value. This is because mold leaves an unmistakable and distinctive mark on walls, floors, and ceilings. Even after eliminating the problem, many real estate buyers will still hesitate to close a deal on the house or building if it has a history of mold infestation.
Mold can be devastating – the more severe the infestation, the more significant the consequences. Fortunately, this is also a problem you can avoid through prevention and timely mold remediation in Washington DC.
Steps for Preventing Mold At Home
Mold prevention is all about consistently maintaining an environment that is hostile to mold. Simply put, you need to ensure that your home doesn’t become an ideal breeding ground for mold spores to grow and proliferate.
Below is a quick overview of the conditions that allow mold to thrive:
- Moist environments
- Damp, porous surfaces
- High humidity
To prevent mold from growing indoors, it’s best to create an environment that is unfavorable for their development. Here are ten habits and practices for preventing mold in your home:
- Keep the indoor humidity levels in your home between 30 and 60 percent.
- Use dehumidifiers, especially in your basement and unventilated rooms prone to condensation.
- Install exhaust fans in the kitchen and bathrooms. These parts of the house often have wet surfaces (e.g., the kitchen sink, shower stall, and the floor around the toilet), and exhaust fans help dry them faster.
- Regularly clean your bathrooms with bleach or cleaning products that can kill mold.
- Regularly check indoor plumbing for leaks.
- Regularly check your rain gutters and roof for leaks, too.
- Fix leaks in your home as quickly as possible.
- Clean your roof during spring and summer. Remove the leaves and debris from your gutters to prevent clogging when it rains.
- Remove rugs and carpets when they are exposed to water. Wash and dry them thoroughly before laying them again on the floor.
- Avoid overwatering your indoor potted plants. Put a catch basin underneath the pots so it will be easy to collect and drain the excess water whenever you water your plants.
Mold Prevention SOPs: What to Do After a Successful Mold Remediation
Despite our best efforts, mold can still make its way into our homes. Fortunately, when that happens, you can call an expert mold remediation company to eliminate the problem for you. A seasoned company like Restoration 1, for example, can handle all types of residential mold problems. An experienced team has the equipment and know-how to remove mold without the risk of spore dispersal.
However, there’s still some work left after successful mold remediation in Washington DC. Here are some measures you can implement to prevent mold from growing again in your home:
- Investigate the source of the moisture and find out what you can do to keep the area dry. Common sources of microbial growth in houses are condensation on window panes, plumbing leaks that saturate the drywall, damaged gutters, and leaky ceilings. Once you’ve determined the cause, contact professionals who can correct the problem.
- Improve your indoor ventilation by installing exhaust fans where necessary. You may also consider switching to windows you can open instead of permanently closed glass panels.
- Use natural dehumidifiers to keep small corners and often-used surfaces dry. Baking soda, charcoal, rock salt, and calcium chloride are ideal. You can also use them as a supplement to dehumidifiers and exhaust fans.
- Turn on your air conditioner in the summer and set it to “dry.” ACs work like dehumidifiers because they remove moisture from the air indoors and provide ventilation.
- Throw out porous materials infested with mold. Non-porous materials with treated surfaces are easy to clean, and you can reuse them after removing all the mold. However, for items like throw pillows, carpets, curtains, and untreated wood furniture, there’s no guarantee that microbial growth will be 100 percent terminated or that the object won’t be infested again. It will be safer and possibly more cost-effective to throw them out and buy new ones instead.
Experts on Mold Remediation in Washington DC
Mold prevention should become a habit and an integral part of your daily routine in order for it to be effective. Microbial growth will emerge wherever and whenever given the opportunity. Moreover, a house is an ideal environment for mold if it’s kept unventilated. The easiest and best way to avoid mold is to incorporate the tips listed above into your daily routine.
If, however, microbial growth persists, you can always count on professionals like Restoration 1 to remove microbial growth in your home.
Call Restoration 1 of Washington DC at (202) 946-5752 or fill out the contact form on our website. With our expert advice and help, you can protect your health, your household’s well-being, and your home’s market value from destructive mold.
