07/19/2013
Your Home or Office Could be Making You Sick
The Mold Doctor, who is a Certified Environmental Inspector and a Certified Remediation Contractor, and probably one of the most knowledgeable people in treating mold, has helped hundreds of people improve the health condition of their homes and businesses for more than 35 years in South Florida. Without getting into too much science, molds basically include all species of microscopic fungi that grow on multicellular filaments. Many kinds of molds can remain airborne indefinitely and are able to survive extremes of temperature and pressure. A common component of household dust, molds pose a danger to homes and the people and pets that live in them.
You may have seen white thread-like growths or clusters or small black specks along your damp bathroom or basement walls, or smelled a "musty" odor. Seeing and smelling mold is a good indication that you have a mold problem. However, you cannot always rely upon your senses to locate molds. Hidden mold can be growing behind wall coverings or ceiling tiles.
Common places to find mold are in areas where water has damaged building materials and furnishings perhaps from flooding or plumbing leaks. Mold can also be found growing along walls where warm moist air condenses on cooler wall surfaces, such as inside cold exterior walls, behind dressers, headboards, and in closets where articles are stored against walls. Rooms with both high water usage and humidity, such as kitchens, bathrooms, laundry rooms, crawl space and basements are often havens for mold. If you notice mold or know of water damaged areas in your home, it is time to take action to control its growth.
"We're finding more and more health issues related to molds that are in people's homes and their offices," Mold is often the culprit for people who are constantly sick or have itchy eyes, headaches, runny noses or respiratory illnesses. Sometimes doctor's diagnosed illnesses that keep getting worse are often caused by environmental problems in the homes, work places or schools.
Children, elderly, pregnant women, and people with a compromised immune system are the more susceptible to mold and are most likely to be hypersensitive. This means they can get very sick or contract diseases faster than others.
"Children who are constantly sick some times find out their schools are contaminated. A lot of times the portables or additions on the sides of these schools aren't insulated and sealed properly, which causes leaks and then leads to mold issues."
People with mold problems often seek help from a building contractor or exterminators, who often just removes and replaces drywall or paints over the mold. "They don't solve the problem," he said. "People wind up getting deathly sick. When you open up a wall that has mold in it, you're dispersing the mold spores throughout the house. It's like blowing on a dandelion. That's what a lot of homeowners don't realize.
A homeowner can often clean up a small mold spot without any problems. But if the mold permeates a wall, ceiling or floor or grow in large groups, that's another issue. "A lot of leaks I find in houses today are coming through exterior cracks," he said. "Stucco or wood cracks are the major cause of many interior leaks. Those kinds of leaks can't be cleaned up with bleach, which is a traditional but misguided remedy. "Bleach doesn't kill mold. That's an old wives' tale,"
To detect the amount of mold in a home or business, We begin by taking an air sample. "When we do an air sample that shows a higher content of mold inside the house as opposed to outside, it means there is a mold problem. Our remediation process, when mold problems are identified, follows certain steps: treat, remove, clean and put back. "We use certain machines, like air scrubbers and negative air machines. "When treating the mold, the negative air machines will suck out toxic spores while we are treating the affected area, This cleans whatever is in that containment area. Once we take the drywall or wall covering off the wall, we take the insulation out and scrub the walls or ceiling, the studs, the floors and clean them with a microbial disinfectant so that it's perfectly clean, then we usually seal it to prevent reoccurrence. Then we'll take another air sample to get a clearance. If the test comes back clean, we'll put everything back.If you are dealing with a moldy basement or water damaged area. Call the Mold Doctor today to be sure. 561-512-8806 cell, OR 561-252-9743
