Four Essential Ways to Keep Mold & Allergic Reactions at Bay
Have your allergy symptoms been nagging you regardless of the season? Have you been living throughout the year with sneezing, 
itchy, watery eyes, and a runny nose? If your symptoms have gone on for weeks or months, or have turned into a way of life for you, there is a good possibility that your discomfort is not due to an exceptionally stubborn cold or seasonal allergies. Rather, your allergy symptoms may well be caused by an often-overlooked indoor allergy trigger: mold! There are approximately 1,000 species of indoor molds in the United States, and people with mold sensitivities can potentially develop allergic reactions to each and every one of them. Any type of mold is a potential health issue, not just the “toxic black mold” that we all hear about. Sometimes, mold is visible and growing right in front of you on carpeting, drywall, or acoustic tile. However, mold is often hidden, lurking behind walls or under floors or growing in places that we hardly visit like basements and crawl spaces. Even though you may not see mold, it can still trigger all sorts of adverse health reactions.
A simple investigation can turn up visible mold. The prime mold growth areas are those damp, humid, high moisture places in the home such as basements, crawl spaces or any areas where there may have been a water problem in the past. If an area of the home has a swampy, musty, or mildew smell, there is a high likelihood that you have a mold problem. Some homeowners view mold problems as out of sight, out of mind. They ignore mold growth in those far corners of the home like crawl spaces, attics and basements since they don’t spend any time there. Big mistake! Due to the “stack effect,” air is sucked from the lowest levels of the home upward through the entire structure – air that contains microscopic mold spores floating on air currents that we then breathe in. As a result, mold growth, even growth deep down in a crawl space, can impact one’s health and create an unhealthy indoor air environment throughout the entire home.
There are a number of ways to help prevent mold growth in your home and keep your indoor air quality healthy:
1. Fix leaky pipes: If you’ve been ignoring that slow leak under the kitchen sink believing that it’s harmless, think again. Eliminating water sources are necessary to keep mold out of your house. Leaky pipes provide the moisture that mold needs to thrive. Not only do leaky pipes enable mold growth, they also encourage pest problems. If you see a leaky pipe, fix it immediately.
2. Make sure your ventilation systems work: Good bathroom ventilation systems send moist air out of the house. Unfortunately, builders sometimes cut corners. Some bathrooms have fans that simply circulate the moist air or, even worse, dump it into the attic instead of venting it completely outside. The indoor moisture build-up, especially daily hot showers in a non-ventilated, enclosed bathroom, can eventually lead to mold growth. It is important to find out how the ventilation systems in your bathrooms, kitchen, laundry room, and any other high moisture area are working. If you don’t have a proper ventilation system in a bathroom or elsewhere, consider putting it on your home improvement list. Unless and until the ventilation system is fixed, you’ll be at risk for dangerous mold growth.
3. Be sure to dry out a home quickly and use a dehumidifier after floods or leaks: Over the past few years, our area has been hit by Sandy as well as other numerous smaller storms that have produced severe flooding, even in areas that aren’t considered flood zones. Sometimes, just a heavy rainstorm is enough to cause basement or crawl space flooding. If you take on any water in a house, that water must be removed quickly and completely. Otherwise, mold growth can start in as little as 24-48 hours.
4. Install a hygrometer (moisture meter) and dehumidifier to problem areas: Keeping indoor humidity levels, especially in your basement and crawl space, at less than 50% is necessary to prevent mold growth. Mold will start growing at 50% relative humidity, and at 60%, mold will thrive. If you have a particularly humid or damp area of the home, install a hygrometer (moisture meter) to monitor the area. If you are consistently having high humidity readings, consider installing a commercial-grade dehumidifier in your basement or crawl space. This home investment is the only way to control humidity levels in order to stop mold growth and prevent it from spreading. Best of all, it will give you and your family crisp, clean, healthy indoor air.
Following these four essential tips can go a long way to keeping your home free of mold that can be the cause of common allergy symptons.
