Common Signs of Mold

Two common signs that your home has a mold problem is seeing mold or smelling it, especially when mold is hidden or is growing in a non-living area of your home, like a crawl space or attic. Mold is often discovered during home inspections for pending sales when basements, crawl spaces, attics, and those other non-inhabited areas are carefully examined. The third sign of a mold problem is when a person living or spending significant time in a building has chronic, physical symptoms consistent with a reaction to mold. 

Let’s take a closer look at these three common signs of mold: 

Seeing Mold

Sometimes there are visible signs of mold on walls, floors, and ceilings While tiny airborne mold spores are not visible to the naked eye, patches of mold growing on organic material often are. Depending on the species, mold comes in a wide variety of colors. Black, brown, yellow, pink, and green mold are all common in dwellings. Mold often has a “fuzzy” texture, but not always, and some common molds simply look like black or red stains. Mold can take on many different appearances and is often mistaken for dirt or soot.

If you notice a mold stain, treat it promptly. Mold grows surprisingly fast, and if there is some underlying condition causing mold growth in your home, it will only get worse if not treated. The presence of mold in a home is a proof-positive confirmation that there are conditions inside your home that are ripe for mold growth. Small patches can quickly turn into large ones, particularly during those hot summer months when humidity levels are high. Also, seeing small mold growth on the surface may be just the tip of the iceberg. There may well be a much larger problem on the other side of the stain. Large mold colonies will often grow in out of sight areas such as above ceiling tiles or behind walls where water may have leaked. 

Smelling Mold

Some people first detect mold in their house through their nose and not their eyes, and often the tell-tale odor of mold is the first sign of that there is a problem, especially when mold is growing in areas that are not easily visible. The odor of mold is often described as pungent “musty” or “earthy.” No matter how you describe it, the smell of mold is unpleasant and gives a room that stuffy, stale feeling. 

When using odor to detect mold, you may notice certain rooms have a stronger smell. That may lead you to the root of the mold issue. Also, mold can grow in air conditioning or heating units, spraying out mold spores throughout the home. Paying particular attention to not only where, but also when you notice the moldy scent could help you identify the issue. For example, if the smell becomes stronger when the air conditioning or heating is running is a strong sign that mold may be growing in the unit, tubing, or vents.  

Health Effects of Mold

Often mold is detected because of its health effects on people inhabiting the mold-infested building. You don’t have to touch or ingest mold to react to it – merely breathing in the airborne mold spores is more than enough. Mold can trigger numerous health problems including difficulty breathing, especially with those who have asthma, other respiratory conditions, or a compromised immune system. 

Ongoing chronic symptoms that have no other explanation could be a sign of mold in the home. This is particularly the case if a person’s symptoms flare up while in the home or building, but ease up when they leave. Typical mold allergy symptoms include a runny nose, itchy, watery eyes, coughing, sneezing, and sometimes skin rashes. If the cause of the allergic reaction cannot be identified, a mold inspection is strongly recommended.