Do you have Mold in your Home?

Damp conditions within a home can lead to the growth of mold. Mold can create health concerns for many people, and lead to more severe problems for sensitive individuals. In order to prevent the growth of mold in your home, those moist conditions should be promptly eliminated.

What is mold? Mold is a microorganism that can cause allergies, asthma and other health problems. Molds will often produce mycotoxins which can make you sick, producing cold and flu-like symptoms, a feeling of general malaise, sore throats, headaches, burning or itchy eyes, dizziness, diarrhea, skin rashes and altered immune system function. Mold spores, which are small and lightweight and are easily distributed throughout the house, can germinate and form entire new colonies of mold. These growths of mold can sometimes be seen as areas of discoloration, ranging from white to orange, and from brown to black. Many times, however, mold may be growing in a home and can only be detected by the presence of a musty odor.

How can I remove mold from my home? Ridding your home of mold and keeping it out will usually involve three steps:

1. Eliminate the source of excess moisture from the home
2. Remove or kill mold colonies and spores
3. Install some type of a ventilation system in the home.

Excess moisture in the home can come from a variety of sources, such as floods, leaky pipes, or certain activities within the home. These activities might include bathing or cooking without the use of an externally vented fan, failure to vent laundry dryers to the outside of the home, or the excess use of a humidifier. If a leak is causing the problem, be sure to patch and repair all internal and external leaks as soon as possible (including cracks in the house, a leaky roof, leaking pipes, etc).

Killing the mold colonies and spores will involve cleaning or throwing away various items around the home. Surface areas and hard objects can often be brushed and scrubbed with a disinfecting solution, while porous objects (such as carpeting, sheetrock, furniture, etc) may need to be thrown away. Several different disinfecting solutions have been recommended for cleaning mold from hard surfaces, including:

• A mix of 3/4 cup bleach per one gallon of warm water.
• A mix of 2/3 cup of a non-ammonia cleanser (Ajax, Comet, etc.), 1/3 cup non-phosphate detergent, one quart of 5% sodium hypochlorite (Clorox, Hilex, etc.) and 3 quarts of warm water. (Never mix ingredients that contain chlorine and ammonia, as a toxic gas can be produced!)
  

When using a disinfecting solution, brush the solution onto the affected area with a medium soft brush. After a thorough cleaning, rinse with fresh water and then dry the area quickly but completely. If possible, paint the area with a mold-resistant interior paint. Always be certain to vent the area when using chlorine bleach solutions. People with a known sensitivity to chlorine should have someone else clean and disinfect their home while they are away. Do not use an ordinary vacuum cleaner for mold clean up from carpet (ordinary vacuum cleaners are unable to collect and trap the very fine particles, so they actually stir them up and disperse them throughout the house). Instead, you should use a central vacuum that exhausts air outside the home, a vacuum cleaner designed to remove very small particles (i.e. a HEPA vacuum), or the services of a professional cleaning company that uses a vacuum system in a truck (which is parked outside of the home). Be sure to clean your heating-system ductwork as well, since they can be a major route for the spread of mold spores throughout your home.

Increased ventilation, whether mechanical or passive, will perform two important tasks. It will bring fresh air into the home, which is helpful for air quality. It will also serve to lower the humidity in the home since the outside air usually contains a lower relative humidity, especially during the winter.

For more information on Indoor Air Quality, contact the Minnesota Department of Health at 651-215-0909 or click here to visit their “mold” web page.