What are the 5 Signs You Have Mold Inside Walls And How To Deal With It? Mold can be detrimental to your family’s health. If you think you may have mold in your house, you will want to contact a professional water damage restoration company in Lexington or a mold remediation company, today!
Five Most Common Causes of Growth
The five most common causes of mold include water at the foundation, flooding, leaks in roofs, leaking pipes and poor humidity and ventilation.
1. Water In The Foundation
Look out for a build-up of water around your home’s base. This can lead to foundational problems for your home if there is a lot of water. At your home’s foundation, gathering rainwater can be prevented by sloping your yard outwards from your foundation. In the same line of thought, damp basements are another culprit. Usually, there is no good ventilation in basements. This is an indication that basements could contain higher humidity or moisture amounts compared to other rooms in the home. Also, basements are often colder which means more condensation occurs which leads to humidity and basement.
2. Flooding
Flooding is another cause of mold. Problems with mold removal problems are hard to avoid if your home has gone through a flood. Your home will be wet and it may take some time before your home becomes dry. It could take weeks to dry your home. This means that there is a great risk for the growth of mold. Remember that mold only needs twenty-four hours before growth occurs.
3. A Leaking Roof
Leaks in the roof such as pipes leaking in the attic may remain undiscovered until the mold has already grown. To ensure your attic is in tip-top condition, make sure to regularly check your attic for any leaking. Keep in an eye for water spots especially on the ceiling just before the attic.
4. Pipes Leaking
Water leaking from a pipe is the most common cause of the growth of mold. The worst leaking is the kind that you can’t see, such as above a ceiling or inside a wall. Leaks that are hidden fester mold and the mold may already have spread.
5. Poor Humidity
A poorly-ventilated home is a mold-risk. Ventilation that is lacking creates pockets of moist, stagnant air that will encourage the growth of mold. Steam and evaporating water create humidity. This needs to maintain a moisture level that is balanced to be circulated outdoors.
Remember that certain conditions are necessary for the growth of mold. This includes enough time to grow, humidity, water leaks, or any source of moisture, warmth, darkness, a source of food such as cotton, drywall, or wood and mold spores.
Signs of Mold Growth
Extensive mold in the home can become dangerous. The reason is that some species of mold produce mycotoxin, a substance that leads to headaches, problems with breathing, and even damage in the neurological system. Other symptoms may even include an annoying odor, sneezing, or a runny nose. There are other more subtle signs your home has mold. For one, a nasty smell coming from your heating system or air conditioner can mean mold. In particular, stand-alone units of air conditioning are the main spots for the growth of mold. They are dark, damp, and exposed frequently to warmer temperatures when not in use. Putting an air conditioner in a heated closet or basement during wintertime also leads to an increased likelihood of the development of mold.
How Do I Detect Mold Inside My Walls and Drywall?
Peeling wallpaper can also be a symptom of mold. While some scruffiness and discoloration tend to eventually strike your wallpaper, unusual surface or peeling abnormalities such as crackling or bubbling can be a sign of wall moisture. And remember, a reliable precursor to mold is always going to be moisture. Make sure to pay attention to any warped areas that feel damp.
To keep mold from growing in your cooling or heating systems, you can have a specialist check them regularly. Another indication of mold in the house is dark grout between bathroom tiles. Even if this type is most likely the harmless type, there could be flooding in the adjacent room or a leak in bathroom plumbing that could produce a more toxic fungus type that only professionals can remove. A sample sent for testing will let you know whether or not your shower is harmless.
Mold could also be the culprit when you have pre-existent problems with breathing that after long periods at home seem to flare up. Many household species of mold won’t affect persons that do not have issues with breathing. However, in individuals suffering from asthma, it could aggravate it. Consider a mold inspection and a doctor’s appointment if the problems with your breathing seem to get worse with no clear cause.
Mold can appear in many colors, textures, or shapes. They can look anything from dripping, green slime, or a grey fuzz that looks innocuous. If there are spots in your walls that are peeling away or an amazing amount of room humidity, see if there isn’t a double leak in your pipes.
Mold reaction symptoms can be as subtle as perpetual fits of sneezing or a running nose. The cold that just doesn’t seem to want to go away can be a sign of a sneaky mold issue. Notice if your cold gets worse immediately after doing laundry in the basement or when you spend time in a specific room. This is probably the room with the most abundant levels of hidden mold.
If you are suffering from endless sniffles, there might be a moldy reason for this. What you thought were seasonal allergies can be a result of mold exposure. In fact, if you go to work each day and find that your symptoms alleviate at work and get worse at home, you may have a mold infestation.
Your humidifier may be a great part of your skincare routine but at the same time, it could encourage mold growth. You shouldn’t have much of a problem if you use humidifiers in low settings during the dry summer or winter months. However, if you are humidifying constantly, you need to check regularly to make sure the extra humidity is not fostering the growth of mold.
Surprisingly, modern homes are just as attractive to mold as older homes. Modern homes may be more conducive to mold growth. Unlike draft, old stone homes, newly-built houses are built so tightly that damp and water spots tend to accumulate the moment it occurs inside the home rather than get vented out. Dryers, dishwashers, and modern appliances also generate heat and moisture necessary to feed a growing colony of fungus.
Any flooding occurrences does guarantee that mold is going to come next. Most people that a large flood int he basement leads to mold. However, even just a leaking sink pipe or a constantly overflowing bathtub creates ripe conditions for the infestation of mold.
Everyone gets affected differently by toxic mold. One sign for a possible mold reaction is feeling fatigued most of the time. If you keep hitting the snoozing button rather than waking up energized each day, mold may be the culprit.
When things in your house smell a bit more musty than they did, even if you have done an extreme general cleaning, your problem may be mold. One clue that mold is the reason for a musty odor in the home and not a lack of cleaning is if there is a stronger smell in one part of the home or a room corner. If you have taken out the trash, steamed the curtains, and washed the carpet and the musty odor remains, this could very well be mold.
Most can infest clothing as well as grow in basements. This is particularly true in damp clothes. If you tend to dry your laundry on an outdoor rack or leave your wet towel on the floor, mold can grow on the clothing and irritate your skin. Keep your wet clothing dry as soon as you can to prevent this. Avoid letting wet towels accumulate in your shower room.
Can I Just Get Into The Wall and Use Bleach To Clean It?
It may be tempting to get into the wall and spray everything with bleach by yourself. However, if you have never done this before, it is better to call someone licensed to deal with mold. This is especially true if you have never gone into the wall and don’t know how to detect how extensive the mold damage is. Leaving the eradication of mold to professionals will save not only your health but also your sanity. A professional team will have all the protective gear, detection tools and methods necessary to get rid of all the mold in your home.
How Do I Remove Mold From The Inside of My Walls?
When there is mold inside your walls, you won’t really be able to tell how extensive the damage is on your own. Removing mold from inside your own walls may even be dangerous, particularly if you are suffering from existing conditions such as:
- allergies
- asthma
- breathing problems
- skin irritation
- itchiness
- fatigue
Unless you are a licensed mold expert, it is best to leave the mold eradication process to a team of professionals. Doing this yourself may aggravate your symptoms and any pre-existing conditions unnecessarily. Attempting to do anything yourself may even cause you to spend more money later on trying to deal with your aggravated symptoms that are a direct result of mold.
Why Is Mold Growing on My Base Molding and Lower Part Of My Walls Only?
If there is mold growing on the base molding of your lower walls and you don’t see anything on the upper parts of the walls, this means that there is moisture leaking from the inside of your walls out, and only on the baseboards. This could mean a burst pipe or if you live in the basement, a foundation water damage issue that is causing your home’s foundation to be damp. Remember, mold is caused by moisture so where there is moisture, there will be mold. Contact a water damage restoration service if you believe there may be foundation damage.
I keep telling my landlord that I think there is mold inside my walls, what should I do?
Your landlord is liable for mold depending on the state you live in. For most states, there are no clear, legal responsibilities that are outlined for landlords to take charge of mold in a home. The regulations, statutes, ordinance, and building codes have not been spelled out. However, landlords can be held responsible for problems with mold even with no specific governing laws that have to do with mold. There are no set federal laws with regards to building tolerance and exposure limits to mold. There are no mold standards in buildings for residences. A few states such as Texas, New Jersey, Maryland, Indiana, and California as well as San Francisco and New York City have taken forward steps towards the establishment of regulation for mold in indoor air, guidelines, and standards for permissible mold levels. check with your state department of public health and your state department of environmental protection about how liable your landlord is in terms of getting rid of your mold problem in your state. If he or she is not liable, you may have to deal with the mold problem by yourself. Nonetheless, if you suspect that there is mold growing inside your mold and are feeling sure about this, you are right in informing your landlord.
What Is The Best Way To Prevent Mold Inside Walls?
The best way to prevent mold growth within walls is to make sure no moisture exists in your walls. Call an expert periodically to do a professional test for mold within your walls. That way, you can be sure that no mold exists inside your walls.
I have mold inside my closet walls, and there is no leak?
If there is mold within your closet walls and there seems to be no leak coming from anywhere, the cause may be your humidifier. Check to see if the mold stops growing after you don’t use your humidifier for a few days. Call an expert to get to the bottom of the issue, if this does not work.
I Found This Yellowish Fungus Growing From Inside The Walls?
If you find any fungus within walls, no matter what color it is, call a professional mold eradicator to get rid of it. Trying to deal with the problem may expose you to unnecessary toxins produced by the mold or fungus.
Is Mold Inside Walls Dangerous?
Depending on what type of mold it is, the level of toxicity may vary. Mold within your walls does indicate moisture which in itself causes rot to happen, aside from mold. Depending on the variety of mold, the level of toxicity varies. Call an expert to make sure you are kept in the safe zone and not inadvertently exposed to toxic mold. If you believe there is mold in your walls, be sure to contact a mold remediation company, today.
