If you are experiencing some kind of negative effects on your health when you are in your home, but which stop and disappear when you leave your home, you are probably looking at an environmental cause.
One of the most common environmental contaminants in our homes is mold. Mold is particularly dangerous because it tends to hide from plain sight, and by the time you are able to see it, it will have spread quite extensively and you will need to hire a professional mold removal company to help you get rid of it.
So, how can you recognize a mold problem before it escalates out of hand? Well, you can recognize our health symptoms as mold exposure and then inspect your house for signs of mold. Here’s what you can expect.
Mold Exposure Symptoms
The majority of symptoms of mold exposure are largely minor and can be brushed aside as nothing. They come as a result of the mold releasing irritants into the air around. They can cause allergic or asthmatic problems to people who suffer from these conditions, but even healthy people may experience some issues.
Some of the most common symptoms of mold exposure include sneezing and a runny nose, as well as watery red eyes and itchiness of the eyes and skin. With symptoms as common as these, it is easy to understand why most people brush these aside and not think about them as symptoms of a bigger problem. Though the symptoms are common, we don’t want it to escalate and cause a bigger problem to the health of your family members so, should you suspect mold in your home, you may wish to call someone like gwynn oak’s mold removal experts to come out and remove the mold before it does any serious damage to your home and your health.
If this only happens at home, you have to find the root cause before dealing with the molds as it might come back if the source is not dealt with first. One common reason why mold may appear is due to storm damage. If your area has experienced harsh weather, it is very likely that it will have caused holes in the roof, dents in the walls, and clogged pipes. If you notice any of these things and think that your mold has occurred because of it, it is better to talk to the experts about repairing storm damage before the mold has a chance to get worse. The sooner you do this, the healthier you will feel in the long run.
Black Mold
Most types of mold are relatively harmless to your health if you do not suffer from allergies or respiratory problems. However, there is one type of mold which stands out – black mold. It is also known as toxic mold, seeing how it secretes a substance known as a mycotoxin.
This substance, or rather a group of substances are more than a simple irritant and an allergen. They can cause some serious damage to your skin and particularly the airways if inhaled. Healthy individuals may only have a mild reaction, but people with a compromised immune system, as well as young children and pets may develop serious health issues, including fevers and serious difficulties breathing.
Where to Expect Mold
Mold likes water; in fact, it requires water to grow and if it cannot find any, it will enter a kind of stasis until conditions improve. So, if you suspect you may have mold in your house, look for places which get wet.
Another factor which promotes mold growth is darkness. If you combine these two factors, you get the most likely places where mold can be found – damp and dark. The number one place to look is your basement. Even a small amount of moisture is enough for it to thrive, so check the pipes that go through your basement.
The other most likely place you can expect to find mold is your bathroom. Places like the underside of your sink or the drains fit the bill perfectly, and if you don’t clean them carefully and thoroughly, they may develop this nasty growth.
Finally, if you have had any kind of a leak, whether a pipe burst in your walls or the snow melt caused your attic to flood, it presents the perfect opportunity for the mold to form. In order to prevent it, you will need to call in mold experts to deal with the situation and probably replace all the water-damaged elements.
A mold problem can range from a light irritant to a very serious illness vector, but in any case, you should not ignore it, but rather solve it as soon as possible, both for the sake of your house’s safety and for your own health.
