Helpful Tips on Mold in Homes
Mold Horror (Don't Panic!) By Al Emmons, 4th Generation of Creative Construction of Wisconsin Inc. Does finding mold in your house strike terror in your heart? Are you worried that it will cause health problems and/ or ruin your property? I am writing this to ease your mind and keep you away from those that will try to frighten you out of your money. That being said, you need to know that molds are part of the natural environment. They play a part in nature outdoors by breaking down fallen trees and dead leaves. Mold is everywhere. Mold spores float in the air and are carried indoors and on household dust. According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services about 10 percent of the population is allergic to some type of mold. Most of these people are affected by outdoors as well as indoor exposure to mold. If one is truly allergic they probably would need to wear a mask both indoors and outdoors. According to Dan Feldt, who has a MS in Environmental Health, and works for Bonestroo Engineering, an environmental engineering firm, "there are no standards for mold. No one knows what is safe. It all depends on the individual." Respiratory mold infection can occur but is very rare and limited almost exclusively to immune-compromised patients, including those with transplants, chemotherapy, AIDS etc. Mold spores will not grow if moisture is not present. Recently because of the wetter fall and warmer November, combined with running showers, washers and dryers, cooking indoors and not turning on the furnace more often, some residents are finding the collection of mildew and or mold on wall or window sill surfaces. One of our clients on Northway in Greendale was worried because his wife has asthma and was experiencing such a mildew situation and called us. What did we do? We found a mold test kit at home Depot for $10.00. The instructions suggested that at least two kits be used. Use one for indoors and one for outdoors. The kit contains a Petri dish with some mold loving media. After preparing the plates you are to place one outdoors and one indoors, near the area of concern. After one hour the media is covered and allowed to incubate at room temperature for at least 48 hours. If the results of the samples indicate that the amount of mold growth indoors is significantly greater than the mold growth outdoors it the type of mold(s) found indoors is significantly different than the mold growth outdoors, then you have a mold problem. There is the option of sending away the test sample for further analysis. If you have a mold problem, before you give hundreds or thousands of dollars to men in "ghost buster" suits for remediation, here are some tips:
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