Mold: The Silent Home Invader
Take a look around your house - you probably don't see any green and grimy mold growing, do you? Of course not. You maintain a clean home and take pride in providing a healthy environment for your family, especially through indoor air quality. But what you don't know about your own home may make you extremely ill. Mold is a silent home invader which is present in far more homes than you might imagine – causing allergies, asthma, and other serious illnesses. Whether growing beneath flooring panels or inside of walls or behind appliances, it's important to be able to recognize that indoor air pollution may be caused by the presence of mold in the home. In humid environments, mold can grow and create airborne spores, which cause health problems for you and your family.
Fortunately, you can often combat mold in your home through DIY home improvement techniques that are not terribly difficult or expensive. First, invest in a quality dehumidifier. This will help prevent the growth of mold by removing moisture from the air. Dehumidifiers can help reduce the risk of indoor air pollution, and save on home improvement and repair later. They also create a more comfortable home. Dehumidifiers rid your house of the stagnant, clammy feeling created by the humid days. Mold thrives on moisture, so pay careful attention to any part of your house where condensation or leakage may occur. Mold can lurk in cracks between tile, or bubbles under kitchen linoleum, or anywhere else that the humidity is high. Bleach is a great mold killer.
After cleaning a mold-covered area, either by DIY or by a professional, protect yourself from future attacks to your indoor air quality; paint over the areas with a mold-sealing paint, and use dehumidifiers to prevent future problems. Because indoor air pollution can occur in hard-to-see places, use creative DIY home improvement techniques to further investigate. For example, remove any wall covers that you may have for electricity, phone or television cables. This will allow you to be able to look within your walls to detect the presence of mold. If found, you can take simple measures such as removing and replacing just the section of drywall that is infected, to promote healthier indoor air quality in your home. Keep in mind that if mold damage is severe, then home insurance companies are likely to cap claim money to about 5000 dollars in funds. This makes DIY prevention even more important, to eliminate the health risks from indoor air pollution by spores. Not only will these steps keep indoor air pollution to a minimum, but they will keep your money in your wallet, and not your doctor's or contractor's.
