Going through your house and looking for mold is something that every homeowner should do at least two or three times a year, especially since mold can start growing in as little as 48 hours after the spores land on something they like. Killing the mold is not the only problem you will have to deal with if you find it; removing the mold from the property is something else to be concerned with, since dead mold spores can still cause allergic reactions in some people. Depending on the severity of the allergy, these reactions can be a simple case of sneezing or as severe as requiring hospitalization. You can take antihistamines to help combat this, but no one should take medication if they do not have to.
There are a few places in your house that you need to inspect regularly for mold growth. These are areas of the house that naturally have a lot of moisture and these include the kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, and the basement.
The basement is somewhat humid because of its underground location, but there are things that you can do to add unnecessary humidity to it. Some people use the basement as a laundry room as well and this is fine, but you need to make sure that the dryer is properly vented to the outside of the house. Having an exhaust fan in the room will also help get rid of some of the excess moisture. One thing that you should really avoid doing at all costs is hanging up laundry to dry without proper ventilation.
The bathroom is one of the worst areas for mold in the house and this is generally due to flawed waterproofing. This could be cracked tiles on the floor, missing areas of grout or caulking, or mold growing on the ceiling because the humidity in the room is too high. This can be corrected by having an exhaust fan installed, just like in the basement. In fact, having these fans in all moist rooms of the home is recommended and the chances for mold growth will be greatly reduced.
Something to avoid having in the bathroom or another moist area of the home is carpet. Mold loves to grow in carpet and once the padding underneath it is contaminated, it has to be taken up and thrown away, because it cannot be cleaned.
The kitchen is another area where the floor and ceiling are the most at risk. Try to seal up and cracks in the flooring and make sure there is an exhaust system over the stove to get rid of steam before it hits the ceiling.
Showing posts with label mold. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mold. Show all posts
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Cleaning Up The Sewage From Your Home
Cleaning up the sewage in your home after it has been flooded is a pretty ugly experience, but unfortunately for some homeowners that live in parts of the United States where floods are common, it can be something that they have to go through at least once. While you can have a professional service clean up after the flood for you, you can save a substantial amount of money by doing a lot of it yourself. You can use this saved money to purchase new furniture, clothing, food, or anything else that you could need after the flood is over.
Flood waters can contain all kinds of things that can be hazardous to your health. This can include chemicals, sewage, soil, bacteria, viruses, and etcetera. These are things that you do not want to have in your home and doing your best to get them cleaned up, even if it means hiring a professional, is something you need to do. You need to purchase the protective equipment necessary to keep yourself from getting sick due to all the different things left behind by the water, but this will not be very much. You will need some latex gloves, a pair of plastic booties to cover your shoes, a roll of duct tape, and some disposable plastic coveralls. The duct tape will be used to cover the gaps between the gloves, the boots, and the suit so there is no way that the sewage can get to your skin.
There is not much that you can do to save all the furniture in your home after the flood is over. This is mainly upholstered furniture that has a lot of padding, though, so your wooden furniture should be fine. Padding in upholstered furniture will soak up the flood waters and everything that it contains, including soil, bacteria, and everything else. You can reupholster some items that have little padding and take this as an opportunity to replace fabrics that you do not care for any longer.
For the cleanup process, you will require at least two buckets, depending on whether you have someone help you clean up the rest of the house or not. Try to keep this at an even number, since you will need to work with the buckets in sets of two.
Take a mop and dip it into the bucket with the cleaning chemicals in it and begin scrubbing the floor. Scrub it thoroughly and dip the mop into the rinsing water. Do not put the mop back into the bucket with the cleaners until you rinse it first. You do not want to introduce sewage into the clean water.
Flood waters can contain all kinds of things that can be hazardous to your health. This can include chemicals, sewage, soil, bacteria, viruses, and etcetera. These are things that you do not want to have in your home and doing your best to get them cleaned up, even if it means hiring a professional, is something you need to do. You need to purchase the protective equipment necessary to keep yourself from getting sick due to all the different things left behind by the water, but this will not be very much. You will need some latex gloves, a pair of plastic booties to cover your shoes, a roll of duct tape, and some disposable plastic coveralls. The duct tape will be used to cover the gaps between the gloves, the boots, and the suit so there is no way that the sewage can get to your skin.
There is not much that you can do to save all the furniture in your home after the flood is over. This is mainly upholstered furniture that has a lot of padding, though, so your wooden furniture should be fine. Padding in upholstered furniture will soak up the flood waters and everything that it contains, including soil, bacteria, and everything else. You can reupholster some items that have little padding and take this as an opportunity to replace fabrics that you do not care for any longer.
For the cleanup process, you will require at least two buckets, depending on whether you have someone help you clean up the rest of the house or not. Try to keep this at an even number, since you will need to work with the buckets in sets of two.
Take a mop and dip it into the bucket with the cleaning chemicals in it and begin scrubbing the floor. Scrub it thoroughly and dip the mop into the rinsing water. Do not put the mop back into the bucket with the cleaners until you rinse it first. You do not want to introduce sewage into the clean water.
Areas At Risk For Mold
If you own a home, then you have probably gone through your home looking for mold on at least one occasion and if you have not, then you really should think about doing this sometime soon. We have all heard about toxic mold on the news in one form or another and how harmful it can be to our health, but this is not the only issue with mold. Even if you manage to kill it, it can still cause allergic reactions in some people because the spores are still airborne and our bodies still recognize them as something they need to defend themselves against. Taking some antihistamine medication can help, but no one wants to take allergy medicine all the time if you really do not have to.
There are a number of signs that will show you that you should look for mold in different areas of your house, but you may not exactly know what you are supposed to be looking for. Go around your house and any room that is inherently moist should be scrutinized closely. Unless you have done a remodeling job recently and you have completely waterproofed the bathroom, then you should consider it as a possible breeding ground for mold. Other rooms that are inherently moist are the kitchen, laundry room, and the basement.
You should look for signs of moisture in the laundry room since it is likely to stay humid due to the amount of wet clothing and evaporating of water that stays in there all the time. Your dryer needs to be properly vented to the outside if it is not already, unless it is a ventless model. Always wash wet clothes as soon as possible and do not put dry clothes on top of them. You will most likely forget about them and they will mold after about 48 hours.
Your kitchen is another area that you should be concerned with. Areas around the sink and floor that are not waterproofed and even the ceiling should be suspect. The steam that comes off the stove when you cook damages the ceiling and can discolor it over time, so you should have an exhaust fan installed over the stove to help prevent this. These fans should also be put in other moist rooms of the house, especially the bathroom. This will keep you from having to repaint the ceiling as often as you would normally have to and even keep you from having to replace drywall.
mold, water, damage, restoration, sids, home, improvement, travel
There are a number of signs that will show you that you should look for mold in different areas of your house, but you may not exactly know what you are supposed to be looking for. Go around your house and any room that is inherently moist should be scrutinized closely. Unless you have done a remodeling job recently and you have completely waterproofed the bathroom, then you should consider it as a possible breeding ground for mold. Other rooms that are inherently moist are the kitchen, laundry room, and the basement.
You should look for signs of moisture in the laundry room since it is likely to stay humid due to the amount of wet clothing and evaporating of water that stays in there all the time. Your dryer needs to be properly vented to the outside if it is not already, unless it is a ventless model. Always wash wet clothes as soon as possible and do not put dry clothes on top of them. You will most likely forget about them and they will mold after about 48 hours.
Your kitchen is another area that you should be concerned with. Areas around the sink and floor that are not waterproofed and even the ceiling should be suspect. The steam that comes off the stove when you cook damages the ceiling and can discolor it over time, so you should have an exhaust fan installed over the stove to help prevent this. These fans should also be put in other moist rooms of the house, especially the bathroom. This will keep you from having to repaint the ceiling as often as you would normally have to and even keep you from having to replace drywall.
mold, water, damage, restoration, sids, home, improvement, travel
Wet Basements and Mold
Those of us who have basements in our homes see it as either a curse or a blessing, depending on the condition of it. You can leave the drywall and carpet out of the basement and use it for storage like many homeowners do or you can put it in and use it for an extra bedroom, family room, or an area to entertain guests. The bad thing about using the basement sometimes, though, is that if it is not properly waterproofed, you can have some moisture and humidity issues to deal with later on if you are not dealing with them already. No one wants to stay in a humid, smelly basement for long and this will turn off any guests that you might want to have over in that area.
Take care of any indoor water issues first. This can include bursting water pipes, hot water heater (that really should be in the basement and nowhere else) or if you use a portion of the basement as a laundry room, it can be a malfunctioning clothes washer. Make sure that your dryer has a vent so that the excess humidity will be directed to the outside of the house. It is also a good idea to never hang clothes up to dry in the basement, unless it is just a single article or two. Water evaporates from the clothing and settles into the air, creating humidity. Clothes should also be dried in the electric dryer as soon as they are done washing to help reduce this problem.
Another thing you should do, especially if you use the basement for a laundry room or if you have an extra bathroom in it, is install an exhaust vent. You can do this in more than one spot if you need to, depending on the size of your basement. This will displace some of the humidity to the outside of the house and not allow it to be soaked up by the ceiling.
Another thing to worry about when you have a humid basement is mold. Mold loves to grow on any dead organic material and once it starts growing, you will be hard pressed to get rid of it without removing the source of the water first. If you have water issues in the basement, make sure these are taken care of before putting any carpet down, since carpet that becomes molded is hard to clean and any padding underneath it that becomes contaminated will have to be torn up and thrown away.
Take care of any indoor water issues first. This can include bursting water pipes, hot water heater (that really should be in the basement and nowhere else) or if you use a portion of the basement as a laundry room, it can be a malfunctioning clothes washer. Make sure that your dryer has a vent so that the excess humidity will be directed to the outside of the house. It is also a good idea to never hang clothes up to dry in the basement, unless it is just a single article or two. Water evaporates from the clothing and settles into the air, creating humidity. Clothes should also be dried in the electric dryer as soon as they are done washing to help reduce this problem.
Another thing you should do, especially if you use the basement for a laundry room or if you have an extra bathroom in it, is install an exhaust vent. You can do this in more than one spot if you need to, depending on the size of your basement. This will displace some of the humidity to the outside of the house and not allow it to be soaked up by the ceiling.
Another thing to worry about when you have a humid basement is mold. Mold loves to grow on any dead organic material and once it starts growing, you will be hard pressed to get rid of it without removing the source of the water first. If you have water issues in the basement, make sure these are taken care of before putting any carpet down, since carpet that becomes molded is hard to clean and any padding underneath it that becomes contaminated will have to be torn up and thrown away.
The History And Development Of Penicillin
Penicillin has been in existence since the early 1900’s and we have been using it to help treat and cure bacterial infections since then, but it was not developed deliberately. It was actually discovered by accident by a scientist in Scotland named Sir Alexander Fleming in 1928.
While conducting some experiments in his laboratory in London, he noticed that a dish of Staphylococcus had been cross-contaminated with Penicillium notatum. The penicillium inhibited the growth of the bacteria in a semicircle and he believed in the beginning that this was the discovery of a simple disinfectant. He saw that it was effective, but was not very toxic. He did not realize just how important his discovery was at the time and the use of penicillin as a drug did not really start until after 1939. Infectious bacteria was not much of a match for the new drug, but at the time Britain was in the middle of World War II and did not have the money that was required to make the large amount of penicillin that was required in order to do more clinical studies on its usefulness. It soon asked the United States for assistance on the matter.
Soon after a lab in Peoria agreed to assist with the production of the penicillin, a search began to find the most appropriate strain of Penicillium notatum. A strain that multiplied quickly was needed and not too long after a worldwide search began, the strain they were looking for was found in a cantaloupe in a market next to the lab that had agreed to assist the Oxford lab to produce the penicillin in the first place.
By around the end of 1941, a mold nutrition expert named Andrew J. Moyer was able to multiply the production of penicillin by about 10 times and by 1943, penicillin was finally approved by public use. In the beginning, doses of penicillin were very expensive, but as it became more common, the doses went down in price significantly finally settling around fifty cents per dose in the mid 1940’s.
Unfortunately, there are some people that have been found to have an allergic reaction to penicillin and cannot be treated with it in the case of bacterial infection like other people can. If you are allergic to penicillin, it is possible that your child may also be allergic, so if your girlfriend or wife is expecting, you should notify your spouse’s doctor of your allergy.
While conducting some experiments in his laboratory in London, he noticed that a dish of Staphylococcus had been cross-contaminated with Penicillium notatum. The penicillium inhibited the growth of the bacteria in a semicircle and he believed in the beginning that this was the discovery of a simple disinfectant. He saw that it was effective, but was not very toxic. He did not realize just how important his discovery was at the time and the use of penicillin as a drug did not really start until after 1939. Infectious bacteria was not much of a match for the new drug, but at the time Britain was in the middle of World War II and did not have the money that was required to make the large amount of penicillin that was required in order to do more clinical studies on its usefulness. It soon asked the United States for assistance on the matter.
Soon after a lab in Peoria agreed to assist with the production of the penicillin, a search began to find the most appropriate strain of Penicillium notatum. A strain that multiplied quickly was needed and not too long after a worldwide search began, the strain they were looking for was found in a cantaloupe in a market next to the lab that had agreed to assist the Oxford lab to produce the penicillin in the first place.
By around the end of 1941, a mold nutrition expert named Andrew J. Moyer was able to multiply the production of penicillin by about 10 times and by 1943, penicillin was finally approved by public use. In the beginning, doses of penicillin were very expensive, but as it became more common, the doses went down in price significantly finally settling around fifty cents per dose in the mid 1940’s.
Unfortunately, there are some people that have been found to have an allergic reaction to penicillin and cannot be treated with it in the case of bacterial infection like other people can. If you are allergic to penicillin, it is possible that your child may also be allergic, so if your girlfriend or wife is expecting, you should notify your spouse’s doctor of your allergy.
Mold Causes Valley Fever in the Southwest
There is a mold that exists in the southwestern United States, different areas of South America, and the deserts of Mexico that the majority of people are not aware of when they visit the area. The people the most at risk for coming into contact with this mold are construction workers and archeologists, because they dig around in the soil where this mold tends to be found. What is it called and just how dangerous is it really?
Coccidioides immitis causes a skin disease that has been referred to as “Valley Fever” by some, but as Coccidioidomycosis to physicians. The features of this skin disease are typically rashes, coughing, myalgia, rashes, and headaches. Myalgia is synonymous with “muscle pain” and this can be a sign or symptom of many other different kinds of diseases, not just Valley Fever. The usual cause of myalgia is the over-use of a specific muscle or possibly an entire set of muscles. If a person does not have a medical history of overworking or accidents, then the myalgia is probably being caused by a bacterial or even a viral infection. If it is present in a person chronically, then it could possibly be a sign of some deficiency in the person’s nutrition.
The disease is known to be endemic in the states of New Mexico, California, and Arizona.
The most common cause of C. immitis exposure is due to the digging or disturbing of soil that has been contaminated. For the mold spores to get into the air and allow you to inhale them, this contaminated soil typically needs to be wet and recently, in order for archeologists to be able to dig in soil in the southwestern United States, they have ordered the soil be saturated with water first to avoid this exposure. This has been put into practice not only with archeologists, but also any other occupation that involves digging into the soil. Soil can also be stirred up due to natural disasters such as earthquakes or dust storms.
Those at the risk for developing the most serious aspects of the disease can include those who are pregnant and in their third trimester, African Americans, Asians, and anyone with a weakened immune system, such as those who have HIV or AIDS. Severe pulmonary disease could develop in these individuals in addition to the skin rashes, fever, and other symptoms that are associated with Valley Fever.
Coccidioides immitis causes a skin disease that has been referred to as “Valley Fever” by some, but as Coccidioidomycosis to physicians. The features of this skin disease are typically rashes, coughing, myalgia, rashes, and headaches. Myalgia is synonymous with “muscle pain” and this can be a sign or symptom of many other different kinds of diseases, not just Valley Fever. The usual cause of myalgia is the over-use of a specific muscle or possibly an entire set of muscles. If a person does not have a medical history of overworking or accidents, then the myalgia is probably being caused by a bacterial or even a viral infection. If it is present in a person chronically, then it could possibly be a sign of some deficiency in the person’s nutrition.
The disease is known to be endemic in the states of New Mexico, California, and Arizona.
The most common cause of C. immitis exposure is due to the digging or disturbing of soil that has been contaminated. For the mold spores to get into the air and allow you to inhale them, this contaminated soil typically needs to be wet and recently, in order for archeologists to be able to dig in soil in the southwestern United States, they have ordered the soil be saturated with water first to avoid this exposure. This has been put into practice not only with archeologists, but also any other occupation that involves digging into the soil. Soil can also be stirred up due to natural disasters such as earthquakes or dust storms.
Those at the risk for developing the most serious aspects of the disease can include those who are pregnant and in their third trimester, African Americans, Asians, and anyone with a weakened immune system, such as those who have HIV or AIDS. Severe pulmonary disease could develop in these individuals in addition to the skin rashes, fever, and other symptoms that are associated with Valley Fever.
Learn How To Identify What Kind Of Mold You Are Dealing With
Mold is bad for us, we all know that, but just what different kinds of mold are there? They have been around since before the time of Christ and yet some people do not think that they need to be taken seriously as a real health threat. It grows everywhere and its one purpose in the natural world is to decompose dead organic matter. It is in our homes and on our lawns, on our food and on our clothes. You cannot truly do anything to completely get rid of it, but what you can do is educate yourself about what kinds of mold there are, what they can do to you, and how you can get rid of them.
There are about three different categories that a mold is classified into: pathogenic, allergenic, and toxic. The line between pathogenic molds and toxic molds is a little difficult to discern, but the allergenic mold class is not as dangerous as the other two.
Allergenic molds can either cause allergies or make allergies that a person already has even worse. It can make such things as asthma and emphysema aggravated and more difficult to deal with. The very young and the elderly particularly have a problem with these molds, because their immune systems are not as strong as a healthy young or middle aged adult. Symptoms include typical allergy symptoms such as coughing, sneezing, itchy or watery eyes, skin rashes, and etcetera.
Toxic molds produce what are called mycotoxins and even though these kinds of molds are not as common as allergenic or even pathogenic molds, they are extremely dangerous. These molds can even cause the death of a person if the circumstances are extreme enough and while “toxic black mold” has become a common term used in the news, it is usually referring to Stachybotrys atra or some other variant of Stachybotrys. This mold is typically found on wet items, especially on wet paper or woods. This mold has also been known to cause a baby to bleed from the lungs.
Pathogenic molds are molds that tend to cause opportunistic infections in people, such as penicilliosis, which is the third most common opportunistic infection in HIV patients in southeast Asia. This is a serious problem and anyone with a weakened immune system is very much at risk for contracting this condition, even if you are simply traveling to the region for a few days.
There are about three different categories that a mold is classified into: pathogenic, allergenic, and toxic. The line between pathogenic molds and toxic molds is a little difficult to discern, but the allergenic mold class is not as dangerous as the other two.
Allergenic molds can either cause allergies or make allergies that a person already has even worse. It can make such things as asthma and emphysema aggravated and more difficult to deal with. The very young and the elderly particularly have a problem with these molds, because their immune systems are not as strong as a healthy young or middle aged adult. Symptoms include typical allergy symptoms such as coughing, sneezing, itchy or watery eyes, skin rashes, and etcetera.
Toxic molds produce what are called mycotoxins and even though these kinds of molds are not as common as allergenic or even pathogenic molds, they are extremely dangerous. These molds can even cause the death of a person if the circumstances are extreme enough and while “toxic black mold” has become a common term used in the news, it is usually referring to Stachybotrys atra or some other variant of Stachybotrys. This mold is typically found on wet items, especially on wet paper or woods. This mold has also been known to cause a baby to bleed from the lungs.
Pathogenic molds are molds that tend to cause opportunistic infections in people, such as penicilliosis, which is the third most common opportunistic infection in HIV patients in southeast Asia. This is a serious problem and anyone with a weakened immune system is very much at risk for contracting this condition, even if you are simply traveling to the region for a few days.
Natural Born Mold Killers Can Save You From Chemical Exposure
While there are a lot of different commercial chemicals that are used to kill mold, a lot of people do not like to use a lot of household chemicals in their homes. There is a belief that the more we use chemicals in our daily lives, the more harm they will end up doing us and since there may be some truth to this, some people have found other ways to kill mold besides the cleaners that we find in department and grocery stores.
Three natural ingredients have been found to kill mold quite effectively, but two of them are quite expensive and one is, well… kind of stinky.
The most widely available and inexpensive of the three natural ways to kill mold is vinegar. It is by far the cheapest natural method and the most simple to use. Distilled white vinegar is the best kind to use because it has no color to it and there is no risk of discoloring anything you might put it on. Vinegar will reportedly kill around 82 percent of molds in your home. While it will not kill all kinds of mold, it will kill most of the kind that you find indoors and if it does not kill it, you will most assuredly know. All you have to do is put the mold into a spray bottle, spray it on the area of mold and if you can stand the smell, let it stay on the surface without rinsing it. The smell should go away after a few hours and the mold should have died soon after.
Another way to kill mold, even if it is a bit expensive, is tea tree oil. You can find this at most health food stores and it has a little more broad of a spectrum of fungi that it will get rid of than vinegar. Combine 2 teaspoons of tea tree oil with 2 cups of water in a spray bottle. Shake it up to blend the two and spray on anything that has mold on it. Do not rinse it off. This should make about two cups and it should last indefinitely.
The last way to do this is by using grapefruit seed extract. The advantage of this is that grapefruit seed extract has no smell to it. 20 drops of the extract and two cups of water in a spray bottle should do the trick. Follow the same directions for the tea tree oil.
Three natural ingredients have been found to kill mold quite effectively, but two of them are quite expensive and one is, well… kind of stinky.
The most widely available and inexpensive of the three natural ways to kill mold is vinegar. It is by far the cheapest natural method and the most simple to use. Distilled white vinegar is the best kind to use because it has no color to it and there is no risk of discoloring anything you might put it on. Vinegar will reportedly kill around 82 percent of molds in your home. While it will not kill all kinds of mold, it will kill most of the kind that you find indoors and if it does not kill it, you will most assuredly know. All you have to do is put the mold into a spray bottle, spray it on the area of mold and if you can stand the smell, let it stay on the surface without rinsing it. The smell should go away after a few hours and the mold should have died soon after.
Another way to kill mold, even if it is a bit expensive, is tea tree oil. You can find this at most health food stores and it has a little more broad of a spectrum of fungi that it will get rid of than vinegar. Combine 2 teaspoons of tea tree oil with 2 cups of water in a spray bottle. Shake it up to blend the two and spray on anything that has mold on it. Do not rinse it off. This should make about two cups and it should last indefinitely.
The last way to do this is by using grapefruit seed extract. The advantage of this is that grapefruit seed extract has no smell to it. 20 drops of the extract and two cups of water in a spray bottle should do the trick. Follow the same directions for the tea tree oil.
The Most Frequently Asked Questions About Mold
If you are a new homeowner or even an old one that is just wanting to do a little studying on what this whole concern about mold is that you have been hearing about on the news and in magazines, then there are a few basic things that you need to know about mold
What causes mold to grow?
Well, mold requires a few different things to grow and these are nutrients, air, and moisture. Molds can grow in cooler temperatures down to around 40 degrees Fahrenheit and up to even around 100 degrees Fahrenheit. If it gets cooler than 40 F, most molds will become simply dormant and cease growing. They are hard to kill by change in temperature alone. Temperatures above 100 F have been reported to kill mold and its spores, but the exact temperatures that are needed to kill specific species of mold are uncertain.
How does mold get into your house?
The truth is that mold is always in your home, but it only grows there when conditions are favorable. Spilled water on carpet that is never cleaned up, condensation on windows or water pipes is a sign of high humidity that helps mold grow, as well, and even something as seemingly harmless as packing your clothes too tightly in the closet can cause mold problems.
Do harmful molds exist?
Yes! While there are only a few different kinds of mold that cause human health issues compared to the thousands of different varieties of mold there are in the world, mold growing in your home can be a serious health risk.
Does mold cause health issues in everyone? Are they always the same?
No, mold does not typically affect one person the same as another. One person might be allergic to the mold growing in the home and another may not. Some molds can cause infections that are serious enough to see a doctor for and some can cause brain damage, miscarriages, birth defects, and in some cases, even death.
What can I do to prevent mold growth in my house or business?
There are a lot of things that you can do to prevent mold from growing both on the constructed parts of your home and the items that you have inside it, such as furniture, clothes, and etcetera. There are numerous articles online to help you in preventing mold from growing, but the general consensus is to not have a high level of humidity in any area of your home, such as in a bathroom that does not have a vent to allow steam to exit the room while bathing. A similar vent should be installed in the kitchen near the stove.
What causes mold to grow?
Well, mold requires a few different things to grow and these are nutrients, air, and moisture. Molds can grow in cooler temperatures down to around 40 degrees Fahrenheit and up to even around 100 degrees Fahrenheit. If it gets cooler than 40 F, most molds will become simply dormant and cease growing. They are hard to kill by change in temperature alone. Temperatures above 100 F have been reported to kill mold and its spores, but the exact temperatures that are needed to kill specific species of mold are uncertain.
How does mold get into your house?
The truth is that mold is always in your home, but it only grows there when conditions are favorable. Spilled water on carpet that is never cleaned up, condensation on windows or water pipes is a sign of high humidity that helps mold grow, as well, and even something as seemingly harmless as packing your clothes too tightly in the closet can cause mold problems.
Do harmful molds exist?
Yes! While there are only a few different kinds of mold that cause human health issues compared to the thousands of different varieties of mold there are in the world, mold growing in your home can be a serious health risk.
Does mold cause health issues in everyone? Are they always the same?
No, mold does not typically affect one person the same as another. One person might be allergic to the mold growing in the home and another may not. Some molds can cause infections that are serious enough to see a doctor for and some can cause brain damage, miscarriages, birth defects, and in some cases, even death.
What can I do to prevent mold growth in my house or business?
There are a lot of things that you can do to prevent mold from growing both on the constructed parts of your home and the items that you have inside it, such as furniture, clothes, and etcetera. There are numerous articles online to help you in preventing mold from growing, but the general consensus is to not have a high level of humidity in any area of your home, such as in a bathroom that does not have a vent to allow steam to exit the room while bathing. A similar vent should be installed in the kitchen near the stove.
Mold Just May Be Your Fresh Fruits Greatest Enemy
Fruit rot in blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries are usually the result of one chief offender and that offender is known as gray mold. Gray mold is able to affect not only the fruit itself, but the petals, stems, and the flower stalk. Fruit are a popular breeding ground for mold, due to the juices in the fruit. A wet environment is the ideal place for mold to try and grow, and the juices contained in the fruit helped provide just the environment mold calls for. Gray mold is considered the most serious disease, especially during a warm and rainy growing season.
The kind of fruit with the least amount of protection against gray mold infection is young fruit blossoms. And when the infection becomes apparent in large clusters of fruit. The blossoms will show the infection as a soft, light brown and the spot will continue grow at a fast rate. The fruit will become powdery and gray if the fruit is left defenseless against the mold. This is where the name “gray mold” originated from.
The areas of the fruit that are most susceptible to infection are located near the middle of the plant where the branches and leaves cause high humidity and air circulation is lacking. If the fruit has been exposed to the ground where soil has captured water condensation the risk is higher, as that condensation will attract bacteria and will cause mold to grow. As the mold grows, the rot will begin to set in and any fruits nearby could be infected if not tended to in a timely manner.
And while mature fruits are less susceptible after they are picked, they are susceptible never the less. However, recently harvested green fruits will become just as infected, and the disease isn’t usually detected until the fruit is fully ready to be harvested. Bruising or breaking of the skin is a major cause of the infection in mature fruits. This is, once again, because of the juice on the inside of the fruit attracting bacteria. The mature fruit can be completely rotted in as short an amount of time as forty eight hours.
There are, however, ways to prevent gray mold from infesting your fruit. First, you should select where to plant a fruit where there is a decent amount of soil drainage and air circulation. They need to be exposed directly to sunlight. You should also make sure to keep the garden weeded, as it helps airflow.
The kind of fruit with the least amount of protection against gray mold infection is young fruit blossoms. And when the infection becomes apparent in large clusters of fruit. The blossoms will show the infection as a soft, light brown and the spot will continue grow at a fast rate. The fruit will become powdery and gray if the fruit is left defenseless against the mold. This is where the name “gray mold” originated from.
The areas of the fruit that are most susceptible to infection are located near the middle of the plant where the branches and leaves cause high humidity and air circulation is lacking. If the fruit has been exposed to the ground where soil has captured water condensation the risk is higher, as that condensation will attract bacteria and will cause mold to grow. As the mold grows, the rot will begin to set in and any fruits nearby could be infected if not tended to in a timely manner.
And while mature fruits are less susceptible after they are picked, they are susceptible never the less. However, recently harvested green fruits will become just as infected, and the disease isn’t usually detected until the fruit is fully ready to be harvested. Bruising or breaking of the skin is a major cause of the infection in mature fruits. This is, once again, because of the juice on the inside of the fruit attracting bacteria. The mature fruit can be completely rotted in as short an amount of time as forty eight hours.
There are, however, ways to prevent gray mold from infesting your fruit. First, you should select where to plant a fruit where there is a decent amount of soil drainage and air circulation. They need to be exposed directly to sunlight. You should also make sure to keep the garden weeded, as it helps airflow.
A Few Tips For Employers To Protect Employees And Business Against Mold
When we go to our daily work place, we usually like to believe it to be a very safe environment. However, one safety aspect that is often and sadly overlooked is that of mold infestation. We usually believe that mold is not a problem to have to deal with in the work place and that mold is a problem that is only dealt with in the home. However, any building is equally susceptible to mold infestation. If you are an employer, you are therefore responsible for the safety of every person who is inside the building. If you do not make sure that mold is not in the building, you could be liable for any medical expenses that one of your employees may have as a result of exposure to mold in the work place. If you suspect that there may be mold in your building, you must first conduct your own testing. If you do, indeed, find mold, it is your responsibility to send off the mold samples to a laboratory that specializes in mold identification. You should receive your results within a few weeks to a month.
The first thing you should do upon finding out that there is a mold infestation, and what kind of mold it is, is to inform your employs that there is a problem. You should inform them of what measures are to be taken. You should next call an inspector as to determine how extensive the contamination is and if the case is mild, and can be dealt with in a short amount of time, or if the case is serious and could take up to several weeks to remedy. If the case is extreme, you should notify your employees that they are being laid off for the duration of the remediation process. You should tell them when the process will begin, and give an approximation of when the process will end.
You should also ask your employees if they have been experience any kind of health problems since working for you. Specific health problems that you should look for are respiratory problems, skin rashes, and any other kinds of complications commonly associated with mold.
If your building is indeed contaminated, it should never be ignored, be it your home or work place. If you can afford to pay for the medical bills of others, you still do not want there to be health problems for yourself.
The first thing you should do upon finding out that there is a mold infestation, and what kind of mold it is, is to inform your employs that there is a problem. You should inform them of what measures are to be taken. You should next call an inspector as to determine how extensive the contamination is and if the case is mild, and can be dealt with in a short amount of time, or if the case is serious and could take up to several weeks to remedy. If the case is extreme, you should notify your employees that they are being laid off for the duration of the remediation process. You should tell them when the process will begin, and give an approximation of when the process will end.
You should also ask your employees if they have been experience any kind of health problems since working for you. Specific health problems that you should look for are respiratory problems, skin rashes, and any other kinds of complications commonly associated with mold.
If your building is indeed contaminated, it should never be ignored, be it your home or work place. If you can afford to pay for the medical bills of others, you still do not want there to be health problems for yourself.
Asian Food Is Highly Popular And Is Made With Mold
You can hardly find a person who does not like Asian food and anyone who enjoys soy sauce is not alone. In roughly two thousand years soy sauce has become one of the most popular and consumed condiments in history. Soy sauce originated in Asia, because in ancient times Asians had to package meat and fish tightly in salt in order to preserve the meat and excess liquid would be drained as a result. The liquid, which has soaked in the meat and salts flavor, would be used as a seasoning for other foods, like noodles or rice. However, when Buddhism began to rise in popularity, there was a shift from eating meat to eating vegetables and, therefore, the recipe for this seasoning also had to change. The recipe went to a salty paste of fermented grains. It was this recipe that became a prototype for soy sauce.
The recipe spread to Japan where it was modified and improved and a woman opened the world’s very first commercial brewery specializing in soy sauce. It was then that soy sauce’s popularity began to skyrocket.
Soy sauce, in the modern day, is made using mashed soy beans, wheat, salt, and a fermenting agent which is the very same kind as used in the production of sake, Aspergillus oryzae. Aspergillus oryzae is a popular alternative. This mold is the most important ingredient in the making of soy sauce. It is this mold that makes it true soy sauce.
The previously mentioned Aspergillus oryzae is used in other things as well, such as Japanese rice wine. The mold is used to ferment rice that has been steam and milled down to around 50 percent of its original mass and weight in order to remove amino acids, proteins, and fats that can make the smell of the wine less than pleasant.
Sake brewers take the cultivation of this mold at the utmost seriousness, because the mold is capable of absorbing surrounding odors. The same goes for flavors. For example, if the wood of the brewing wood is cedar, a slight cedar flavor will be absorbed. The mold is helpful for precisely these reasons. Sake and wine have a tendency to age in very different manners. Sake should be drunk almost as soon as it is purchased. While sake can, at times, taste better with age, it usually just tastes less than spectacular. Try some of these foods, You might find the you like them if you have not tried them.
The recipe spread to Japan where it was modified and improved and a woman opened the world’s very first commercial brewery specializing in soy sauce. It was then that soy sauce’s popularity began to skyrocket.
Soy sauce, in the modern day, is made using mashed soy beans, wheat, salt, and a fermenting agent which is the very same kind as used in the production of sake, Aspergillus oryzae. Aspergillus oryzae is a popular alternative. This mold is the most important ingredient in the making of soy sauce. It is this mold that makes it true soy sauce.
The previously mentioned Aspergillus oryzae is used in other things as well, such as Japanese rice wine. The mold is used to ferment rice that has been steam and milled down to around 50 percent of its original mass and weight in order to remove amino acids, proteins, and fats that can make the smell of the wine less than pleasant.
Sake brewers take the cultivation of this mold at the utmost seriousness, because the mold is capable of absorbing surrounding odors. The same goes for flavors. For example, if the wood of the brewing wood is cedar, a slight cedar flavor will be absorbed. The mold is helpful for precisely these reasons. Sake and wine have a tendency to age in very different manners. Sake should be drunk almost as soon as it is purchased. While sake can, at times, taste better with age, it usually just tastes less than spectacular. Try some of these foods, You might find the you like them if you have not tried them.
Your Allergies May Be More Related To Mold Than You Think
With the teeming masses of people in the world that suffer from allergies, no matter the number of medications used, it is nearly impossible for them to find an escape from their allergens. The reasons for seasonal allergy symptoms are many. Most allergies are attributed to grasses, pollens, and various kinds of mold. Now, these three allergens are incapable of growing during the winter time. And while some molds can withstand colder temperatures than others, the majority of molds cannot continue to grow in these cold temperatures. Instead they manage to lie dormant for quite some time. They go into a kind of suspended animation when frozen, and if they thaw they will continue to live and they are equally as dangerous as before the time they were frozen.
However, in some areas of the world there is not a winter, and therefore, no freezing temperatures. And in these areas, people who live in apartment complexes and places of this nature are faced with considerable risk of infection, especially those who are highly allergic to these molds. The list of symptoms experience from an allergic reaction is long and varied, depending entirely on the specific allergy. The most prominent symptoms are runny noses and skin rashes. Perennial allergic rhinitis can be brought on by the presence of mold, as well. However, these allergic complications are usually only brought on by a high population of mold. The symptoms, however, can worsen if food that has been created using a type of fungus, such as mushrooms, bread, beer, and even yogurt. Blue cheese is also a chief offender.
While there are thousands of species of molds on the planet, the number of highly allergenic molds are fortunately only in the dozens. Cladosporium, Penicillium, and Alternaria are the three most well known kinds of mold to cause many allergic reactions. As a bit of trivia, Penicillum is the only genus with both a medicine as well as a disease named after it.
It is important that you stay on constant watch for grass, mold spores and pollen counts for each day on the news, if you have allergies. These daily reports are recommended, especially for the elderly or anyone who has a small child who may be allergic, and are planning an outing. This way, it will be apparent which areas to avoid. Severe allergic reactions are rare occurrences, but they happen never the less.
However, in some areas of the world there is not a winter, and therefore, no freezing temperatures. And in these areas, people who live in apartment complexes and places of this nature are faced with considerable risk of infection, especially those who are highly allergic to these molds. The list of symptoms experience from an allergic reaction is long and varied, depending entirely on the specific allergy. The most prominent symptoms are runny noses and skin rashes. Perennial allergic rhinitis can be brought on by the presence of mold, as well. However, these allergic complications are usually only brought on by a high population of mold. The symptoms, however, can worsen if food that has been created using a type of fungus, such as mushrooms, bread, beer, and even yogurt. Blue cheese is also a chief offender.
While there are thousands of species of molds on the planet, the number of highly allergenic molds are fortunately only in the dozens. Cladosporium, Penicillium, and Alternaria are the three most well known kinds of mold to cause many allergic reactions. As a bit of trivia, Penicillum is the only genus with both a medicine as well as a disease named after it.
It is important that you stay on constant watch for grass, mold spores and pollen counts for each day on the news, if you have allergies. These daily reports are recommended, especially for the elderly or anyone who has a small child who may be allergic, and are planning an outing. This way, it will be apparent which areas to avoid. Severe allergic reactions are rare occurrences, but they happen never the less.
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