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Cold Walls and Mold Growth

Mold growth on baseboards

Cold Walls and Mold Growth

Last Updated on December 20, 2012

This is the time of the year when mold can grow in your home due to cold outside walls.
When cold meets hot you typically get condensation, moisture. The older homes in Toronto have minimal to no insulation in the walls which allows the walls to get cold when the outside temperatures drop. The warm moist inside air meets the cold outside wall and condensation forms, you have the moisture required for mold growth.
The mold growing formula is:

 Mold Spores + Food Source + Moisture = Mold Growth

Mold spores are essential to the cycle of life. they return everything organic back to mother nature therefore they are everywhere and floating all around us, we breathe them everyday whether inside or outside. They are present in everything manufactured and everything built which includes our homes. That being said we can’t control the mold spores around us.
Mold requires a food source which just happens to be most of the building materials in your home, any organic materials that can be returned to mother nature are considered mold food aka “food source”. That being said we can’t control the food source.
This leaves us with the moisture component of the mold growth formula. The only part of the mold growth formula we can control is the moisture so;

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 Control the Moisture Control the Mold.

 Mold growth on baseboards   Typically the mold growing on the outside walls, closets and corners is surface mold which is growing on the  paint and dust and can be easily cleaned when caught early enough.

Places to look for mold growth:

• up in the corners of the ceiling
• down in the corners behind furniture
• in closets behind garment bags against the wall
• if your front closet has a window
• mold loves unpainted stucco ceilings

Preventative measures include:

• Painting with mold and mildew resistant paints
• Buy a hygrometer to measure humidity and keep the humidity around 45%
• Keep furniture away from the walls so air can circulate around freely
• Keep dust out of the corners and behind furniture
• When you see moisture dry it, you’ll probably see it on the windows first.

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If you aren’t sure whether the mold you have found is surface mold or a larger problem please call The Mold Guy for a second opinion.