Last Updated on January 27, 2015
It may seem to be an impossible problem, once the black mold starts to infect rooms in your home, you may not know exactly what to do and how to get rid of it. The natural reaction is to sponge the areas down with some disinfectant and cleaner and hope that it will go away.
Yes, this can deal with the peripheral problem but will not drive the mold way because mold started forming in your home slowly thanks to humidity, lack of ventilation and the difference between the indoor temperatures that are higher and the outdoor temperatures that are lower. The result is condensation forming, water droplets hanging on the walls and as they stay there they attract mold spoors that are always in the air and offer them a happy home.
The Dubai experiment
If you are a little doubtful about steam and condensation let’s go virtually to Dubai. Here the air conditioning is ferocious, it needs to be in both hotels, offices, shopping malls and taxis and the effects are easy to be seen and experienced, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is one of the hottest and most humid cities in the world.
The hotels prefer glass doors and as you arrive in your taxi, you will see water literally cascading down the glass doors as the humid air hits the cool doors, if you are wearing glasses, be prepared for them to immediately mist up so you can’t see anything as you are trying to find the money to pay the taxi driver. The good news is that the condensation forms outside the taxi and the hotel so no risk of mold but now let’s reverse the problem.
The home mold war front
Humidity is a big problem across the globe whenever cold temperatures meet warmer ones, if you home is warmer and lacks ventilation you are a prime candidate for mold entering your home. Now you will be really reluctant to throw open the windows of you home to allow all the precious heat that you have paid for literally fly out of the window, you would be mad to do so, right?
Consider this, leaving stale humid air in your bathroom; kitchen or basement could do serious damage to your health, possessions and family thanks to our common enemy mold. What is the answer to deal mold a deadly blow? The answer is ventilation and damp protection, these two weapons are key in your battle against this nasty and even dangerous invader.
The first battlefield
The first mold attacks will come in your bathroom or shower room. The reason for this is that we all like a hot shower on a cold day or a hot bath to relax in. if it is cold outside you are hardly inclined to throw open your windows to allow an Arctic blast to freeze you out after your warming wash. But essentially this is really necessary to avoid mold forming. Use the 15-minute rule and even turn off the radiator in the bathroom and de-humidify the room, throw open the windows close the door, go to check out email, make a nice cup of tea, but at all times follow the 15-minute rule, then close the windows. It will stop mold forming effectively.
Fans and de-humidifiers do work
Mold loves still humid air, so don’t give it a break, Upstairs on the ground or upper floors install wall extraction fans to get humidity out of your kitchen, bathrooms or laundry rooms. Moving down into the basement you may have a different problem, below ground you could be struggling with a different problem, seepage, water leaks and problems with the damp proof protection. If you are using your basement for storage, a home office or a snug or recreation room for you and family or friends you will not be happy if mold takes its hold and ruins your rooms and makes them unusable, what can you do?
The basement battle
First of all, you should get yourself some humidity monitors, battery powered you can place them where you wish and they also come with easy to read historical information recorders that allow you to see the humidity in your chosen location for the last 24, 48 or 72 hours so you can quickly understand the scale of your problem.
Install crystal moisture capture devises, these are not expensive and their form factor is really small, the crystals capture moisture and drip the droplets into a handy reservoir below the crystals. They do not need batteries or programming, you just put them in place and silently they get to work, don’t forget to drain them regularly.
Call in the professionals
All that has been described above allows you to trap and deal with tactical damp problems, but if the problem is persistent, you will need to call the professionals to find a permanent solution that can save the structural construction of your home. Our professional anti-mold company is ready and waiting to help you whenever you are ready to make that call!