Water Damage Mold In Your Minnesota Home Part 2
Water Damage Mold As the weather turns cooler, one of the “fast and furious” water leaks that homeowners encounter occurs when a pipe freezes and bursts. Whether you have had a small leak in one of your pipes or a full out flood, water damage mold is nothing to be taken lightly. Mold can be very persistent and hard to get rid of and it can also be hazardous to your health. Not only that but if left unchecked, mold will ruin any surface it grows on. What Is Mold? Mold is a fungi whose job it is to decompose things. We often think of it as decomposing vegetables, bread and other foods that have been left around but when it gets into your home, mold can decompose your carpets, your drywall, your clothing, your books and any other organic surface in your home. Mold loves more sure which is why water damage mold is so common in flooded areas. Since mold spores are always present outside, it doesn’t take too much for them to get inside. All they need is a moist area, some organic material and the temperature of between two and 40°C. Needless to say, you don’t have to experience a major flood to get mold in your home. What To Do If you have mold in your home whether it’s from a flooded basement, heavy melting ice, or maybe a burst pipe, you want to assess the extent of the damage. Get into the area and see how bad the mold is. If it is excessive, you probably want to check your insurance policy to see if mold damage is covered and then call the insurance company. In many cases, hiring a mold remediation company is necessary to remove the mold safely. If you just have a minor leak at a pipe that has caused a little area of mold that you may be able to remove yourself. The first thing is to be sure of where the mold this. Remember, it can grow on wood, drywall, carpeting, fabrics and books so you want to check to make sure if any of these items around that they do not have mold on them. When removing the moldy items, you want to be sure that you seal them in a bag so that the mold spores do not become airborne and find another place to grow in your house. If it is a big job, you want to section off the entire area and be sure to have ventilation to the outside. Also, wear protective clothing when cleaning or removing mold as water damage mold can be very hazardous to your health. One of the worst outcomes of a leak or natural disaster is water damage mold. That’s because mold can be persistent, is hazardous to your health and is often difficult and costly to get rid of. It only takes mold 24 to 48 hours to grow in the right moisture conditions. Chances are, if you can’t see the mold and have a musty smell, that you have “hidden” mold. Hidden mold tends to be located in the air ducts, on the back side of dry wall, paneling or wallpaper, on the underside of carpets and pads, behind furniture, just to name a few locations. A Water Damage Restoration Expert can help you locate the water source, do the necessary testing and help you remove the mold from your home before it has an opportunity to do any further damage. Mold loves moisture and it needs an organic surface to live on. That means that...
Read MoreWater Damage Mold In Your Minnesota Home Part 1
Water Damage Mold Chlorine Bleach is Not Effective in Killing Mold According to the EPA – “Biocides (like chlorine bleach) are toxic to humans as well as mold! (1) The object to killing mold is to kill mold at its “roots”. Mold remediation involves the need to disinfect wood and wood-based building materials, all of which are porous materials. Thus, chlorine bleach should not be used in mold remediation as confirmed by OSHA’s Mold Remediation/ Clean Up Methods guidelines. The use of bleach as a mold disinfectant is best left to kitchen and bathroom countertops, tubs and shower glass, etc. (2) Chlorine Bleach does kill bacteria and kill viruses, but has not been proven effective in killing molds on non-porous surfaces. Bleach itself is 99% water. Water is one of the main contributors of the growth of harmful bacteria and mold. Current situations using bleach re-grew and regenerated mold and bacteria twice the CFU counts than were originally found before bleaching, within a short period of time. Bleach is an old method used for some bacteria and mold. It is the only product people have known for years. The strains now associated within Indoor Air quality issues are resistant to the methods our grandmothers employed to clean-up mold. (3) What potential mold ‘killing’ power chlorine bleach might have, is diminished significantly as the bleach sits in warehouses, on grocery store shelves or inside your home or business 50% loss in killing power in just the first 90 days inside a never opened jug or container. Chlorine constantly escapes through the plastic walls of its containers. (4) The ionic structure of bleach prevents Chlorine from penetrating into porous materials such as drywall and wood—it just stays on the outside surface, whereas mold has enzyme roots growing inside the porous construction materials—however, the water content penetrates and actually FEEDS the mold—this is why a few days later you will notice darker, more concentrated mold growing (faster) on the bleached area. (5) Chlorine Bleach accelerates the deterioration of materials and wears down the fibers of porous materials. (6) Chlorine Bleach is NOT registered with the EPA as a disinfectant to kill mold. You can verify this important fact for yourself when you are unable to find an EPA registration number for killing mold on the label of any brand of chlorine bleach. (7) Chlorine bleach off gases for a period of time. Chlorine off gassing can be harmful to humans and animals. It has been known to cause pulmonary embolisms in low resistant, and susceptible people. (8) Chlorine bleach will evaporate within a short period of time. If the area is not dry when the bleach evaporates, or moisture is still in the contaminated area (humidity, outside air dampness), you could re- start the contamination process immediately and to a greater degree. (9) Chlorine is a key component of DIOXIN. One of the earliest findings of dioxin’s toxicity in animals was that it caused birth defects in mice at very low levels. This finding led to dioxin being characterized as “one of the most potent teratogenic environmental agents”. The first evidence that dioxin causes cancer came from several animal studies completed in the late 1970’s. The most important of these, published in 1978 by a team of scientists from Dow Chemical Company, led by Richard Kociba, found liver cancer in rats exposed to very low levels of dioxin. This study helped establish dioxin as one of the most potent animal carcinogens ever tested and, together with the finding of birth defects in mice, led to the general statement that dioxin is the “most toxic...
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