When mold and mildew get out of hand there may be no choice but to open up the wall, take up the tile, or otherwise deface your property in order to get at the root of the problem. This is too bad. But it is possible with the right sort of planning and intervention, at the right time, it is possible to halt, treat, and even prevent mold without having to remodel.
And prevention is the first thing to shoot for if you are settling into a new property, for instance, and aren’t having any problems with mold yet. The first step in avoiding a trap is knowing of its existence, and where it might be set.
With mold and mildew the problem always stems from water. So if you are checking a property for possible mold threats, or looking for the source of an outbreak of mold’s irrigation system, you should start looking in places where there is the potential of water leakage.
Water fixtures like faucets and pipes are obvious culprits here. Turn the water on and check the pipes to see if any water is seeping out along the way. In addition to the indoor threat of pipes there are a number of outdoor threats that can create an environment that is very inviting to our fungal friends.
A very common outdoor mold threat is bad rain drainage. Not cleaning the gutters along the roof and can cause them to back up with debris leaving the water to rise up over them and drain down the sides of the house and under the roof. A misplaced or disconnected downspout from the gutters can cause water seep into the wall beside it or the foundation in the ground around it. Houses built against hillsides are also subject to pressure and pooling of water along the foundaition.
The sneakiest and most challenging to check in property that you did not build or remodel yourself is the “dry damp” spots. These are areas where there may be no water leakage but there is heavy and frequent collection of moisture condensation. This can be an even in a ceiling or a bare place in the insulation – around a light switch for instance. In these areas the colder air pulls in the warm, damp air from the rest of the house and creates the condensation. This is particularly problematic in places with severe seasonal temperature fluxuations.
While prevention is ideal, if you have spotted persistent mold in or outside your home or property it will save a huge amount of money on remodeling to have the problem properly remediated by the best mold remediation company and to have better moisture seals installed.
