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Mold in Homes – Where, What and How
- By Markus Skupeika
- Published October 14, 2008
- Home Management
- Unrated
Markus Skupeika
Are you fighting an endless battle trying to defeat toxic black mold? Proper mildew and mold removal program kill molds and keeps them from coming back in the future.
View all articles by Markus Skupeika
As human beings catch infection and become sick, houses also get infected. Molds and mildews make homes sick and unhealthy place. And as we need to take medicines to recover, moldy homes also require specific treatment to get back its original condition.
A lot of people complain that they have mold in homes. What is mold after all? It has been noticed that many people do not have any clear idea about molds. Some think that molds are insects and some think that they are plants; surprising! The truth is: molds are microscopic fungi. They reproduce through spore generation. Molds are multi-cellular growths. The antenna-like hyphal part creates network; that is why molds are always found to form colony. A standalone mold body is never observed in nature.
Molds can grow anywhere - in natural and man-made environment. Small mold spores are present practically everywhere. Spores are the units of life of fungi. Spores and hyphal fragments keep floating with air current. Being small and tiny, it is really difficult to filter them from air. As a result they reach to all possible places.
Molds, mildews and fungi are helpful members of ecosystem. They grow on dead organic materials and degrade organic materials while collecting nutrition from them. This way they complete a lot of eco-equations and maintain equilibrium in nature. Molds are found on soil, plants, foods and other organic substances in nature.
Where do they grow in homes?
In homes, they grow on practically anything; most common places are: carpet, sidewalls, kitchen sink, wall around kitchen sink, bathroom wall, crawl spaces,
shower curtain, leather goods, wood, upholstery and even on concrete walls.
Molds obtain nutrition from small organic materials present on open surface. Therefore, they can colonize anywhere. That is why mold removal is such a hectic process.
What do they need to grow and sporulate?
Apart from food, they essentially need moisture to grow and live. Moisture is the prime factor behind mold infection. Control moisture content, you would be able to stop mold problems.
Air and temperature are the other two factors that control mold growth; however, they are not as essential as moisture. Air is almost everywhere. In presence of air molds might not flourish, but when there is moisture, a single trace of mold spore would get transformed into molds.
And temperature controls the pace of mold growth and sporulation. At extremely high or low temperature, mold growth slows down; so does the rate of spore formation.
How to make your home mold-free?
Make sure, your home is clean. Molds collect food from tiny organic matters. So do not let such materials build up on any surface inside your home. Use mold cleaning products to kill molds from your home forever.
Control Moisture. That’s the keyword. Once you are successful at controlling moisture, chances of mold manifestation are reduced many times!
Keep you home dry. Make sure your home is properly dried off – especially places like kitchen, sink, and bathroom. Do not forget to lock the tap each time you use it.
To control the humidity, use dehumidifier. This helps you control the humidity of indoor environment. Do not leave wet clothes open in a closed room. It would add to the humidity of the room.
A lot of people complain that they have mold in homes. What is mold after all? It has been noticed that many people do not have any clear idea about molds. Some think that molds are insects and some think that they are plants; surprising! The truth is: molds are microscopic fungi. They reproduce through spore generation. Molds are multi-cellular growths. The antenna-like hyphal part creates network; that is why molds are always found to form colony. A standalone mold body is never observed in nature.
Molds can grow anywhere - in natural and man-made environment. Small mold spores are present practically everywhere. Spores are the units of life of fungi. Spores and hyphal fragments keep floating with air current. Being small and tiny, it is really difficult to filter them from air. As a result they reach to all possible places.
Molds, mildews and fungi are helpful members of ecosystem. They grow on dead organic materials and degrade organic materials while collecting nutrition from them. This way they complete a lot of eco-equations and maintain equilibrium in nature. Molds are found on soil, plants, foods and other organic substances in nature.
Where do they grow in homes?
In homes, they grow on practically anything; most common places are: carpet, sidewalls, kitchen sink, wall around kitchen sink, bathroom wall, crawl spaces,
Molds obtain nutrition from small organic materials present on open surface. Therefore, they can colonize anywhere. That is why mold removal is such a hectic process.
What do they need to grow and sporulate?
Apart from food, they essentially need moisture to grow and live. Moisture is the prime factor behind mold infection. Control moisture content, you would be able to stop mold problems.
Air and temperature are the other two factors that control mold growth; however, they are not as essential as moisture. Air is almost everywhere. In presence of air molds might not flourish, but when there is moisture, a single trace of mold spore would get transformed into molds.
And temperature controls the pace of mold growth and sporulation. At extremely high or low temperature, mold growth slows down; so does the rate of spore formation.
How to make your home mold-free?
Make sure, your home is clean. Molds collect food from tiny organic matters. So do not let such materials build up on any surface inside your home. Use mold cleaning products to kill molds from your home forever.
Control Moisture. That’s the keyword. Once you are successful at controlling moisture, chances of mold manifestation are reduced many times!
Keep you home dry. Make sure your home is properly dried off – especially places like kitchen, sink, and bathroom. Do not forget to lock the tap each time you use it.
To control the humidity, use dehumidifier. This helps you control the humidity of indoor environment. Do not leave wet clothes open in a closed room. It would add to the humidity of the room.
