3 Places To Look For Mold
Mold spores are everywhere. They may vary in species and density, but there are few places on Earth where you can escape them completely. Fortunately, they’re also mostly harmless, but if you aren’t careful you’ll produce just the right conditions to cause a population explosion. It doesn’t take much: moderately warm temperatures, some moisture, a porous surface to cling to, and some food, which doesn’t have to be anything more than the dust that settles out of the air.
Sometimes it’s easy to spot mold growths. A shower will tend to grow dark with mold if you don’t wash it regularly, and any leftovers you leave in the refrigerator for too long will eventually grow fuzzy. However, mold doesn’t always grow where you can see it. To make sure your home isn’t developing a mold problem without you knowing, you should check the following places to look for mold.
Bathroom And Basement Pipes
If pipes are significantly colder than the surrounding air, and if that air is humid enough, the water in the air will condense and provide enough moisture for mold. Bathrooms and basements are a priority because bathrooms tend to be warm and humid after showers and baths, and basements are cool enough that humid air is more likely to condense. At the same time, of course, a leaky pipe anywhere in your house can also lead to mold.
Basement Walls
It may or may not be easy to tell if your basement wall has a crack that’s leaking water depending on whether your basement is finished with drywall and where the leak is, but this seepage can cause some significant mold growth. Concrete is porous, after all, and so there are plenty of spaces for mold to take hold.
Attics
Roofs are carefully designed to repel rainwater, but leaks still happen, especially on older homes and buildings with flat rooftops. Water damage is often visible as a dark stain on the ceiling, but not always, or at least not without a close inspection. And where there’s water damage, mold is rarely far behind.
If you’re having trouble pinpointing where mold is growing, or if you’re having trouble getting rid of it for good, it may be time to call in the professionals for a mold remediation. If that’s the case and you live in or near the state of Maryland, you should contact AA Action Waterproofing. We’ve been in this business for three decades, and we’ve never met a waterproofing or mold problem we couldn’t fix.