Disaster Recovery News

Dangerous to your health and destructive to your belongings, mold spores are always in the air and summer can provide them with the right conditions to grow, especially if you do not have an air conditioner in your building. When it comes to this destructive fungal force, prevention is as important as its treatment, if not more.

Mold Prevention

• If you do not have an air conditioner in your home, regularly clean areas that experience humidity or condensation with a cleanser that contains bleach. Such areas include toilets and the floor around them, under sinks, around exposed pipes and windowsills.
• Always use the exhaust fans as you bathe or cook.
• Dry wet documents as soon as they experience water damage.
• Use a fan to circulate the air in the room so hot air does not stay trapped by your ceiling.
• If an area of your building gets wet, use fans and dehumidifiers to dry it out immediately. If you experience severe water damage, call a restoration specialist.
• Keep everything dry. Because mold thrives in moist conditions, eliminating them can keep mold at bay.

Damaged roofs and leaky pipes can also lead to mold damage, so if it becomes a recurring problem, have your home inspected by a professional.

Learn more about mold prevention.

[Image: Infrogmation]

As you prepare your spring cleaning checklist, add to it tasks that can help prevent water and mold damage. Taking the extra time to complete these extra items can help save you time and money. These spring cleaning tips work well for the home and office alike.

Getting Ready for Spring

• Take the time to fix your windows if the winter weather took its toll on them. This could include adding new weather stripping to them. Windows in good working condition help prevent water damage in a home.
• Caulk the windows in your home. This will help maintain the temperature of your home while minimizing energy losses. Additionally, caulking can help prevent water damage and the growth of mold.
• Clean and setup dehumidifiers in your home. Humidity encourages the growth of mold spores you cannot see, which can cause you to feel sick.
• Clean all your fans well, including your ceiling fans. If any mold grew on the blades of a fan, you could risk spreading the spores throughout your home or office when used.
• Test all of your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms to make sure they work. If you cannot remember the last time you replaced the batteries in the alarms, replace them ASAP.
• If you have a sump pump, make sure it works well before the spring rains begin to pour. Failures in sump pumps are one of the most common causes of basement flooding when the weather begins to warm.
• If you already have experienced a minimal amount of mold growth in your home, clean it right away with a household bleach product. If you are sensitive to bleach, you can make a natural mold cleaner by combining 2 cups of water with 2 teaspoons of tea tree oil in a spray bottle. Spray the mix on the affected area and wipe it away with a towel. The tea tree mixture is also a good solution to prevent mold growth in damp areas such as windows and bathrooms.

If your mold problem covers a large area or has affected your ceiling, walls, books or wet papers, call a mold restoration specialist soon. These professionals can help kill the mold, prevent it from returning and restore mold-damaged books, photographs and documents.

Learn more about mold prevention.

[Photo: Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection]

Whether it comes from nature or is manmade, water damage can lead to unimaginable destruction to a building. Water damage can come in the high-visible form of a flood, or lurk behind the walls of a building. When left untreated, standing water is the perfect breeding ground for mold growth.

Preventing

As soon as your building experiences water damage, dry it as soon as possible. If you do not employ the services of a professional, open all the windows in the building (if it is not raining) or use a dehumidifier to help dry-out the room. If there is actual water damage that you cannot simply just dry, remove the water-damaged items and replace them with new materials.

Finding

Whenever there is mold growth in a building, the first thing you should do is find the source of the water leak. In a building, water can leak from burst pipes, roof damage, poor window seals, areas where there is standing water or a natural disaster. Finding the source of water that caused the mold growth can help you quickly remediate the problem.

Fixing

The best way to fix mold damage is to hire a disaster restoration company. In a home, mold can compromise the integrity of a family’s health. In a building such as a school or office, mold can impair the day-to-day operations of the establishment, especially if the building must be closed during the remediation process.

Cleaning mold can be a costly and time-consuming process. You can prevent the return of mold growth in a building by contacting a mold remediation specialist.

[photo: Angela Schmeidel Randall]

If your home or office building was affected by recent water damage, such as floods, you may not be done with the cleanup process even though the water may appear to be gone. Anything that got wet must be completely dried to prevent structural damage and mold.

Federal Coordinating Officer Gregory Eaton from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) stated in a news release today, “People are anxious to get on with their lives after a flood, but if you had flood waters in your home take the time to clean thoroughly so problems don’t arise later that affect your home or your health.”

Mold and Health Symptoms

Ranging in color from white to black and orange to brown, mold quickly multiplies and grows in damp environments, particularly flood damaged buildings. Cleaning it is crucial to the health and safety of those in a building or home. Mold exposure is particularly dangerous to children, infants, pregnant women, the elderly, immune-compromised patients and those who have respiratory conditions. Symptoms of mold exposure include coughing, attacks in those who have asthma, nose and throat irritation, and wheezing.

Mold Prevention

Unless you hire a professional remediation company, there is no way to eliminate all the mold spores inside a building in a practical manner. However, you can take steps to prevent its growth by stopping leaks and the seepage of water into a building and keeping the building clean, well ventilated, dry and disinfected.

Learn more about mold prevention.

[Photo: Jason Rogers]

Gutters are one the homes most neglected accessories, but one of the cheapest defenses against water damage, mold, mildew and problems with a home’s foundation. When gutters are not well maintained, however, rainwater and debris can collect on your roof. If the situation is not remedied quickly, water can seep through roofing materials and cause major water damage.

Consider the following regarding your home’s gutters:

• Keep your gutters clean and in good condition, especially during the fall when trees dump their leaves.
• Make sure the water coming out of the gutter is directed in an appropriate location, at least five feet away from the home. Consider using a rain barrel to collect the water so you can use it later for your lawn and garden.
• Add gutter protection if your area has heavy foliage. Keep in mind, however, that some gutter guards do more harm than good when it comes to those made from inferior materials.
• The type of gutter material you should choose depends on your preferences and budget. Aluminum is one of the most popular gutter materials, which comes in several pre-painted colors. Vinyl gutters are inexpensive, but tend to expand and contract with climate changes. Steel is a good material, but tends to rust. Copper looks gorgeous on some homes, but is expensive to install.
• Clean your gutters at least twice a year. As you clean your gutters, look for problems such as areas that need resealing or the hinges tightened.
• Make sure your gutter is at least 5- to 6-inches wide and is appropriate for the type of roof you have.

What is the condition of your gutters? If you do not know, make the effort to find out soon, before seasonal foliage begins to fall.

Learn more about recovering from water damage.

[photo: Ray Dehler]