I don’t know about you, but I enjoy a good bath or shower a lot and one of the worst things that you can notice while you’re in the bathroom is mold starting to grow on the ceiling or on the wall. It appears as a splotchy growth that’s slowly creeping its way from one end of the room to the other and if you leave it untreated, it will cover your entire bathroom. You can scrub it off the walls with mold and mildew cleaner all you want to, but in the end if the infection has spread so far, you will probably have to replace the sheetrock in the bathroom. Sheetrock (or drywall) is a porous surface and mold cannot be effectively removed from it by surface cleaning. The mold will infect the entire depth of the board and most of the time there is not anything that you can do except throw it away and replace it.
Something that has been popular in the past and even in a few homes now is putting carpet in the bathroom. This is a very bad idea, because no matter how careful you might be, your toilet, sink, or bathtub is going to overflow eventually and leave you with a mess of soaked carpet and padding. Carpet needs to be dried as soon as possible when it comes into contact with water. Once the water dries naturally, the carpet will smell, especially if you are unlucky enough to have to live with only well water.
If you live in an older home and your bathroom does not have a vent to release the hot air and steam outside so that it does not attach itself to the sheetrock and become absorbed by it. This is a worthy investment to make and it should not cost more than $50 to $70 and maybe half a day of time to install if you do it yourself.
Whatever you do, do not leave damp towels, rags, or clothing in the bathroom closet or on the floor, especially if you have carpet in the bathroom. Your best bet is to use a plastic laundry hamper and put the dirty laundry in that and only in that so that even if the clothes do become moldy, it is not likely to infect the floor or the wall because of the plastic barrier.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Houston Fire Damage Water Restoration Contractor companies and
Los Angeles Water Damage and Restoration Services.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Mold And What It Does
I hate mold and you hate mold, but unfortunately it’s something that we all have to deal with on a daily basis. It lives either outside on the ground or inside our homes in the walls eating away the internal structure. You have no doubt seen it living on foods in your kitchen that have spoiled, perhaps on fruit or in jars of grape jelly. It is unsightly and also unhealthy. So, what is mold exactly?
Mold is a fungus. It lives both indoors and outdoors and there is not much that you can do to escape it. It is truly almost everywhere humans are and are not. They typically come in the colors of grey, blue, green, brown, black, and red and even more. While they are definitely unsightly, what most people do not realize is just how unhealthy living in a home contaminated with mold can be.
Mold living in your home can cause all kinds of medical problems and which one you will end up with is a matter of chance. You never know which condition mold will hand to you. It has been known to cause allergies and to aggravate people who have asthma and other respiratory conditions and also to cause skin rashes, damage to the central nervous system, and problems with vision.
The people who should be the most concerned with mold are the elderly, small children, pets, and those who have a weakened immune system. These tend to be people who are pregnant, who are HIV-positive, or are recovering from a surgery, especially a major one. They should take special care and if mold is found in a home, anyone fitting these descriptions should relocate until the mold is removed.
Mold also does damage to the internal structure of the home, eating the wood, sheetrock, carpet, and anything else that is organic. The sole job of a fungus such as mold is to decompose organic material such as dead plants and dead animals.
If you suspect that mold lives in your home, it is highly suggested that you purchase a mold testing kit and test your home for mold yourself. Follow the instructions exactly or the tests will be of no use. Send the tests off to be analyzed by a mold laboratory and when you receive the results back, if they are positive, contact a professional mold remediation company.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Houston Fire Damage Water Restoration Contractor companies and
Los Angeles Water Damage and Restoration Services.
Mold is a fungus. It lives both indoors and outdoors and there is not much that you can do to escape it. It is truly almost everywhere humans are and are not. They typically come in the colors of grey, blue, green, brown, black, and red and even more. While they are definitely unsightly, what most people do not realize is just how unhealthy living in a home contaminated with mold can be.
Mold living in your home can cause all kinds of medical problems and which one you will end up with is a matter of chance. You never know which condition mold will hand to you. It has been known to cause allergies and to aggravate people who have asthma and other respiratory conditions and also to cause skin rashes, damage to the central nervous system, and problems with vision.
The people who should be the most concerned with mold are the elderly, small children, pets, and those who have a weakened immune system. These tend to be people who are pregnant, who are HIV-positive, or are recovering from a surgery, especially a major one. They should take special care and if mold is found in a home, anyone fitting these descriptions should relocate until the mold is removed.
Mold also does damage to the internal structure of the home, eating the wood, sheetrock, carpet, and anything else that is organic. The sole job of a fungus such as mold is to decompose organic material such as dead plants and dead animals.
If you suspect that mold lives in your home, it is highly suggested that you purchase a mold testing kit and test your home for mold yourself. Follow the instructions exactly or the tests will be of no use. Send the tests off to be analyzed by a mold laboratory and when you receive the results back, if they are positive, contact a professional mold remediation company.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Houston Fire Damage Water Restoration Contractor companies and
Los Angeles Water Damage and Restoration Services.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Preventing Damage From Wildfires
If you live in an area that is prone to wildfires, such as certain areas of California, you should do what you can to protect your home from them. While it may seem pretty hopeless once a wildfire is on a path that will go straight through your home, there are some things that you can do to try and minimize the damage.
The first thing that you can do if you own your home is to outfit it with fire resistant materials. The roof is perhaps the most important surface that you should take care of, since it is the largest surface of the home that is exposed to sparks of fire that have become airborne. If there is a wildfire near your house, you should take your water hose and keep the roof wet as much as possible to stop this threat. Fire-resistant roofing materials are large in number and include tile, metal, and fiberglass. Any oil-based roofing material should be replaced and wooden shingles are a disaster waiting to happen.
Fire-resistant materials should also be used to build the walls and windows of the house, since this can impede the spreading of the fire to the interior. Stone, metal, and brick offer a decent amount of protection, but vinyl siding and wood provide extremely little. The windows are important because heat will radiate inside the house and possibly set drapes on fire, so having smaller windows in homes that are at risk is a good idea.
Another thing that you can do to your lawn if a wildfire is nearby is wetting it with the water hose. This can also slow the fire’s spread to your house some. Do not allow dead leaves and other debris to build up in the yard during wildfire season and try to get rid of any tree branches that are hanging over your house. You can even go as far as to have these trees that are close to your home removed, but that is a personal preference. It will help, but some people may not want to sacrifice them.
If you have to evacuate, realize that you cannot take everything with you. Take only the most important valuables and get out as soon as you can. If you have time and are leaving voluntarily, take the opportunity to wet your yard, roof, and the exterior of your house again. This is pretty much all you can do at this point and the rest is in the hands of nature.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
New Jersey mold damage restoration and other states and cities such as
Connecticut mold remediation companies across the united states.
The first thing that you can do if you own your home is to outfit it with fire resistant materials. The roof is perhaps the most important surface that you should take care of, since it is the largest surface of the home that is exposed to sparks of fire that have become airborne. If there is a wildfire near your house, you should take your water hose and keep the roof wet as much as possible to stop this threat. Fire-resistant roofing materials are large in number and include tile, metal, and fiberglass. Any oil-based roofing material should be replaced and wooden shingles are a disaster waiting to happen.
Fire-resistant materials should also be used to build the walls and windows of the house, since this can impede the spreading of the fire to the interior. Stone, metal, and brick offer a decent amount of protection, but vinyl siding and wood provide extremely little. The windows are important because heat will radiate inside the house and possibly set drapes on fire, so having smaller windows in homes that are at risk is a good idea.
Another thing that you can do to your lawn if a wildfire is nearby is wetting it with the water hose. This can also slow the fire’s spread to your house some. Do not allow dead leaves and other debris to build up in the yard during wildfire season and try to get rid of any tree branches that are hanging over your house. You can even go as far as to have these trees that are close to your home removed, but that is a personal preference. It will help, but some people may not want to sacrifice them.
If you have to evacuate, realize that you cannot take everything with you. Take only the most important valuables and get out as soon as you can. If you have time and are leaving voluntarily, take the opportunity to wet your yard, roof, and the exterior of your house again. This is pretty much all you can do at this point and the rest is in the hands of nature.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
New Jersey mold damage restoration and other states and cities such as
Connecticut mold remediation companies across the united states.
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