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How To Rid Your Home Of Black Mold
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Once you have completely finished inspecting your home and found even the smallest infestation of black mold growth, its time to begin ridding your home of it. Especially before it begins growing out of control and taking over your house! Since most all mold reproduces with a combination of dampness and darkness, the first thing you should do is begin drying out your home. This can be done with a dehumidifier unit that you can purchase affordably enough from any home supply store, or a major store such as Wal-Mart that sells these types of units. You will be surprised at the amount of humidity in the air once you begin running a dehumidifier unit. The purpose of a dehumidifier is to suck natural moisture out of the air inside your home. Be sure that you empty the water collection bucket regularly as mold can grow within this as well if left unchecked for extended periods of time. Having a dehumidifier is important especially if you run any type of air conditioning or heating unit regularly in your home and you can physically see moisture build up on your window panes. Window air conditioning units are good for this type of moisture build up excessively. So, if you use these, its a really great idea to pick up a dehumidifier. While having a dehumidifier is step one in drying up your home, its also important to fix any water leaks around your home as well to prevent further mold build up and growth. To further improve the quality of your home's air, you can consider purchasing an air filtration unit such as Ionic Breeze(tm). This will trap some of the pesky mold spores that travel through the air from outdoors into your home and stop some mold growth before it even starts. These units can be rather pricey, so be sure to shop around and find the best unit that fits into your budget and will get the air cleaning done. If you already have mold growth then this next step is very important to the removal and continuation of rampant mold developing. You will want to use a bleach-water solution mixture of 1 Part Chlorine Bleach to 10 Parts Water. This is roughly One-Half to Three- Fourths Cup of Bleach to 1 Gallon of Water. You may also want to purchase some disposable cleaning supplies for this job as you won't want to hang on to them as they will become contaminated afterwards. So a pair of nonporous rubber gloves, a few dollar sponges and/or hand held scrubbers would be perfect, depending on where the mold is growing. spray it on, wait for a duration of around 10 to 15 minutes, and then scrub the mold until the surface comes clean and clear of mold. You may want to leave the bleach solution set for a few minutes longer to loosen up those hard to scrub moldy areas before trying to reclean and remove the mold. This bleach-water solution can be used for wooden or rubber baseboards so long as there is no threat of your carpet being ruined from using it, or the wood being warped or otherwise damaged from the watery solution. If so, you can always lay down a plastic painting tarp on any areas you fear may be ruined by bleach. It can also be used for walls if necessary so long as the bleach will not ruin them. If you are going to be using the bleach-water solution on wooded areas, you may want to make use of large fans to dry the area more quickly after cleaning. NEVER combine ammonia with bleach for any reason as this can create hazardous fumes by doing so. Only use bleach-water solutions and nothing else added to them to prevent further health issues. Now, if you encounter mold underneath your household carpeting, furniture, or upolstery, you may want to consider completely removing any of these items. The reason being is that even with steam cleaning, it may not, and most likely will not, remove the mold spores. The best course of action is to remove the moldy materials, clean any other areas that were exposed to the moldy items, and then begin fresh with brand new materials. Of course, this is going to be costly to replace, but necessary for complete mold removal if the infestation is there. However, if you have experienced flooding within your home, and catch it right away, you may be able to air dry your carpet and furnishings by using large fans to "blow dry" the areas and prevent mold growth from starting. Another good combination is using detergent-water for cleaning hard floors and walls after flooding has occurred. Once your home has been completely disinfected and mold removed, a great way to keep mold from coming back is to invest in a vacuum cleaner that features a HEPA filtration system within it. This will trap most of the mold spores before they have a chance to begin growing again in damp, warm, dark areas in your home. |
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