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Preventing Mold Growth
Most people in the back of their minds worry if there home or businesses have mold. They worry about what symptoms they could get from the mold and how much mold is actually spread through the home.
What most people do not concern themselves is where the mold coming from. When I ask participants in my mold removal classes how the mold got into the dwelling originally they gave me answers like the sky, or usually I just get blank stares. Most people never considered how the mold got into the home in the first place and what it takes for the mold to survive.
Let’s tackle the first issue; where did the mold come from in the first place. The answer is that mold has been on earth since the dawn of time. Mold travels in the air in microscopic size particles 24 hours a day. Imagine a hospital that has just been constructed. The hospital administration staff has just opened the hospital with a promise that the hospital is 100% sterile. But when the doors open for the first time, mold spores from outside start rushing in making a possible mold growth issue. The hospital administration staff is not upset because they know that mold spores will travel into the hospital every day.
The question that arises is why isn’t the hospital not really upset that mold spores have entered the hospital. The reason is simple, people breath mold spores daily. Some people are allergic and others are not. The big concern that hospitals have is the issue of those tiny spores growing into colonies. It’s the bigger mold colonies that can create even bigger mold spores which becomes an issue. With a larger amount of mold growth, mold spores in large amounts can effect the average person ( in a hospital or not ). Where hospitals have the greatest issues, is with patients who are babies, elderly, and those patients with immune deficiencies ( AIDS and cancers ).  Even if they are not in the hospital the babies, elderly and those with AIDS and Cancer can easily absorb mold spores and have mold growing inside their bodies eventually killing them. But how does the mold spores that grow in a house, business or even in a hospital grow?
How do the mold spores build big colonies and create health issues? To answer the question I usually ask people to think of a plant. What does a plant need to grow. The reason I use a plant as an example is because molds are very similar to plants.
First a plant needs warmth. As you can imagine a plant or mold couldn’t survive in the winter time, so as any smart plant would do, it finds a home somewhere warm. What‘s not better than a home with an average temperature of 72 degrees.
The second major need a mold has is a food source. Like a plant nutrition and food is essential. Mold has developed over millions of years to adapt. Today mold can grow on drywall, dust particles and flooring.
The third major item mold ( plants ) need is water or better moisture. Moisture as you can imagine is the most important of all three needs a mold has.
If you look around in your home and office, you will see that warmth and food sources are plentiful for mold growth. But what you don’t see is mold. Why? Because you are missing the one major need a mold needs and that is moisture or water.
But that is an easy solution to fill. All you need in a leaky roof, water pipe, or leaky windows and a basement that has foundation issues. Just a little amount of mold can create mold growth. If I were to ask you how do you prevent mold growth, you would probably say prevent the moisture or water leaks from coming in. That’s the solution for preventing mold growth.
The lesson to learn is that mold growing in your home or office doesn’t just magically appear out of know where. Mold travels via the air and is in every home clean or dirty. The issue is to prevent moisture from coming in the first place.