Do you have questions about how to remove black mold? Have you been living in a house with black mold and wondered if it’s serious? If you have discovered black mold in your home, don’t wait around! Black mold toxicity can be a hazard to human health. The longer you live with it, the greater the risk of more severe sickness. Here is a quick guide to making your living space healthy again.
“Is a house with black mold that big a deal?”
Yes! I’ve written before about black mold toxicity, and the bottom line is that black mold could make you sick. So why is black mold dangerous?
As we discussed in our previous black mold article, some studies have connected it to health problems like Reye’s Syndrome and Hepatocellular carcinoma, a liver cancer. Furthermore, black mold is a “marker mold,” which is a mold that may produce mycotoxins, which some studies have implicated in many kinds of cancer. Additionally, when found inside, even in low numbers, marker molds are the clearest indicator of indoor mold growth.
“I have a house with black mold, but just in the bathroom.”
Bathrooms experience a lot of moisture, which increases the likelihood that you will discover black mold. We often receive phone calls from people worried about black mold in their toilet, bathroom windowsill, or air vent.
Among the challenges we face with black mold is that not all black-colored fungus is Stachybotrys chartarum (the scientific name for “black mold”). What you see on the window sill or the under the toilet could be mildew (still mold, just not S. chartarum) or limescale. Nevertheless, these clients are often surprised to discover that the black mold they think they’ve found in their bathroom is probably not restricted to the bathroom. If you have mold, you probably have mold everywhere, not just where you see it.
Visible Mold is a Symptom of a Bigger Problem
I mention the bathroom to illustrate a critical point. Visible mold is typically the tip of the iceberg. Mold spores float in the air and only become visible when they find a fibrous surface in a space with enough moisture to take root. That is why mold is a common side-effect of water damage – mold was always there, but the introduction of water made it possible for a colony to grow.
Those floating spores can affect your health even if you can’t see the mold anywhere, so black mold removal isn’t as simple as cutting away the mold you can see. You must reduce the number of mold spores in your house or apartment to healthy levels.
In fact, black mold growing on a wall does not make you sick. It is the spores that they release and you inhale that can make you sick. Within the industry, current up-to-date terminology pertaining to spore inhalation and the potentially harmful effects of having inhaled mold spores, is called “bioaerosol exposure.” So, in reality, it’s not necessarily a matter of mold remediation. Factually and more comprehensively, bioaerosol contamination abatement within the entire indoor environment is critical.
How to Remove Black Mold
In our professional opinion, there are no shortcuts to mold removal, and we recommend hiring a professional. The “How to remove black mold” DIY solutions you might see online typically only work on visible mold. These are like putting a bandaid on a cut that needs stitches. Pure Maintenance’s bioaerosol abatement process produces zero culturable mold 100% of the time in a space Pure Maintenance treats. We guarantee this! We highly recommend seeking professional solutions to reduce indoor mold levels, especially if you are within the 30% of the population that suffers from mold allergies or a mold-induced illness.
How to Prevent It!
Prevention is the best thing you can do if you live in a house prone to black mold. Keep the relative humidity within the space between 30%-50%, per EPA recommendations. Maintaining these levels may require the use of a dehumidifier!
Invest in great ventilation systems, especially in high-moisture rooms like bathrooms. That means maintaining bathroom air vents and kitchen stove hoods. Leave the door open if you don’t need to close it while you shower!
Lastly, go the extra mile with robust air purification technology. Pure Maintenance offers advanced air purification systems that keep the total mold load in your space at the lowest levels 24/7!
