Friday, 19 April 2013

Protect your Home From Mold

By Marten Ranheim


Mold can infiltrate your home through open doorways, windows, vents, or heating and air conditioning systems. It will grow where there is moisture, places such as roofs, windows, pipes, or around leaks or where there has been flooding. It grows well on paper products, cardboard, ceiling tiles, and wood products. It can also find a host in dust, paints, wallpaper, insulation, drywall, carpet, fabric, and upholstery.

Most people don't worry about mold in and around their homes until it becomes a problem. Left undetected, it can swiftly become a problem and a large expense to be cleaned. If it has grown in your home, you need to clean it up and fix the moisture problem that caused it to grow.

Here are a few tips on what to look for around the house to prevent the occurrence of mold, and what you need to know about it:

It is recommended that homeowners check their home regularly for it. This will ensure that even the smallest issue is quickly found and resolved. The first thing you can do is try to keep humidity levels as low as you can and make sure it is no higher than 50%.

Key areas in your home prone to mold are anywhere that moisture exists, especially over long periods. Be sure to check basements, crawl spaces, attics, bathrooms, kitchens, around windowsills, and anywhere else may have had a chance to become damp. Also make sure you fix any leaks in your home's roof, walls, or plumbing, so that mold does not have moisture to grow from. If it is growing in your home already, it is very important to clean it up as soon as possible, and fix the problem causing moisture. If you clean it up but don't fix the cause, it will return.

Mold remediation is the process of removing, cleaning and treating a place that has been overtaken by the formation of it. An often asked question is whether or not remediation is covered by a standard home insurance policy. Generally, homeowner insurance policies do not cover repairs for this damage. Standard policies provide coverage for disasters that are sudden and accidental but don't cover the cost of cleaning and maintaining a home. However, if it is the result of a covered incident, such as a burst pipe, insurance may pay for the cost of eliminating the mold.

The biggest concern with it inside of a home is the toxic characteristics that can make it dangerous to the health of the homeowner and their family. While many individuals seldom experience negative effects from exposure to their health, some individuals are more sensitive to it than others. The same amount of it may cause serious health issues in one person, but none at all in another. Those who may be at greater risk for worse symptoms are individuals with existing respiratory conditions such as allergies, asthma, or chemical sensitivities; people with weaker immune systems; babies and children; and senior citizens.




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