Mold can easily take up residence in your home and this is not only unsightly especially to visitors, but can also be a potential health hazard. To people who are allergic and those suffering from asthma, mold spores can aggravate their conditions. The good news is, there are certain steps you can take as the homeowner to keep mold from invading and taking control of your home. Investing in dehumidifiers as well as learning about the conditions that facilitate the growth of mold spores can put you on a path to eradicating mold in your home.
Understanding the Origin of Mold
Mold is among the microbes that thrive in places that have high moisture concentrations. Any place within your home which has a water source, cracks and leakages or is confined, is susceptible to mold infestation. This could be your basement, your store, bathroom, or any other dump or moist place in the house. The interesting thing with mold is that once they emerge, the spread pretty fast in patches and multiply with speed as the spores travel through the air and attach themselves to other areas previously unaffected so that they can continue spreading.
Exposure to mold can cause quite a number of health problems which include ear, nose and throat (ENT) irritations such as coughing, whizzing, sneezing, stuffiness and skin infections.
How a Dehumidifier Helps in Stopping Mold Growth
Dehumidifiers come in handy to prevent the growth of mold by lowering moisture concentrations in your home. Since moist ground provides an atmosphere for the growth of mold, getting rid of this can substantially stop mold growth. If you happen to live in humid areas, having a dehumidifier is not a debatable investment. Depending on the size of your budget, you may go for dehumidifiers that only cover a single room, but the best are those that are large enough to mop up the moisture content in your entire home.
Additional Steps to Control the Growth of Mold
The best way is to prevent the growth of mold from the word go if you don’t want to incur mold remediation and testing costs. A few of the things you can do to ensure this happens include:
- Repairing damaged insulation especially around windows, water pipes and doors to curtail spore growth
- Running your AC regularly can help in dehumidifying your indoor air as well as bring its temperature down
- Avoid retaining standing water sources within your home by draining the kitchen sink immediately you are done with the dishes and if you take baths in tubs, be sure to pull the stopper so that the water drains as you climb out.
While mold growth can seem an insurmountable and distressing problem, there are a number of easy actions you can take to keep it at bay in your home. The above actions can start you off and put you on a winning course.
