Letting mold continue to grow in your home is bad for your health. This is especially true if it’s black mold. Just as the name indicates, black mold is characterized by its dark black color. If you notice any black mold growing in your home or commercial building, you should contact an emergency restoration repair company immediately to safely remove it for you.
The scientific term for black mold is Stachybotrys chartarum. Black mold, or Stachybotrys chartarum, is a dangerous fungus that produces mycotoxins when disturbed. As a result, leaving black mold in your home or commercial building is a health risk. In fact, black mold is linked to severe illness in infants.
Black mold is also highly dangerous for small children, elderly people, and people with weakened immune systems to be around. Black mold is so dangerous that it’s considered one of, if not the most, dangerous form of mold. That’s why black mold remediation is extremely necessary.
How Does Black Mold Develop?
Like most forms of mold, black mold tends to appear in warm, moist areas. Places in the home where black mold tends to thrive are the bathroom and kitchen. This is because there are plenty of water sources in those areas of the home.
Specific areas in the bathroom that tend to develop black mold include the places around the shower, bathtub, and toilet. The kitchen sink is also an area where black mold will likely develop. Other dark and moist areas in the house where black mold may develop include basements, attics, and crawlspaces.
If the conditions are right, black mold can even grow on wood, dirt, fiberboards, gypsum boards, or paper. Mold may grow on things like fiberboards, gypsum boards, or paper because of their high cellulose content. Objects with high cellulose content are capable of growing black mold because cellulose can absorb and hold moisture.
Since mold is so attracted to moisture, any lingering water damage in your home or commercial building, whether due to a natural disaster, water leaks, condensation, or water infiltration, could lead to the development of black mold. Living in warm and humid areas also increases the chance of black mold developing in your home or commercial building. This is because it creates the perfect warm and moist environment for black mold to grow.
That’s why even using a humidifier indoors can sometimes lead to the development of black mold. If left in moisture long enough, black mold may even grow and turn into a black mold colony that will require black mold remediation.
What Are Signs That My Home Has Black Mold?
Your home likely has black mold if you notice musty, dark spots or clusters of dark spot growth in warm and moist areas. If you’re suddenly experiencing more severe allergy symptoms while in your home, this may also be a sign that your home contains black mold.
Any typical causes for mold in your home for an extended period of time may also cause black mold to appear. For example, leaking faucets, water damage, old food, papers, or wood lying around the home, or lack of ventilation are all reasons why your home may develop black mold.
Black Mold Exposure Symptoms
If exposed to black mold, you can develop countless different symptoms. Not everyone responds to black mold the same way though. In fact, there are some people that get exposed to black mold that never experience any symptoms.
Black mold exposure symptoms are similar to that of severe allergy symptoms. Therefore, people with actual mold allergies or allergies in general, tend to experience more black mold exposure symptoms than others.
Some common symptoms of black mold exposure include:
- Fever
- Coughing
- Wheezing
- Skin rash
- Sneezing
- Sore throat
- Headaches
- Chronic fatigue
- Nose stuffiness
- Red or itchy eyes
- Mucous membranes of the mouth, nose, and throat
If you suffer from asthma, black mold exposure may cause you to have an asthma attack. If you suffer from chronic respiratory disease, black mold exposure can cause you to have trouble breathing.
For those with weakened immune systems, black mold exposure can even lead to skin or lung infection. Prolonged exposure to black mold can also cause extreme allergic reactions, nausea, vomiting, and bleeding in the lungs and nose.
It’s believed that black mold exposure is also linked to health issues like memory loss, headaches, and infant pulmonary hemorrhage.
Black Mold Exposure Diagnosis
There is no exact test to prove that you’ve experienced black mold exposure. Thus, outside of noticing the signs of black mold in and around your home or commercial building, the only way to somewhat diagnose someone with black mold exposure is for a doctor to review that person’s symptoms and check that person for mold allergies. To further diagnose a person with black mold exposure, a doctor may even perform a blood or skin prick test.
Blood Test for Black Mold Exposure Diagnosis
To perform a blood test, your doctor will take your blood sample and send it to a lab. There, researchers will measure the amount of black mold-related antibodies that you have in it. If you contain at least a certain number of black mold related antibodies in your blood, then you’ve likely experienced black mold exposure.
Skin Prick Test for Black Mold Exposure Diagnosis
For this test, your doctor will take a small amount of black mold and apply it to your skin with a tiny needle. If your skin breaks out after this, you’re allergic to black mold. Containing this knowledge can later lead you to discover if you’ve been exposed to black mold or not.
Black Mold Remediation
There are multiple different things that you can do to remove or stop the growth of black mold. Black mold remediation steps might include the following:
Step 1: Put on masks, gloves, goggles, and rubber boots.
Step 2: Open all doors and windows to increase ventilation.
Step 3: Move aside anything that hasn’t been touched by the black mold and throw away anything that can’t be cleaned in the area.
Step 4: Cut away and replace black mold-damaged drywall, ceiling tiles, and carpet in the home.
Step 5: Cover and scrub nonporous surfaces affected by black mold with bleach, fungicide, or detergent and water. Don’t mix the cleaning products that you use though.
Step 6: Dry the surfaces that you scrubbed.
Step 7: Make sure that any water issues that you have in your home are fixed.
Although it’s possible to remove black mold on your own, it’s highly dangerous to your health to do so. Thus, the best form of black mold remediation is always to call an emergency restoration repair company to remove the mold for you.
How to Prevent Black Mold Growth
Promptly fixing any leaking issues in your home is imperative to preventing black mold from developing in your home. You should also make sure that your rain gutters are clean at all times and not blocking water drainage.
To prevent black mold growth, you must also always keep your home dry and clean. This is especially true for mold-prone areas in your home like the bathroom. It’s also important to keep your home ventilated. You can do this by turning on fans whenever you shower, cook, or do anything that increases the moisture in your home.
Another thing that you should do to prevent black mold growth is to use a dehumidifier. This is because dehumidifiers can help maintain relative humidity in your home. You can also use indoor air purifiers with high-efficiency particulate air filtration or a high-efficiency filter in your furnace or ventilation system to help you manage any allergy symptoms that you may have.
Also, if, for some reason, you experience a flood in your home, make sure to call an emergency restoration repair company to dry and clean it for you within 48 hours so that mold doesn’t begin to grow.
Things You Should Avoid Doing to Prevent Black Mold Growth
To avoid the need for black mold remediation, there are certain things that you shouldn’t do. One of these things is leaving old books, papers, and wood lying around your home for long periods of time. This is something you shouldn’t do if you want to prevent black mold from growing in your home because the high cellulose levels in these types of objects can make them absorb enough moisture for mold to grow on them. Thus, leaving random, old paper and wood around makes it more likely that you’ll get mold growth one day.
You should also avoid putting any carpet in rooms where there is a lot of water and moisture around. For example, you shouldn’t put carpet in your bathroom, kitchens, and basements. Doing so will just allow moisture to retain in your carpet floors.
Another big no-no when it comes to black mold prevention is leaving pipe and groundwater leak issues unfixed. The quicker you fix any leaking issues that you have, the less likely that mold will grow. Finally, don’t paint over mold. Covering up the problem isn’t going to make it go away. You must perform black mold remediation before painting over the area where black mold is.
Restore Remodel Renew Can Remove All Mold From Your Home For You
The safest and most effective way to perform black mold remediation is to call an emergency restoration repair company to do it for you. That way you’ll know for sure that the job was done properly. At Restore Remodel Renew, we specialize in mold damage repair, water damage repair, storm damage repair, dry out services, and kitchen remodeling services, among other things. Thus, there is no amount of black mold remediation that we can’t handle.
Whether you got your black mold due to a natural disaster, a flood, or through natural causes, we have the expertise and experience to be able to remove all of the black mold from your home for you within a short amount of time. Even if the mold in your home isn’t black mold, we can still remove it for you. To learn more about Restore Remodel Renew and the services that we offer, contact our amazing team today.
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