3 Types of Mold that May Be Hiding Inside your Home

3 Types of Mold that May Be Hiding Inside your Home

It is a commonly held belief that mold only affects older homes, but that’s far from the truth. Mold can grow anytime and anywhere, regardless of whether it’s an old home or a new one. It mostly thrives in damp, humid, and moist environments, which make the bathroom, kitchen, and basement the ideal places in your home to be affected by mold infestation.

While not all types of mold are harmful, it can become a serious health risk and hazard if it’s left untreated for a really long time. For effective mold removal, it is essential to be able to identify the type of mold that’s lurking inside your home. Mold tends to grow at a very rapid pace, so it is imperative that you quickly recognize the type of mold and be well-informed on its health risks so that you can deal with it immediately.

To help you with that, here are three of the most common types of mold that may be hiding underneath the kitchen sink or the basement ceiling.

1.     Alternaria

This type of mold is commonly found indoors and is likely to grow in damp and dark spaces such as below leaking sinks, showers, and bathtubs. Some of the many health risks associated with Alternaria are adverse allergic reactions, asthma attacks, and numerous asthma-like symptoms.

How to Identify

Alternaria is a type of allergenic mold with a velvety texture and brown or dark green colored little hairs.

2.     Aureobasidium

This is another type of allergenic mold that you are likely to find growing on wooden surfaces, painted areas, or behind wallpapers. Some other less common places include in caulks and around the windows in your home.

Aureobasidium is known to cause more severe reactions as compared to other types of mold eye and nail infection, as well as dermatitis, which is a very serious type of skin rash.

How to Identify

This type of mold initially develops in black, pink, or brown colors and then gradually transforms into a darker shade of brown if it’s left untreated for a long time.

3.     Fusarium

Known as both a toxigenic and an allergenic type of mold, Fusarium commonly grows in wet and cold areas. It most commonly grows in homes with some kind of water damage and tends to target things like the carpets, wallpaper, and other warm fabrics that are similar to a carpet.

In case of exposure to this type of mold, you are likely to experience allergic symptoms such as skin rash, runny nose, cough, itchy eyes, and a sore throat. However, if you are exposed to it for a very long time, it can lead to deadly conditions like brain abscess and bone infections.

How to Identify

This mold adopts numerous colors such as pink, dark red, or white and can have a variety of textures like cottony, flat, or wooly.

Final Word

This list is by no means exhaustive, and there are so many other types of mold that can grow inside your homes.

Regardless of the type, the best to ensure effective mold removal is to call mold remediation services such as EE&G Restoration Services in Tampa that have the best mold-control team and experts on board.

How to Clean Mold in my bathroom

How to Clean Mold in my bathroom

If you’ve never experienced bathroom mold, perhaps you aren’t looking deep enough into the corners of your bathroom. It’s one of the most common problems in any house; it’s also one of the easiest to prevent and cure — as long as you haven’t let it get out of hand.

Common Causes of Bathroom Mold

  • Lingering moisture caused by lack of ventilation
  • Leaky toilets, sinks, and plumbing pipes
  • Damp cellulose materials such as rugs, paper products, wood, wallpaper, grout, drywall, and fabric
  • So how do you know if you have a mold problem? Matt Cinelli, owner/operator of AERC Removals in North Attleboro, Mass., says, “If you can see it or smell it, you’ve got it.”

Finding the Mold in Your Bathroom

Bathroom mold isn’t always obvious. Check out hidden areas, such as under sinks, access doors to shower and bath fixtures, around exhaust fans, even in crawl spaces and basements underneath bathrooms.

“It could be starting in the bathroom but actually forming in another room,” says Cinelli, adding that lack of proper ventilation is the biggest culprit for mold growth.

Here are some tips for Preventing Mold

  • Use your bathroom ventilation fan when you shower or bathe, and leave it on for 30 minutes following the end of your bath; if you don’t have an exhaust fan, install one.
  • Keep household humidity levels below 50%; an air conditioner or dehumidifier can help.
  • Use a mildew-resistant shower curtain, and wash or replace it frequently.
  • Don’t keep bottles of shampoo or shower gel, toys, or loofahs in the shower, as they provide places for mold to grow and hide.
  • Wash your bathroom rugs frequently.

Getting Rid of Mold

What do you do if mold growth is already a problem? As long as the infestation isn’t large, you can take remedial measures yourself:

  • Strip away and replace any caulking or sealant that has mold growth.
  • Clean your bathroom with mold-killing products, such as bleach, vinegar, or hydrogen peroxide. Just don’t mix those products; mixing can cause toxic reactions.
  • Open windows and doors while cleaning to provide fresh air and help dry out the mold.

If you have a problem area bigger than 10 square feet, refer to guidelines from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or call in a professional.

“When you see it creeping into walls and insulation, you need a professional,” says Cinelli, who notes that tearing out walls (which may be necessary for a big problem) can release mold spores into the rest of the house and create an even bigger issue.

“The idea is to kill it and then remove it,” he says. “And the most important thing is to figure out why you have it before you clean it up.”