If you live in South Jersey, mold, treating mold, and all the health issues associated with it should be front-of-mind for you. What people don’t realize is that mold is just about everywhere. It’s all over your clothes, in and on your car, mold is on virtually everything at work and at home, and it’s mostly outdoors.
Mold plays an important role in nature ‒ and that’s to break down dead organic material, helping it decay. When we keep mold outdoors, it’s relatively harmless. But, when mold grows or colonizes in a confined space ‒ like your home or building, to the point you can see and/or smell it – well, then it’s not so benign and harmless. Indoors, mold can cause allergic reactions, cold and flu-like symptoms, and it can lead to asthma, causing asthmatic attacks and other respiratory distress issues.
So how do we keep mold outdoors, and keep it from growing in our homes, our buildings or our workplaces?
Mainly, controlling mold in South Jersey means controlling water. A lot of the other conditions that lead to mold cannot be eliminated. But water can be controlled.
Wherever you find South Jersey mold, there’s sure to be some kind of waterproofing issue that needs attention in your home or building. There’s more to controlling mold than just worrying about whether you might need a perimeter drain or a sump pump. In addition to sumps and drains, you might want to consider the challenges of controlling water or upgrading the waterproofing in your home or building from a few different options.
Options like ‒ dehumidification (a mechanical ventilation system to extract water vapor from the air and building materials, exhausting it from your home/building), or a vapor barrier (the plastic liner installed on the floors and walls in basements and crawl spaces to stop moisture being sucked from the earth, creating high-humidity conditions).
Just as water can cause serious damage to the foundation and footings of your home or buildings, the water vapor that comes from that water is detrimental to your indoor air quality and the structural building materials that make up your home or buildings.
Let’s look at the conditions needed for mold growth in South Jersey.
Water Promotes Mold Growth
While it’s good for your body, water is awful for your home or building.
Every mold study identifies water (or moisture) as the prime requirement and causative agent for mold growth. Indeed, water is like a disease to any indoor environment.
Important fact: If you have no water, you have no mold! So, if you suspect you have a mold infestation, with absolute certainty, there’s a source of water ‘feeding’ it.
Mold Growths in Warm Temperatures
The magic temperature required for mold to grow is 50° Fahrenheit. At 50° and up, mold spores can begin to grow and multiply on damp surfaces.
Admittedly, controlling the temperature isn’t the best way to prevent mold growth, but, if you suspect you have mold, it’s clear you’re providing the right temperature for it to grow, right now.
Moving Air Means Mold Growth
Since mold is a living, breathing organism, it needs air to survive and grow. Much like our own bodies, mold needs air to live and grow. And moving, circulating air is almost everywhere. So, if you have mold, or suspect you do, remember to look for the source of moving air.
Mold Growth Requires Food
Hopefully, you’ve accepted that mold is a living, breathing organism and that it has to have a source of water, the right temperature, and moving air to grow. But as a living organism, it also needs a source of food.
So if you think you may have mold, check to see if it’s growing on some kind of organic surface (wood, cloth, paper, gypsum, glues, some silicones, etc.)
For a more in-depth look at these conditions and to learn more about mold, contact us today. We are dedicated to helping you eliminate your mold problems once and for all.
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