DIY Saturday #68: How to Prevent Mold in your Home (Video)

Guest Blog #182, Entry #663, September 17, 2011

Happy DIY Saturday! In most homes today we are concerned about the health and welfare of our family. For our home is where we feel secure, and we enjoy retreating to daily. Over the last decade mold in homes have become a common household hazard that can result in sick inhabitants, as well as costly repairs to rectify the problem.

Today, my Guest Blogger gives tips for preventing mold in your home, as well as a You Tube helps you understand how to find mold in your home and when to hire a professional to remove it.

You Tube Video – How to Prevent Mold in your Home

Guest Blogger – How to prevent mold in your home

You’ve probably seen new stories about toxic black mold making entire buildings uninhabitable without extensive remediation. The good news is that most of the common varieties of household mold aren’t toxic. The bad news is that even “harmless” molds can wreck havoc on those with allergies and cause expensive damage to your home’s structure.

1. Look for any existing mold in your home and deal with it immediately before it spreads further. Patches of mold larger than three square feet should be dealt with by a mold remediation specialist. Don’t just clean the mold, try to figure out why that area is hospitable to mold growth and take steps to remedy the situation so that it doesn’t grow back.

2. If you live in an area of high humidity use dehumidifiers and air conditioners to remove as much moisture from the air as you can. If you need a humidifier for health reasons, use a humidity gauge to avoid putting too much moisture into the air.

Keep the humidity levels in your home in check

Image courtesy of AAA Blinds

3. Install and use exhaust fans in your kitchen and bathroom to vent out warm, moist air.

4. Fix any leaks and seepage problems in and around your home as soon as possible. Be sure to dry the area thoroughly and check back later to make sure no mold has grown.

5. The soil in your houseplant’s pot can provide the perfect place for mold to grow. Avoid putting houseplants in bedrooms, especially of those who have allergies and asthma.

6. Wash your shower curtain in hot water weekly with a bit of bleach, vinegar or tea tree oil to kill mold and mildew. Look for mold and mildew resistant tub mats and shower curtains as added insurance.

7. Clean any drip pans under refrigerators and air conditioning units regularly.

8. Make it habit to wipe down shower walls and wipe up any water off of the floor after you shower.

9. If you have a crawlspace under your home, cover the dirt with plastic and make sure that the area is well ventilated.

Waterproofing against moisture in basement can help prevent build up

Image courtesy of Got Power

10. Don’t put carpet over concrete floors without a vapor barrier. If you can’t have one installed, use rugs instead so that you can lift them up periodically and clean them thoroughly.

11. Dry up spills on your carpet immediately. Smaller spills can be blotted as dry as possible then blown dry with a fan or hair dryer. Larger spills might require a wet/dry shop vac and several fans to be sure the area dries completely within 48 hours. For floods and other extensive water damage, the entire carpet may have to be removed.

12. Be sure to pull out appliances regularly to clean behind them and look for any leaks or moisture build-up.

13. Clean out your refrigerator regularly including the door gaskets. Dispose of all spoiled foods and wipe up any spills as soon as they happen.

14. Wash and disinfect all household trashcans weekly. Get in the habit of emptying all liquid containers in the sink thoroughly before placing them in the trash or recycling bin.

15. Change the air filters in your furnace and air conditioning units regularly with electrostatic filters that are rated to filter out airborne allergens like mold. This will help keep mold spores from spreading.

16. Use paint with a mold-inhibitor added to cover walls in your basement and other areas that are prone to dampness in your home.

Use paint with mold inhibitor for your home

17. Don’t allow wet clothes to sit around your house or in the dryer. Make sure that all clothing is dry when your dryer stops, if it’s not, give it another cycle.

18. Be careful of what you store in damp areas like the basement. Once they become damp, clothes, books and paper are ideal mediums for mold to grow on.

19. Check your gutters and rainspouts regularly and keep them clear of obstructions so that they can direct water away from your house’s walls and foundation.

Gutter maintenance can help protect from water intrusion into your home

20. Put chemical moisture remover canisters in the backs of closest and storage areas to suck out dampness from the air. Remember to empty out the water that collects in the bottom of the containers regularly.

21. Avoid foam mattresses and pillows as these have been known to grow mold.

22. If you have allergies, invest in a room air purifier to remove mold spores from the air. Even if you have faithfully followed all of the mold prevention techniques in this article, mold spores can still work their way into your house from the outdoors.

Jacob Maslow is a blogger for Allergy Be Gone, an allergy control products company.

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