Month: December 2019

Protect Your Christmas Decorations from Mold

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Protect Your Christmas Decorations from Mold

Christmas has come to a close again, which means it’s time to store your Christmas decorations. (We won’t judge you if you let this chore linger into the new year, but it’s good to be thinking about your storage options anyway.) Did you know that your attic is especially prone to mold growth? Storage locations in general are also susceptible to mold growth, usually due to neglect (no one is cleaning or maintaining the area). Here’s how to protect your Christmas decorations from mold:

Seasonal Cleaning

Spring cleaning gets all the hype, but it’s important to do a thorough cleaning of your entire home about once per season. This can help you spot signs of mold before things get out of hand. And that goes for any area of your home, not just the part that stores your Christmas decorations. When you clean, be sure to put everything up, dust, and sweep.

Donating Christmas Decorations

Consider this: The fewer Christmas decorations you have to store, the less likely you are to attract mold. The idea here is that there are fewer items that go unsupervised during the year, making it less likely for mold growth to sneak up on you. Go through your Christmas decorations and only keep the items that “spark joy.”

Checking for and Repairing Leaks

Moisture is the number one cause of mold growth. Add to that a warm, cozy environment where mold can thrive, unbothered, and you’ve got yourself a real problem. When you go through your house and perform your seasonal cleaning, you should also use this time to check for leaks. Catching them early can make water damage minimal and mold remediation much easier.

Ensuring Ideal Humidity

Even in areas where there are no leaks, there’s still a chance that mold could grow and thrive. If your home has high humidity levels, then that’s all the moisture it needs to call your house a home. Ensure that your home’s humidity level is ideal, not too dry and not too moist. If you see condensation on your windows, that’s a sign you have too much moisture in your home. Consider purchasing a dehumidifier.

What to Do If You Find Mold

These are all preventative measures you can take this year to keep from finding mold growing in your Christmas decorations next year. But what happens if you find mold in your home anyway, despite your best efforts to protect your Christmas decorations from mold?

The best thing to do is to contact a professional right away, and do not try to remediate the mold on your own. Mold spores and fumes can be dangerous. Coming into contact with it can make you sick and may even make the mold spread. The mold remediation specialists at RestoPros have the training, the skills, and the equipment needed to remove mold from your home. We’ll keep you and your family safe all year ‘round. Call today to schedule service with one of our friendly representatives.

Improving Ventilation in Your Home Can Prevent Mold

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Improving Ventilation in Your Home Can Prevent Mold

Just a few chores can make it less likely for mold to grow in your home. For example, improving ventilation in your home can prevent mold, or at least, reduce the possibility of mold growth in your home. (There are unfortunately a multitude of ways for mold to grow and thrive in your house, so if you spot mold, be sure to contact a professional right away.) If you’re being proactive, however, here are a few simple ventilation maintenance tips that can help make mold a distant concern:

Replace Your Air Filter

This is the first on our list for a few different reasons:

  1. It’s the easiest form of ventilation maintenance you can perform by yourself.
  2. Although it’s the most well-known way to maintain your ventilation, it’s also the easiest to lose track of or forget entirely.

You should be replacing your air filter every month, every three months at most. When was the last time you replaced your filter? If you can’t remember, that’s a good sign that you should complete this simple chore right away.

Invest in an Air Purifier

The reason that mold can grow in your ventilation is partly due to how dirty the vents can get. That’s why it’s important to regularly replace your air filter and to keep the air circulating in your home clean. You can help keep your home’s air clean with an air purifier.

Know When to Use a Humidifier … and When Not To!

The humidity levels in your home can be tough to regulate, but much easier to do if you have a humidifier. However, it’s important to know when you should use your humidifier and when using one is most likely to cause mold in your home. If your home is humid to the point that you have condensation on your windows, it’s time to let the humidifier rest. If your home is especially warm, thanks to your A-plus furnace, then don’t turn your humidifier on for a while. Warmth and moisture are the perfect environment for mold.

Have Your Air Ducts Professionally Cleaned

Even if you’re regularly changing your air filter, using an air purifier, and using a humidifier appropriately, your air ducts can still accrue dirt and debris. The most cluttered your air ducts become, the more likely it is that mold will grow in your ventilation system. It’s not really possible to clean your air ducts yourself, however, so it’s important to contact an HVAC professional in your area to perform the service for you.

What to Do If You Have Mold in Your Home

Improving ventilation in your home can help prevent mold, yes, but that doesn’t stop mold from growing altogether, and it doesn’t help with any mold problems you may already have. If you come across mold in your home, you should not try to clean or remediate it on your own. Mold remediation specialists are trained to approach and clear away mold in a way that is both safe for their own health and the health of those around them (like you and your family). If you suspect that you have mold in your home, call the professionals at RestoPros for remediation services.

Managing Your Indoor Humidity Could Help You Avoid Mold

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Managing Your Indoor Humidity Could Help You Avoid Mold

If there’s too much humidity in your home, then you likely have a few problems on your hands: condensation is building on your windows, there’s a general sense of discomfort, and your body is having trouble regulating its own temperature. But did you know that mold can grow in these conditions too? In order to grow and thrive, mold needs moisture and warmth, and if you have high humidity in your home, then both of these conditions are present. Here’s how managing your indoor humidity could help you avoid mold.

Note: If your home is already at a high humidity level, then it’s possible that mold has already been cultivated. Have your home inspected by a licensed mold remediation specialist. You can get details on this below.

How to Manage Indoor Humidity Levels

Alternate Title: How to Lower Humidity Levels in Your Home

Stop Using Your Humidifier

You may have made a humidifier part of your daily routine. You’re not even thinking about the outcome of using it anymore. You just know that it has made you more comfortable indoors in the past. And, of course, that makes sense because during those times the humidity in your home was too low. It was correcting the issue. At this time, however, you should stop using your humidifier.

Don’t Use Incense Diffusers

If you have an incense diffuser that uses water to saturate the incense, you should stop using it if your home is experience high levels of humidity. You can try some other alternatives like lighting an incense stick, burning a scented candle, or using a plugin scent diffuser. However, you should be warned that all these methods can harm your indoor air quality. You’re better off purchasing an all-natural scented spray and using it sparingly.

Correct Indoor Ventilation

If you’re experiencing an influx of humidity in a certain room, that’s usually a good indication that you have poor ventilation in this room as well. You’ve probably seen something similar happen in your laundry room if your dryer isn’t ventilating properly. Condensation droplets form on the lids of your appliances. Make sure your vents are open and unblocked by furniture or decorations, and be sure that you’re replacing your AC filter at least once every quarter.

When to Hire a Mold Remediation Specialist

Managing your indoor humidity could help you avoid mold, but if you suspect mold is already present in your home, then it’s time to hire a mold remediation specialist. As mold can be hazardous to your health, especially when dealt with in close quarters, you should never try to remove, clean, or remediate mold on your own. Specialists have special tools with which to do this safely, so you and your family can breathe easy indoors.

If you’re experiencing any of these conditions, it’s time to call a specialist:

  • High humidity levels
  • Difficulty breathing indoors
  • Indoor allergies (not present when indoors in other locations)
  • Respiratory issues and illnesses, exacerbated when in your own home
  • Visual representations of mold
  • Water damage

Call 855-587-3786 today to speak with a friendly RestoPros representative about your mold remediation options.

Can Mold Grow in Insulation?

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Can Mold Grow in Insulation

If you typed “Can mold grow in insulation?” into your preferred search engine, one of two things is happening: 1. You’re generally a curious person and a big fan of the show How It’s Made, or 2. You think you’re experiencing mold symptoms, and you’re trying to find the source. Your allergies are going crazy—but only when you’re indoors and none of your usual triggers are present. You feel itchy and short of breath. You may even detect a slight mildew smell. But you’ve checked everywhere and can’t seem to spot any water damage that might indicate mold growth in your home. So, can mold grow in insulation? Let’s find out:

How Does Mold Grow?

Mold is a fairly simple organism. All it needs in order to grow, survive, and thrive is warmth and moisture. Anywhere in your home that can get warm and wet can suddenly become the ideal habitat for mold. Areas in your home that can become subject to these conditions include:

  • Attics
  • Ceilings
  • Exterior-facing walls
  • Walls covering water pipes
  • Cabinets beneath sinks
  • Showers
  • Insulation

Can Insulation Become Warm and Wet?

Unfortunately, the answer is yes. While you want your insulation to be warm, you never want it to be wet, so how does this happen?

In short, leaks make mold growth possible. A leak in your roof can bring moisture into your attic, which houses quite a lot of your insulation. A leak in an exterior-facing wall can allow water to saturate your insulation. A burst pipe in a wall can cause soggy insulation as well.

By design, your insulation traps in heat, so just a little water can go a long way for mold growth.

How Can Mold Growth in Insulation Cause Allergies?

OK, so now we know mold can grow in your insulation. But how can mold inside your walls be triggering your allergies and negatively impacting your respiratory system? After all, you never go digging around in there, so how can mold growth there affect you if you never come in direct contact with it?

Just being in close proximity to mold, even with a barrier between you, can provide side effects, eventually. However, your ventilation system speeds up the process by circulating the air evenly through your home, even parts of your home with exposed insulation like your attic. Ironically, a healthy HVAC system could be partly to blame for your allergies.

How to Remediate Mold

If you believe you have mold growing in your home, you should never try to remove or remediate it yourself. Being around mold, generally speaking, is hazardous to your health. Not only can it cause allergies, but it can also lead to serious respiratory issues. When you hire a mold remediation specialist, they’ll discover the source of the mold growth and, using their expert training and specialized equipment, remove and remediate the mold safely. When you need mold remediation services, call RestoPros. We put in the hard work, so you and your family can breathe easy.