Mold growth is a common occurrence inside homes and buildings. However, just because mold growth can happen does not mean you have to live with it in your home and suffer its ill effects. Here are some recommendations to keep your home free of mold and airborne spores that can cause health problems and damage to your home.
Prepare for Safe Cleaning
It is important to clean up after small areas of mold growth within your home, which you can do on your own. Keep in mind that if the areas of mold growth are larger than a 5'x2' area or larger than ten square feet, you should always consult the services of a professional mold remediation company. Handling the clean up of an area larger than this can include an unhealthy amount of mold spores and growth that can put you at risk of contaminating other areas of your home as well.
You should also protect yourself if you are handling the clean-up by wearing protective clothing and breathing protection, such as an N-95 mask or respirator. Airborne mold spores can also attach onto your clothing, so wear long sleeves, gloves, and long pants, and durable shoes. Plan to wash your clothes and dry them when you are finished cleaning to eliminate any mold spores.
Remove Visible Mold
It is important to remove visible mold on surfaces inside your home, whether it is on drywall, carpeting, tile, grout, or inside a wood cabinet. Leaving behind any spores will result in further mold growth.
Combine your own mold cleaning mixture with a solution of one part bleach to ten parts water. Apply it onto the moldy areas using a spray bottle or a disposal rag or sponge. Use the mixture and cleaning implement to wipe off the mold until the surface is no longer discolored by any black, grey, green, white, or any other color of mold growth. Let the surface air dry after you have removed the mold, as the bleach solution will kill any spores you cannot see that may still be present on the surface.
Some areas covered by mold growth will need to be removed because they can't be restored. This can include carpeting, padding, drywall, and insulation. When you are planning to remove the damaged materials, it is best to moisten the areas with a mist of water to prevent the mold spores from spreading into the air. Bag up the materials into a heavy-duty trash bag so you can seal it up and dispose of it into the trash bin.
If you'd rather let someone else do this work, consider working with mold remediation companies.
