Preventing Mold and Mildew Growth In New Homes

Are you building a new home? If so, you've got many important things to think about ... from the design of your new home to mortgage decisions and insurance arrangements. Another important item that should be on your list is health concerns from moisture, mold and mildew growth.

Tighter construction methods—and the materials used to build new homes—can easily contribute to indoor air quality issues and serious moisture problems if builders and homeowners overlook the underlying factors that cause them.

As an example, polyethylene has long been used as a vapor barrier to keep moisture out of homes because it's inexpensive and completely impervious to water. Unfortunately, a house wrapped in polyethylene can also prevent moisture that's already inside the home from escaping. This results in higher humidity levels, which in turn can result in the rapid growth of mildew and mold.

Newer polyamide films installed over insulation material may be a better choice, according to Glenn Singer, managere of building science for CertainTeed's Insulation Group. CertainTeed's MemBrain vapor retarder, for example, is designed to allow excess moisture to evaporate and exit the home through tiny pores that change size as relative humidity changes.

Construction products used in bathrooms are another area for discussion with your builder. Recent changes to the International Residential Code (IRC) no longer recognize green board—a commonly used, paper faced drywall product—as a suitable tile-backing material in wet areas like tub and shower surrounds. Instead, an approved, cement-based backer board like Durock® from USG Corporation should be used.

Durock panels are composed of aggregated portland cement sandwiched between layers of reinforcing glass-fiber mesh, providing a much greater resistance to moisture and a lower risk of mold growth. Green board products are still suitable for use in bathroom, laundry room and basement walls.

Air treatment systems are another important consideration for consumers planning to build a new home, and well worth discussing with your builder. Whole home systems, like those available from Aprilaire, might include an air cleaner, a humidifier, and a dehumidifier—all of which are installed in conjunction with your new home's heating and cooling systems.

A purpose-built dehumidifier is more effective at controlling indoor humidity than an air conditioner, and whole-home units are typically more efficient to operate than portable models. Humidifier units help provide proper humidity balance throughout the year, but are particularly helpful during the dry winter months.

Make a checklist of your concerns and ask your builder about how your new home will be constructed, what construction products will be used, and what steps they'll be taking to mitigate the likelihood of a moisture retention problem and indoor air quality issues. Indoor air pollution, humidity buildup, mold and mildew are all problems that are avoidable, and they're all things you definitely don’t want in your brand new home.

The Home Improvement News and Information Center provides information and resources for home construction, remodeling and home energy management. For more information about home building materials, point your web browser to http://www.HomeImprovementTime.com/consumer/search.asp?search=building&mode=search.

Winter Cold or Mold

A look at why black mold and common symptoms are so related. Does having a cold mean you have a mold problem. Free informative guide on the reasons mold causes a immunity problem in your system. Related Articles: What is Black Mold Mold Symptoms How to Get Rid of Black Mold

Living with mold can be harmful to one's health. Black mold can grow in the lungs and attach itself becoming a problem to the body. The immune system can break down and even mold has been known to be found in the blood stream. Black Mold is coming found in warm, wet, and dark areas. It is also found in homes, offices, walls, showers, and just about everywhere else. Living with mold can affect one's health and it is important to understand if your body is very allergenic to toxic mold and mildew. Toxic Mold or Black Mold or even mildew have all been associated to one thing, the black dirt that can appear on drywall, showers, tile, and carpeting. Mold needs a source to grow a little bit of moisture and one will begin seeing the spores amplify. The terms are in the same sentence because mold symptoms are very similar to cold symptoms. It can also be said that mold and colds are phrased to together because black mold can make one sick. This decrease in the immunity system will create a breakdown in the system.

Mold and Colds are cause mostly by having to much toxins in the system. Since mold are know to cause Fungicides, which is known as mold growing in the nose. Colds become a dominant symptom. The excess mucas which has spores which create fungus that can be corruptive to the system, especially if immuno-compromised. The stachybotris mold, aspergillus mold are all everyday and related with mold and colds. These are toxic molds that can grow effortlessly in homes and become an issue if not taken care of accurately. If looking for mold protection, be certain to take care of any water damage events that happen in the home or offices. If a wet drywall is left untouched and not removed, you will have black mold on your walls with in the near future. Once these toxic spores attach and sprout they will expel excrement in the air which you or your family can breathe in. Then mold and colds are working as one and induce problems in your system.

With colds, usually it is from immunity problem, stress, or over working and quite a few other things. Having mold in your system adds on to the body fighting to keep itself healthy. The mold spores will damage the core and most likely a cold will be coming on. Your nose will begin to get stuffy and you may have some excess mucas. The best thing to do is talk to a physician who understands mold and you may want to look into an alternative solution such as an all natural mold removal product or hiring a certified mold inspector and looking for a mold removal company.

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Black Mold and Their Eating Habits

Black Mold Can Get Full Just Like Us

Toxic Black Mold and Mildew are living organisms. They get full after eating the same way we do. So when they get full mold and mildew create excrement. If left long enough and if placed on an unprotected surface the mold will stain the area. That is another important factor in using a natural cleaner for mold, one that protects the surfaces and removes mold in one solution. If the surface does not have an encapsulate then it has a higher probability to stain.

This is the same for Removing Mildew Stains. Removing Mildew Stains on carpeting and any other surface is simalar. Except, carpeting is a thread or fabric. So black mold will have a better time going to town eating your carpet threads than eating cement. Find out how these buggers get there and what you can do to prevent mildew from growing on your carpets….

Black Mold and Mildew on Carpets

First to prevent your carpets from getting getting black mold and mildew and to save time removing mildew stains is KEEP CARPETING DRY!!! This means when you walk into your house or someone walks in… Take off your shoes.

Believe it or not when you walk on grass there are mold spores, and they can be tracked in from outside. HOW DO I KNOW THIS— Well since we did mold testing, when we took tests when someone was mowing the lawn and took a sample outside it was always tons, tons, tons, higher in spore counts…. The good thing it was outside. The next reason we know this, you must cover up your shoes with booties to get a better reading when taking samples in a clearance zone.

Trust me, through the many years of mold inspecting and home inspecting this I am sure of, Mold and Mildew can be carried in from outside.

Being a Toxic Mold Expert witness I offer reviews from asbestos, indoor air quality testing, mold cleaning, mold removal, and hazardous wastes.

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Get Rid of the Mold Smell

Mold causing a musty odor? What do you do?

Do you have a mildew problem, basement mold that is causing a musty odor? The odor is very common in your basement, mildew mold is from a warm, wet, climate. Hence most basements are moist and dark they are direct breeding grounds for black mold. It is even common when there is a heavy amount of mildew present, that a susceptible individual could receive allergies and common mold symptoms from the black mold settling on the surface. By just having a bit of basement mildew mold in the house, one could become quite sick just by walking into the confined area. This happens because there is no circulation of fresh air and when inhaling the airborne mold spores in a warm musty basement the toxic mold spores will enter into the system and attach into the bodies lungs and nasal cavities. These will cause some common and very harmful mold symptoms, such as headaches, water eyes, and others. So many symptoms are common in mold and colds. A mold symptom can be similar to a flu. Both will affect the immune system and cause problems to the body. Having mold in your breathing space may cause many Mold Symptoms. Scratchy throats are common. An individual may feel their throat to be scratchy almost as if they have to cough. A scratchy throat is a common black mold identifier.

There are a couple of ways to fix a mildew problem in a basement. Since the first problem in the basement is air circulation you want to purify the air and use heppa filters, better air circulation is is certain. By forcing new air to circulate keeping the humidity down, the basement and confined area will become a brutal place for the spores to grow and amplify.

A popular dispute that arises in killing mold mildew in a basement is observing through the carpeting. You should always be aware if there ever been a leak inside the basement or some type of water intrusion event, if so black mold possibly be on the carpet and rather than hiring a carpet cleaning company you may want to replace the entire carpeting. Since the carpeting became extremely wet it will be unfeasible to remove the spores from the old carpet. Even the tack strips under the carpeting would need to be removed. This is very common with basement mildew mold, just be sure to maintain the carpeting and if one is going to rip out the carpets make sure to remove the tack steps below. The wooden tack strips can carry quite a bit of mildew and mold. If you have some amount of mold in the basement and on carpeting and are tired of cleaning it continuously spray it down with a organic mold cleaning product.

In order for the removal of use an all natural organic product that is used for killing mold and mildew. If you are going to be planning on killing mold and mildew in the basement it may be a everlasting task unless you try a mold blocking solution that offers mold prevention and mold removal. Most cleaning products will kill the mold, but not stop it or take away the musty odor. If a mold problem becomes a bigger issue it may be to late to spray it down with an all natural cleaning product, you need to look into hiring a certified mold inspector. They will design protocols for a mold remediation company and get the ball rolling for your mold problem. So if you are finding a musty odor in the house, you may have mold or a previous water event that was not taken care of correctly. If ever needing more information on black mold come back and visit our Free Mold Removal Website that offers information from a certified microbial consultant.

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