Tag: black mold

Mold removal seems easy enough. A little bit of cleaning solution, some scrubbing, and you should be good to go, right? This is not typically the case. If you see black mold, you should take a calculated approach and not dismiss the potential hazards. Here are five reasons to take black mold removal seriously.

1. Black Mold Can Be Toxic

Black mold is usually a greenish-black or grey color. It is often slimy and smells like mildew. Exposure to black mold can cause people to be sick. Symptoms can include dizziness, skin irritation, shortness of breath, and even vision impairment. The longer you are exposed, the more serious risks you will have. If you discover black mold in your home, you may consider an appointment with the doctor to get a checkup and call a mold removal service to repair your home.

2. Black Mold Spreads Quickly

Once you find black mold on a surface, be cautious of it spreading elsewhere via cross-contamination in the air. Mold is a living organism that likes to grow in a warm, damp, and dark place. It is often started in unreachable places and grows until you see a patch on your wall or elsewhere. So, by the time you catch it, mold has contaminated a larger portion of your home. Because of the toxicity of the mold, it’s cause for real concern even if you can only see a small portion of it.

3. Black Mold Removal Is Maintained by Health Codes

In many cities, there are municipal health codes for black mold remediation. In public places such as a medical facility, restaurant, or apartment building, the presence of black mold can be cause to shut down the establishment until the mold is taken care of. This is because of the great health concerns that come with black mold. If the mold is in your home, even though there are no health codes to follow, you may want to follow suit and live elsewhere while it is being treated.

4. When in Doubt About Mold, Get Testing

There are different types of mold. Some common household types are Aspergillus, Fusarium, chaetomium, Penicillium, aureobasidium, and Stachybotrys. Stachybotrys is the mold most commonly recognized as “black mold.” Without proper testing, it is impossible to confirm what types of mold exist in your property. A professional black mold testing company will help identify and quantify the problem so a proper mold remediation scope can be developed.

5. Black Mold Removal is Tricky

Like we said before, mold grows in damp and dark places. For this reason, it’s often found beneath floorboards, in basements, and by drains. It can be hard to remove because of where it spreads. And black mold doesn’t respond as well to bleach as other molds and mildews. Mold removal should be left to professionals because they have the right cleaning tools and protective gear to make sure all of the mold is removed. If even one spore is left behind, more mold will grow.

Without the proper protective gear, the right cleaning solutions, or the knowledge of black mold that professionals have, you put yourself in a dangerous situation if you try to clean black mold yourself. Instead, hire a professional mold removal service to examine the damage, remediate the mold, and let you know when your home is safe again.

If you see mold damage in your home, don’t panic, but please act quickly. At Soil-Away, we are here to keep your home damage-free and clean. Give us a call today at (603) 641-6555.

One of the biggest mistakes property owners make is to assume that the air quality in their homes or commercial property building is clean and toxin free. However, even if you are indoors all the time, there is no guarantee that the air you are breathing is clean. This is why we at Soil-Away advocate regular air quality testing for homes and commercial properties.

Mold is not the Only Threat to Clean Air

You might think that just because you don’t have a mold contamination issue, the air quality on your property is up to the mark. But that is not necessarily true. A variety of air borne toxins and contaminants can very well be present in the air you breathe already. You just don’t know about it. In addition to other organic threats, the air you breathe could easily be polluted with chemical toxins and particles such as from second hand smoke, or radon and carbon monoxide. More danger could come in the form of peeling or even new paint, your carpeting (fungus, dirt, pet dander, and dust), air purifiers, and cleaning material stored on your property. Each of these can easily be culprits in polluting the air you breathe.

Air Quality Testing with Soil-Away

Air quality testing is one among the several services that Soil-Away provides to home and commercial property owners. We are well aware of the risks that breathing in unclean air presents. We are also well versed with the various factors that lead to unclean air quality present in home and commercial properties.

Little or no mold is not the only indicator of good air quality. It could also well be the case that mold has gone unnoticed primarily because contamination is in a place that is closed or inaccessible. The only way to be 100% sure is by carrying out comprehensive air quality testing.

We check the air quality in a way that is the least intrusive to you. Several petri dishes are spread across the property to ensure that samples from different locations can be tested. This is done because toxicity levels are not always consistent across the property. You could have one room with off-the chart readings and relatively low readings from an adjacent room. The samples collected also help us understand which factor(s) is the dominant culprit in contaminating the air quality.

Once the samples are collected, they are checked in the laboratory. If we find that the level of mold spores are similar to readings from the outside air, it is a good indicator that the air you are breathing is mold free and your property is environmentally safe. Obviously, if the readings are higher than what is acceptable and permissible, then you will need the services of a professional mold remediation services company.

Soil-Away experts are trained in mold remediation and will work with you closely to first identify the source(s) and then systematically plan and execute a mold removal strategy.

If you feel it is time to get the air quality in your home or on your commercial property tested, give us a call today at 603-641-6555!