3 Signs Your House Has A Serious Mold Problem

Posted on: 4 July 2018

As a homeowner, it's easy to go into denial when you find mold in your home. You don't want to face the possibility that the mold infestation is beyond DIY removal and into professional-help-required territory, since that can get expensive and you may not have room in your budget to fit it in easily. Here are three signs your home needs serious mold removal and water damage restoration.

1. Areas of mold larger than nine square feet are visible.

The EPA recommends that you call in professionals if the visible area of mold you find is larger than nine square feet (that's a three-by-three-foot section of wall). This is partly because this much mold can give off a lot of toxic spores that can be dangerous to your health if you try to clean the mold up alone. It's also partly because this much mold means there's likely been mold growing there long enough that it's infiltrated your home's air with a lot of mold already.

In this case, if you don't have your air professionally cleaned (which is included in mold remediation), you'll not only have to breathe polluted air for a long time, but you'll also be likely to have mold spring up in other areas of your house because the spore count is so high. And the mold is likely to spring from an uncontrolled source of moisture, that means your home will require water damage restoration as well.

2. You find mold in your basement or attic.

Mold in the basement or attic often means that you have a water problem, such as a roof leak or roof condensation, and water damage along with the mold. You'll need to remediate both the mold itself and the damage it's caused — and any water damage as well as finding and repairing the leak. This can make the process much more complicated, so it's best to hire professionals.

In addition, mold in the basement or attic often goes uncaught for longer, meaning it has more time to spread. And it's quite possible that it's spread to somewhere such as the insides of your walls, causing a full-scale infestation that you can't take care of on your own.

3. You're experiencing respiratory symptoms.

If you're currently experiencing allergy symptoms, cold-like or hay-fever-like symptoms, difficulty breathing, worsening of asthma, fluid in your lungs, or other symptoms that could be due to mold exposure, you likely have a significant level of mold airborne in your home at the moment. This indicates a serious infestation. In this case, you should seek medical attention and immediately remove yourself and your family, as well as any pets, from the home until remediation can take place.

These are three possible signs that your mold problem is a serious one. If you find any of these signs or suspect for some other reason that your mold problem needs expert work, be sure to call a professional damage remediator right away.

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