Mold Prevention Tips

11/18/2016 (Permalink)

Mold Prevention Tips

When people hear the word mold, they automatically have a negative reaction to it, but did you know mold is everywhere? It’s in the air we breathe, and on many surfaces. Not all molds are harmful, and in fact, some molds have found their way into our homes willingly, such as penicillin and in blue cheeses.

Mold can however, affect people in different ways. If you’d rather not find out if you’d have a bad reaction to mold, the following is a list of tips for mold prevention:

• Keep humidity levels as low as you can – no higher than 50% - all day long. An air conditioner or dehumidifier will help you keep the level low.
• Bear in mind that humidity levels change over the course of a day with changes in the moisture in the air and the air temperatures, so you will need to check the humidity levels more than once an day.
• Be sure your home has enough ventilation. Use exhaust fans which vent outside your home in the kitchen and bathroom.
• Make sure your clothes dryer vents outside your home.
• Fix any leaks in your home’s roof, walls or plumbing so mold does not have moisture to grow.
• Contact SERVPRO Dartmouth/New Bedford immediately to clean up and dry out your home thoroughly and quickly after flooding.
• Add mold inhibitors to paints before painting.
• Clean bathrooms with mold-killing products.
• Remove or replace carpets and upholstery that have been soaked and cannot be dried promptly.
• Consider not using carpet in rooms or areas like bathrooms or basements that may have a lot of moisture.

For more information see the CDC website