How To Test For Mold In The Home
Getting rid of mold should be your first task instead of knowing how to test for mold if it is already obvious that you have a mold problem in your home. Some types of mold are indeed more dangerous but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not make any distinctions with regards to the various kinds of mold when it suggests immediate mould removal. Determining whether the mold in your home is a black mold, brown mold, green mold or white mold would not matter much because you will need to remove them, no matter what. Perhaps, knowing how to test for mold becomes important if you want to have the peace of mind from knowing that there are no toxic black mold in your home.
Knowing how to test for mold entails making some research on the various ways to conduct the test. The easiest way to do this is to purchase mold test kits from a home improvement store or a hardware store. You can look for any outward signs of the presence of mold colonies, such as dark spots, discolorations and wet areas in your home. These test kits either use a special kind of tape or a cotton swab to take samples from these areas. Some use agars while others are used to sample the air from the HVAC system. The samples are then sent to professional laboratories that will identify the kind of mold that you have found. However, it should be noted that these systems are not that accurate and they cannot be used to quantify the amount of mold in your home.
And after you have identified those areas in your home that contain mold colonies, it is time for mold and mildew removal. Before undertaking this, you need to make sure that you are wearing rubber gloves, safety goggles and face mask. You will also have to ensure that your goggles are not the ones provided with ventilation holes but if they do have these holes, you can close these holes with adhesive tape. It is also important to wear old clothes with long sleeves to prevent contact of the spores with your skin. You also have to shut down any electric fans or air conditioning systems to minimize the possibility that the spores may be blown to other areas of the house.
When cleaning molds from your home, you can use household products like vinegar, lemon, bleach or hydrogen peroxide as mold and mildew remover. You can also purchase one of those commercial mold removal products. Make sure that you dry the area completely afterwards and that you use a vacuum cleaner because even dead mold can cause health problems. However, do not forget to call for a plumber or contractor to repair those water leaks and damages in the walls, roofs, ceilings and other parts of the home. As you can see, knowing how to test for mold is just the beginning when dealing with mold and ensuring that the amount of harmful fungi in your home is minimized.
