Despite the awesome cookouts, long vacations, pool days, and beautiful weather that all come with the summer months, there’s also an unfortunate downside to it all.
In Pittsburgh, summertime is widely known as “mold season.”
The increased risk of mold in the summer months occurs due to several factors. The combination of humid temperatures and frequent precipitation creates excessively damp areas that promote rapid mold growth throughout your home. Where there’s moisture, there’s mold, which can cause significant damage to personal property and – even worse – serious health problems for you and your loved ones. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, indoor mold can trigger allergies and asthma attacks while increasing the risk of illnesses among children and the elderly.
Although mold can grow in all areas of a home, we’ve found that basements, bathrooms, kitchens and attics are highly-susceptible areas that present quite a challenge in keeping them mold-free. Below, we’ll elaborate on some summer mold prevention strategies you can utilize over the next few months to prevent damage, health risks, and the need for expensive remediation services.
Manage Ventilation
A poor ventilation system directly correlates with excessive mold growth. Without proper ventilation, the stale air allows for mold spores to rapidly reproduce and spread throughout a room. If you’re living in an older home, check your HVAC system to ensure your air ducts are producing a consistent circulation of fresh air.
On nice days, keep your windows open to let in natural air and sunlight. Also open drawers, cabinets, and doors in between rooms to promote healthy circulation. In your bathroom, leave a door or window open following showers to prevent steamy moisture from building up. Monitor your basement for any rain-induced leaks or musty smells in dark spaces, and install exhaust fans throughout the at-risk areas of your home.
Control Condensation
Summer temperatures often produce high humidity, which leads to condensation on household surfaces like windows, tile floors, ceilings, and pipes. In order to prevent condensation, the indoor temperature of your home needs to be higher than the relative humidity levels.
Using a well-maintained and energy efficient air-conditioning system at around 70 degrees Fahrenheit allows for full control of your home’s indoor climate to keep humidity levels low. Humidifiers, which can accurately measure indoor humidity levels, also work wonders in reducing the risk for condensation. Humidity levels should be below 60 percent at all times.
Keep Surfaces Clean
A consistent cleaning schedule helps remove mold spores on household surfaces by reducing the amount of grime and dirt that fuels reproduction. On a regular basis, scrub any glass, tile, porcelain, carpet, and metal surfaces throughout your home with mold-killing cleaning products. Always follow it up with a thorough dry.
Be a dust-buster. Around 80 percent of household mold grows on dust, so use a filtered vacuum cleaner on carpets, furniture, curtains, and other textiles to get rid of dust.
Monitor Mold in Intervals
It doesn’t take long for mold to grow, so establish a mold-checking interval routine for at least once a week, especially after the frequent summer storms and torrential rains we experience in Pittsburgh. Catching mold formation in its early stages is an effective way to limit its ability to spread.
Does your home have a mold problem? Well, Mold Medics has a solution. Contact us to learn more about our safe environmentally-friendly services, six-step process, and fair pricing. Schedule a consultation today!
Thanks for sharing useful and informative post which is really helpful for us. People should read this to solve their different problems.
Thanks for the great tips! I have been having mold problems in my house and it’s starting to smell. From the minute I walk through the front door, I am greeted by the moldy odor. I will definitely have to start controlling the condensation and keeping my kitchen surfaces clean for some serious mold remediation.
My husband and I went down into our basement the other day for the first time in a while, and we noticed that we had mold growing down there. We are probably going to find professionals to come get rid of it for is so we can make sure it is done safely and properly. Afterward, we will have to make sure to check there around once a week like you suggested to make sure to catch it early on if it does come back.