Mold: the Silent Irritant

Recently, we talked about water damage, the effects, and severity of it. One of the subjects we mentioned was that if left standing for too long, bacteria and microbes can mix into the water. By coming into contact with the contaminated water, your building’s structure and your personal belongings can become the nesting ground for something dangerous to your health: mold.

There is one type of mold that is easy to find in Arizona, as the location provides the right sequence of conditions in order for it to grow. Black Mold needs not only humidity and dampness in order to spread, it needs warmth. With the rain and snow behind us, and the potential for monsoons looming in the summer months, this is something that water damage can lead to.

What is Black Mold, though? Like its name, it takes on a dark black color, and carries a lot of serious health risks, thanks to the spores that it houses. Many experts say that it causes fatigue, nausea, and chronic headaches, plus many other symptoms. Having unknowingly lived in a house infested with Black Mold, I can say the symptoms are near constant, and my family got sick from cold and flu often from a weakened immune system.

Proper precautions to removing mold from your building is incredibly important. To completely get rid of mold, it’s important to remove and decontaminate objects and materials. Otherwise, there’s the risk that the outbreak may begin again.

In the case that you must handle decontamination yourself, always wear protective clothing. Cover as much skin as you can, cover your face with a mask and eye protection, and wear gloves. The spores in the mold can release as it is uprooted or moved, causing you to breathe it in, get it on your skin, and in your eyes--which can cause allergic reactions or discomfort.

However, if you can, it is always a good idea to contact a professional with mold remediation. They have equipment needed to detect moisture in objects, drying equipment, and many ways to seal the areas that might be under the effects of mold.
Mold doesn’t have to be something you, your family, or your employees have to be stuck with. Take the proper precautions, protect your building from water damage and mold, and the process can be dealt with painlessly and with little hassle.

More Information
Common Questions About Mold
Classes of Water Damage
Mold Removal

Summer's Coming, Beware of Water Damage!

Water damage causes a lot of problems for any homeowner, even if you’re in the high desert, like the Prescott or Cottonwood areas.  It leaves stains in wood, causes structural weakness, and can ruin your most treasured possessions.  The worrisome part is that it can come from many common occurrences, such as:

• Heavy rains, monsoons, melting snow
• Flooding
• Busted pipes & sewer issues
• Broken appliances
• Old, leaky roofing

There are three categories of the types of water involved in any of these scenarios.  It starts with Category 1, where the water source had clean water, like faucets or toilet bowls with clean water.  Category 2 is a little more dangerous, having contaminants in it, such as dirty water from appliance overflow. Category 3, involves water from sources like sewage and flood water from natural disasters, and is so contaminated that can cause serious illness or death if ingested.

Since the three categories vary so widely, action needs to be taken quickly to reduce damage to your property and to reduce the potential health risks involved with standing water.

Being in the desert doesn’t change the risks, either. It only increases them, as heat causes leftover water to become a breeding ground for many more dangerous contaminants, such as microbes that lead to mold, or bacteria.  Both of these come with both short and long term health effects.

Drying strategies have to be employed right away to reduce the damage to the building.  These strategies depend on how high the water has reached, the materials involved, such as plush materials (couches or carpet) or more porous materials (hardwood flooring), and the rate that the water evaporates at.  Typically, it involves such techniques as drying through air movement or a dehumidifying process.  For more information, ServiceMaster Restore of Prescott has an easy to follow water damage restoration process, so you can know what to expect.

As the hotter portions of the year are getting closer and closer, any flooding or water damage you might be suffering from needs to be remedied right away--contacting a cleaning professional is imperative!  The longer the water sits on or in any materials, the greater the risks of contamination and eventual sickness becomes.

More Information

Sewage Cleanup Process

Mold Removal

Water Damage Restoration