How To Tell If you Have Mold In Your Home or Business
Ensuring your home or business is a safe, clean environment is our top priority at QwikResponse - the places you spend the most time should receive the highest level of thought and care. While mold naturally occurs everywhere and plays a vital role in helping decompose organic matter, problems can easily (and quickly!) arise indoors when spores begin to grow in moist or consistently damp areas.
Here are three tell-tale signs you might have mold growing in your home or business.
1) Musty or Stale Odors
If you get a whiff of stale, earthy, or musty odors when you walk into a room, odds are you might have a mold problem. When an area is consistently damp or wet, various airborne fungi can take hold - often in places like ceilings, drywall, wood floors, and paneling. Take note - the odor of mold is pungent and consistent and no amount of air freshener or open windows will get rid of the smell.
2) Persistent Moisture Or Water Damage
Mold grows in moisture-heavy environments - it often appears in fuzzy or thread-like strands and can be blue, green, gray, or black in color. While Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties aren’t moisture-heavy climates, businesses and homes still fall victim to mold growth where there is excess moisture or water damage, such as behind tiles, under carpets, or behind walls in condensation-heavy spaces like laundry rooms and bathrooms. Unless the water damage is very minimal, it is nearly impossible to avoid some mold growth.
3) Health Symptoms
Mold can be highly hazardous, so it’s essential that the issue isn’t prolonged as it can cause severe and life-threatening health issues. Allergic reactions, chronic sinus problems, red or itchy eyes, asthma attacks, headaches, and persistent cold symptoms could all be signs you have mold growing in your space. While mold exposure is not considered an emergency for most people, it should be treated as one. Exposure to mold can have long-term impacts on those with good health and those with underlying health complications.
How QwikResponse Can Help
We care deeply about your home, your business, and your health; Ensuring these spaces are safe places to live and work is our number one priority. When a surface becomes wet, mold spores can begin to grow in as little as 24-48 hours. To ensure the spores don’t become airborne or grow deep into porous surfaces, timing is crucial. Our team starts with containment, then removes affected nonstructural materials, and then begins the mold removal process.
If you suspect a problem, contact us today for a face-to-face inspection with a certified mold specialist.