Symptoms of Mold in Your Home
Odor DetectDo you feel allergenic for no reason? It could be symptoms of mold in your home. Mold is a serious issue and can have adverse health effects on the people living there and can also have a negative effect on the building itself. It is important to detect the symptoms early so the problem can be taken care of before it becomes serious.
An easy way to detect the first symptoms of mold is excess moisture, and it can accumulate anywhere, often in crawl spaces. Nutrients are required as part of the mold growing process, but preventing moisture from collecting is the first symptom to deal with. Excess moisture can look like a stain or more condensation in one area of the house. If it is more severe you may see water leaks or standing water. The latter two are pretty serious and means you probably have mold. You would most likely see these symptoms happening on walls and ceilings. If not you may want to search underneath the rug, around the sinks and cabinets, and even behind the wall paper.
You should obviously be on the lookout for growth inside or out which can look any number of different ways, but can be black, grey, green, yellow or brown and can have a fluffy, fuzzy texture, or be leathery looking and hard. Keep your nose up too, because the odor is often the first way to detect mold, and the smell is usually musty, damp, or earthy. If you smell mold, search carefully and you will likely see the mold before not too long.
Symptoms can also make themselves apparent in the form of allergic reactions to the mold. They seem like the effects of a common cold or allergens. Sneezing, stuffed or runny nose, wheezing, shortness of breath, and coughing all happen frequently, along with throat conditions as well. If you have any of these problems due to preexisting allergies, mold will often make them more severe. Another symptom that confirms mold comes when one with a weakened immune system develops respiratory problems due to the mold in the house.
If you start to notice any of these symptoms then it would be wise to skip getting a test and wasting time and resource and instead of beginning corrective action which can be done usually at home by following steps that can be found in books or on the internet.
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