Mold In Your House May Not Kill You



Posted: Thursday, April 02, 2009

by
James Walker Home Inspections

Okay, its confession time: how many of you have ever died due to the effects of mold in your home? Hmmm...just as I thought - none of you.

So why do we have a lot of churn in the marketplace around getting that mold inspected and remediated and you out of harms way? I would venture to guess that it has more to do with buying products than assuring your longevity. But that would be cynical, wouldnt it?

Here in Brampton, Ontario, where I do a lot of my work as a home inspector I consistently find small amounts of a dark, suspicious substance. Yes, those are the words I use. I never say the m word because I dont know what it is until I take a sample, send it off to the lab where really clever technicians analyze it and give it a name. There are about one thousand, two hundred names from which to choose.

Im cautious about using the word mold. About a year ago I knew I was in an interesting home for sale where I noticed that there were black, wispy marks around the first-floor electrical outlets. In the basement, the same thing along the bottom of two walls. I got out my latex gloves and rubbed gently. Nothing was able to be removed as is the case when we suspect that its mold. It turned out to be black spray paint which the previous occupant had applied in a fit of pique. She had been at odds with her neighbours and wanted to sabotage the sale. (And thats a good reason to have a buyers agent. They frequently know about these kinds of things).

Mold is basically a plant. And just like all plants it needs moisture to grow and survive. Remove the moisture and the plant will die. Theres your first response when you detect a dark, suspicious substance - find out where the moisture is coming from. Then stop it from coming in. This is easier said than done, I know.

Every year at the end of March theres visible moisture around the inside edge of my basement. Heck, the place is 83 years old and the foundation was hand dug. I know what to do; I wait for it to go away as it always has for the 29 years Ive lived here. I like to tell people that this annual event is a natural cleansing. My basement is an inhospitable place thats perfect for the furnace, laundry room and my small workshop. There are no big-screen TVs.

For those of you who have a newer home an occasionally-damp basement may not be a situation to which you can become accustomed. Two things can be done: 1) Buy a dehumidifier and 2) make sure the land outside is sloped away from your castle. About 90% of all moisture in the basement comes form surface runoff. Get the land outside tilted away from your place and the chances of moisture inside will be much-reduced.

The first point about the dehumidifier is important, too. Yes, I have a dehumidifier running a lot of the time and this reduces the humidity (moisture) in my basement. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) recommends that there be a dehumidifier in every basement. For those readers living in other places this advice is likely helpful, too. Air-borne moisture will tend to condense when the temperature drops as it does in many basements because cooler air tends to sink.

With the source of the moisture addressed through grading of the land and moisture removal happening by way of the dehumidifier you can now confront any locations where theres a persistent dark, suspicious substance. Ive seen situations in closets on an outside wall which have been closed for several months. The solution here is to get the air moving by leaving the door open.

This is a pretty simple and inexpensive general remedy: keep the air moving. Another place where we find stagnant air is in cold rooms. This is a dandy place for growing unwanted things. Check that the ventilation louvers are open and that air can move unimpeded.

And you would never exhaust your clothes dryer into the basement or other place inside the house, would you? Of course you wouldnt because we all know that mold flourishes where theres lots of moisture and thats what comes directly out of the end of the dryer vent. Probably best to remove the diverter in the vent so the air is channelled directly outdoors.

Cleanup of small areas can be done without donning a hazmat (hazardous materials) suit. A small area is three or fewer patches, each smaller than 1 square meter. Thats a maximum area of 10 square feet. CMHC recommends using rubber gloves, warm water and unscented detergent. No, chemicals are not recommended by this Federal Agency. Theres a bit more to the process and Im going to encourage you to find out.

Heres an important point. Some of you may be susceptible to air-borne contaminants such as weve been discussing here. A home inspector is not a physician and cant give you an opinion on the potential hazards involved. What the home inspector may be able to do is to conduct an indoor-air-quality investigation to provide hard data a physician could use.

For most of us, we can breathe easy.

James Walker Home Inspections

Every family deserves a great home - Let's find one together

www.jwhi.ca

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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by sanju Baba from Brampton 2 years 78 days ago.
Absolute no. I am agree mold cannot kill anybody,just can give health problems. Mr Inspector please ask your Doctor. Thanks
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