Even though mold has been around almost since the beginning of life on this planet, we have only just begun to understand the true hazards of mold and started to classify it into different groups depending on what it does to us and to other organisms on the planet. Depending on the effect that mold has on the health of human beings, hazardous molds are put into three categories: toxic, pathogenic, and allergenic.
The least serious of these seems to be the allergenic, as they only tend to either cause allergies or aggravate the allergies a person already has. Asthma and other respiratory diseases and disorders can also be aggravated by the presence of mold in a home or in a business. Anti-histamines can be taken to help with the symptoms, but these do not tend to do a lot of good. Getting rid of the infection is generally the best way to deal with these symptoms and prevent them from coming back. As with any mold, the people most at risk to show symptoms are young children, pets, and the elderly, although those who are pregnant and especially those with HIV or AIDS can also be effected.
Pathogenic molds are not as common as toxic or allergenic molds, but these can be the most dangerous threats to anyone who has HIV, AIDS, or another type of immunodeficiency. Anyone that has just had surgery of any kind should also be wary of getting around any kind of mold, even if it is just the mold spore count on the news that is high for the day.
Toxic molds are molds such as Stachybotrys atra that produce mycotoxins and while these kinds of molds are not as common living in our homes as others, they can cause significant damage to our health and can even cause death in the most extreme cases. Penicilliosis is an opportunistic infection mostly affecting HIV patients and even though this disease is endemic to Southeast Asia, anyone with an immunodeficiency traveling to or from that area is at risk for infection.
The bottom line is that no matter what kind of mold you have in your home or your business, it is a serious health threat to you, your family, your pets, or your workers. If you can see mold growing anywhere in your home or you are experiencing strange symptoms, purchase some do-it-yourself mold testing kits.
Jim Corkern is a writer and respected contributor to the Water damage restoration and mold remediation Industry. Visit his sites for more information.
http://www.waterbasementct.info and
http://www.moldrestorationusa.com
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
What Mold Has Done For Us
Mold can cause all kinds of negative health effects to us and it has done this for thousands of years, but what about all the good things that we have gotten from the presence of mold? We have been using mold to make different foods and medicines for years, but these days on the news most of what we hear about mold is negative. Perhaps we do not hear about the benefits of this organism so much because they have become such a part of our daily lives.
There are a lot of different foods that have been produced using mold for many years and the most famous seems to be cheese. Blue cheese was accidentally invented a long time ago when mold had contaminated a block of cheese that had been left sitting out to age. Most people either love or hate this cheese because of its salty taste and crumbly texture and because of the blue veins of mold that run throughout the block. It has also become very popular as an ingredient for salad dressing. Since it was first invented, experiments have been done to culture just the right mold to make the cheese taste just right. Gorgonzola and Roquefort cheeses are also produced using molds. These three cheeses are often called the “kings” of cheeses.
The mold Aspergillus oryzae is used in Japan to make the alcoholic beverage called sake. Sake is an acquired taste for those who are used to other European liquors, because sake is made with rice. The mold used to ferment the rice is referred to in Japanese as “koji” and the development of this mold has been almost perfected over the years, even though there are different ways to culture it. This mold begins to break down the rice and produce the sugar that the yeast used to ferment the rice needs in order to keep growing. The process of growing the mold can be extremely effected by temperatures, the type of rice that is used, and the kind of water, among other factors.
One of the most famous uses of mold was the invention of Penicillin by Alexander Fleming back in the first half of the 1900’s. This has been used since then to help in the fight against bacterial infections, even though it has been discovered that some people are allergic to the medicine and cannot receive it due to their skin breaking out or in rare cases, hospitalization or even death.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Miami Residential Water Damage Restoration Contractors and
Orlando water Damage companies.
There are a lot of different foods that have been produced using mold for many years and the most famous seems to be cheese. Blue cheese was accidentally invented a long time ago when mold had contaminated a block of cheese that had been left sitting out to age. Most people either love or hate this cheese because of its salty taste and crumbly texture and because of the blue veins of mold that run throughout the block. It has also become very popular as an ingredient for salad dressing. Since it was first invented, experiments have been done to culture just the right mold to make the cheese taste just right. Gorgonzola and Roquefort cheeses are also produced using molds. These three cheeses are often called the “kings” of cheeses.
The mold Aspergillus oryzae is used in Japan to make the alcoholic beverage called sake. Sake is an acquired taste for those who are used to other European liquors, because sake is made with rice. The mold used to ferment the rice is referred to in Japanese as “koji” and the development of this mold has been almost perfected over the years, even though there are different ways to culture it. This mold begins to break down the rice and produce the sugar that the yeast used to ferment the rice needs in order to keep growing. The process of growing the mold can be extremely effected by temperatures, the type of rice that is used, and the kind of water, among other factors.
One of the most famous uses of mold was the invention of Penicillin by Alexander Fleming back in the first half of the 1900’s. This has been used since then to help in the fight against bacterial infections, even though it has been discovered that some people are allergic to the medicine and cannot receive it due to their skin breaking out or in rare cases, hospitalization or even death.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Miami Residential Water Damage Restoration Contractors and
Orlando water Damage companies.
Cell Phone Water Damage Indicator
While I did not pay over $100 for my cell phone, a lot of other people have paid hundreds for theirs and have ended up dropping them in the toilet, the bath tub, the kitchen sink, or even the river or a number of other bodies of water large enough for a phone to be submerged in. There are a lot of places you can get your cell phone wet, but what you probably might not realize is that your cell phone’s warranty does not cover water damage. Manufacturers are even beginning to install these stickers on the insides of the phone in not one, but at least two different places so that if your phone gets wet, you cannot tell the repair technician that it did not. The technician will know if your phone is water damaged simply by the fact that the sticker on the inside of your phone has changed color.
This might be a great thing for manufacturers having to deal with a lot of returns by consumers dropping their phones in the pool and claiming the phone was never wet, but unfortunately for honest consumers, these stickers are so sensitive that they often trip when the humidity is just too high wherever you might be. There is a powdered dye underneath the sticker and when moisture builds up inside the phone, the sticker and dye both get wet and the dye disperses on the sticker, changing it. One of these is typically located on the battery compartment, but another (usually more difficult to access) is located on the circuit board of the phone.
So, how do you get around this? Well, if you want to make both stickers ineffective, you will have to break into your phone quite skillfully, but it can be done. The first sticker is not difficult to reach. Take a piece of scotch tape with a satin finish and cover the sticker with it. If your phone suddenly stops working for no apparent reason, remove the tape and take it back to the manufacturer. I doubt this will help you much if you drop your phone in the bath tub, because it is not likely that a piece of scotch tape will keep the sticker from getting wet, but it will help protect it from moisture due to high humidity. As for the location of the other sticker, you will probably have a hard time getting to it because it is located on your circuit board.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
mold removal in Atlanta Georgia and
Water Damage Restoration companies.
This might be a great thing for manufacturers having to deal with a lot of returns by consumers dropping their phones in the pool and claiming the phone was never wet, but unfortunately for honest consumers, these stickers are so sensitive that they often trip when the humidity is just too high wherever you might be. There is a powdered dye underneath the sticker and when moisture builds up inside the phone, the sticker and dye both get wet and the dye disperses on the sticker, changing it. One of these is typically located on the battery compartment, but another (usually more difficult to access) is located on the circuit board of the phone.
So, how do you get around this? Well, if you want to make both stickers ineffective, you will have to break into your phone quite skillfully, but it can be done. The first sticker is not difficult to reach. Take a piece of scotch tape with a satin finish and cover the sticker with it. If your phone suddenly stops working for no apparent reason, remove the tape and take it back to the manufacturer. I doubt this will help you much if you drop your phone in the bath tub, because it is not likely that a piece of scotch tape will keep the sticker from getting wet, but it will help protect it from moisture due to high humidity. As for the location of the other sticker, you will probably have a hard time getting to it because it is located on your circuit board.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
mold removal in Atlanta Georgia and
Water Damage Restoration companies.
How to Sell a Moldy Home
Selling a home that you no longer want or need can be a hassle all by itself, but when you add mold contamination to the mix, it just gets ugly. It is not easy getting rid of a home that is contaminated with mold at the price that you want and a lot of times, you have to lower the price that you ask for it before you can even get anyone to come near it. There is hope, however, for those of you who are willing to do a little work.
If you do happen to find a buyer, you should make sure that an environmental inspection clause is included in the sales contract. This will assure the buyer that they will have a two to three week period where they can have an inspector come to take a look around the property and examine it for mold or any other hazards that could possibly exist. If they or the inspector see that mold exists on the property without testing, then the only test that should be performed is to determine whether the mold is toxic. Even if the mold does not happen to be toxic, it still needs to be removed due to the structural damage that it can do to the building materials the home is made out of. Drywall that becomes infected usually needs to be replaced and so does any wood or other materials.
Whatever you do, do not try to hide the mold contamination from your buyer by trying to cover it up or remove the mold superficially. Even if you remove the mold off of the surface of a piece of drywall, odds are good that the whole depth of the sheet has been contaminated because drywall is a porous surface covered with paper both on the front and the back. If your buyer discovers there is mold on the property and you mentioned nothing about it, they may suspect that you are hiding other things about the home, as well, and you will have lost your buyer.
You should also have a clause in your sales contract that says that neither you, your lender, nor your real estate agent is responsible for any complications caused by mold after the home is sold. Listing all mold and water damage that has been done to the home in the past and what you have done to fix the problems should be enough.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Water Damage Miami and
water damage restoration in atlanta companies.
If you do happen to find a buyer, you should make sure that an environmental inspection clause is included in the sales contract. This will assure the buyer that they will have a two to three week period where they can have an inspector come to take a look around the property and examine it for mold or any other hazards that could possibly exist. If they or the inspector see that mold exists on the property without testing, then the only test that should be performed is to determine whether the mold is toxic. Even if the mold does not happen to be toxic, it still needs to be removed due to the structural damage that it can do to the building materials the home is made out of. Drywall that becomes infected usually needs to be replaced and so does any wood or other materials.
Whatever you do, do not try to hide the mold contamination from your buyer by trying to cover it up or remove the mold superficially. Even if you remove the mold off of the surface of a piece of drywall, odds are good that the whole depth of the sheet has been contaminated because drywall is a porous surface covered with paper both on the front and the back. If your buyer discovers there is mold on the property and you mentioned nothing about it, they may suspect that you are hiding other things about the home, as well, and you will have lost your buyer.
You should also have a clause in your sales contract that says that neither you, your lender, nor your real estate agent is responsible for any complications caused by mold after the home is sold. Listing all mold and water damage that has been done to the home in the past and what you have done to fix the problems should be enough.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Water Damage Miami and
water damage restoration in atlanta companies.
Preventing Damage From Wildfires
If you live in an area that is prone to wildfires, such as certain areas of California, you should do what you can to protect your home from them. While it may seem pretty hopeless once a wildfire is on a path that will go straight through your home, there are some things that you can do to try and minimize the damage.
The first thing that you can do if you own your home is to outfit it with fire resistant materials. The roof is perhaps the most important surface that you should take care of, since it is the largest surface of the home that is exposed to sparks of fire that have become airborne. If there is a wildfire near your house, you should take your water hose and keep the roof wet as much as possible to stop this threat. Fire-resistant roofing materials are large in number and include tile, metal, and fiberglass. Any oil-based roofing material should be replaced and wooden shingles are a disaster waiting to happen.
Fire-resistant materials should also be used to build the walls and windows of the house, since this can impede the spreading of the fire to the interior. Stone, metal, and brick offer a decent amount of protection, but vinyl siding and wood provide extremely little. The windows are important because heat will radiate inside the house and possibly set drapes on fire, so having smaller windows in homes that are at risk is a good idea.
Another thing that you can do to your lawn if a wildfire is nearby is wetting it with the water hose. This can also slow the fire’s spread to your house some. Do not allow dead leaves and other debris to build up in the yard during wildfire season and try to get rid of any tree branches that are hanging over your house. You can even go as far as to have these trees that are close to your home removed, but that is a personal preference. It will help, but some people may not want to sacrifice them.
If you have to evacuate, realize that you cannot take everything with you. Take only the most important valuables and get out as soon as you can. If you have time and are leaving voluntarily, take the opportunity to wet your yard, roof, and the exterior of your house again. This is pretty much all you can do at this point and the rest is in the hands of nature.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Los Angeles water damage and restoration services and Denver water damage restoration companies.
The first thing that you can do if you own your home is to outfit it with fire resistant materials. The roof is perhaps the most important surface that you should take care of, since it is the largest surface of the home that is exposed to sparks of fire that have become airborne. If there is a wildfire near your house, you should take your water hose and keep the roof wet as much as possible to stop this threat. Fire-resistant roofing materials are large in number and include tile, metal, and fiberglass. Any oil-based roofing material should be replaced and wooden shingles are a disaster waiting to happen.
Fire-resistant materials should also be used to build the walls and windows of the house, since this can impede the spreading of the fire to the interior. Stone, metal, and brick offer a decent amount of protection, but vinyl siding and wood provide extremely little. The windows are important because heat will radiate inside the house and possibly set drapes on fire, so having smaller windows in homes that are at risk is a good idea.
Another thing that you can do to your lawn if a wildfire is nearby is wetting it with the water hose. This can also slow the fire’s spread to your house some. Do not allow dead leaves and other debris to build up in the yard during wildfire season and try to get rid of any tree branches that are hanging over your house. You can even go as far as to have these trees that are close to your home removed, but that is a personal preference. It will help, but some people may not want to sacrifice them.
If you have to evacuate, realize that you cannot take everything with you. Take only the most important valuables and get out as soon as you can. If you have time and are leaving voluntarily, take the opportunity to wet your yard, roof, and the exterior of your house again. This is pretty much all you can do at this point and the rest is in the hands of nature.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Los Angeles water damage and restoration services and Denver water damage restoration companies.
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