Mold is a prevalent issue in households across the country. Living in a residence with mold problems exacerbates the symptoms of allergies, asthma, and other respiratory illnesses. Mold can also cause several harmful effects like insomnia, anxiety, memory loss, and depression. All mold needs to develop is moisture, some form of food, and oxygen, which many households can provide without noticing it. While mold forms very easily, it is much harder to get rid of it permanently.
Mold removal should always be left to professionals who are trained in mold elimination techniques that allow them to kill it safely and effectively. Despite this, many homeowners choose to attempt DIY mold removal instead of calling a professional to resolve the issue since it seems like an easier task than it really is. There are many reasons why attempting to remove mold without the assistance of a professional is both dangerous and ineffective.
Unlikely To Clear Away All of It
The tricky aspect of mold is that it only needs one spore to regrow and come back in full force. Even if you believe you’ve wiped an area clean of mold, one speck overlooked will render all of your efforts in vain. In addition, spores are commonly invisible. Even if the site looks spotless, there could be many spores you can’t see. Professional technicians have specialized equipment, professional-grade cleaners and techniques that allow them to remove any spores from the affected areas.
Unable To Identify the Type
There are thousands of different types of mold that you can find in your home. What might be effective for killing one type might not be effective against another. Additionally, some species of mold are a bigger risk to the health of you and your family than others.
To the average person, most mold looks the same, and the approach to getting rid of it doesn’t change. However, a professional technician will be able to identify the exact type of mold and create a strategy for specifically eliminating that species to ensure it doesn’t return.
Difficult To Pinpoint the Source
A very common mistake homeowners make when trying to eliminate mold is not pinpointing the source of the mold. This is very understandable since finding the main source of a mold problem can be extremely complicated. The mold could originate inside the walls, behind the drywall or insulation, in the attic, or in other hidden or difficult-to-reach locations. In addition, telling the difference between a source of mold and a separate mold infestation requires a professional eye.
Without fully cleaning up the source of the mold, you’ll continue to see mold infestations in various spots in your home. A professional has the skills and knowledge to determine the source of the mold and eliminate it to ensure that it doesn’t continue to spread across the house.
High Chance of Causing Unnecessary Destruction
If you manage to find the source of the mold on your own, trying to get rid of it without destroying walls, ceilings, or floors is a massive challenge when you’re not a professional. Simply trying to see the entire affected area in a wall, ceiling, floor, or other hidden area is a tough enough task. Managing to effectively clean the area without the tools and skills of a professional will likely result in massive damage to the wall, ceiling, or floor. You may even accidentally damage wiring or plumbing in the process.
If you’re unable to clean the mold from the area fully, you’ll not only need to call a professional technician anyway but you’ll also be left footing the bill for substantial home repairs. A professional can fully clean out mold from the source no matter where it is with little to no damage to your home.
The Most Common DIY Mold Removal Techniques Make the Issue Worse
The three most common methods that the average person uses to clean up mold are scrubbing the area with soap and water, soaking the area with bleach, and then wiping the spores off and painting over the affected area. Each of these methods is not only ineffective at completely removing mold from your home, but they also make the situation even worse.
Soap and water will clean off mold from hard surfaces, but it doesn’t tend to kill spores, and it’s ineffective on porous surfaces such as wood, drywall, brick, concrete, and ceramic — even the best soap won’t penetrate those materials. Additionally, mold tends to spread out more spores when hit with water, and you’re providing the mold with even more moisture to thrive in when it regrows.
Bleach will kill mold on hard surfaces, but it’s ineffective at killing spores at the root in porous surfaces since it dries so quickly. You would have to saturate the area in pure bleach to kill the mold, and this can be both severely damaging to your home and dangerous to your health.
Being exposed to bleach and bleach fumes for extended periods, especially if you’re not diluting the solution, causes burning in the eyes, nose and throat, breathing difficulties, skin irritation, and coughing. It also increases your risk of developing chronic chemical pneumonitis and cancer. It’s best to avoid using bleach as a cleaner in general.
Finally, painting over mold simply doesn’t work at all. The paint will hide the mold and create the illusion that the issue is fixed, but the mold will be left alive under the paint. It will continue to thrive and grow, eventually reappearing on the newly painted spot and putting you in the same position only worse.
You Risk Severe Mold Exposure
Being around mold spores in your everyday life is already a severe health risk, but the process of cleaning it is a much more dangerous situation. When the average person cleans mold, they accidentally spread out spores and neglect to use proper safety equipment such as full-body suits, gloves, protective glasses and respirators. Many people wind up feeling very ill after attempting to clean mold on their own and may wind up with chronic health issues as a result.
When professionals tackle severe mold problems, they always use proper safety equipment to protect themselves from the harmful health effects of mold spores. They also use several containment techniques to ensure that the spores don’t spread during the cleaning process to protect themselves and anyone near the mold infestation from suffering ill effects.
Our dedicated professionals at Pur360 will provide you with skilled, safe, and prompt service to clear up any mold issues you’re having at your home. We will test the house thoroughly for any mold infestation and provide you with restoration services for anything damaged by mold or moisture, like carpeting and drywall. In addition to mold removal, we also provide several home sanitization services, such as odor removal and ultraviolet sanitization. If you’re interested in learning more about any of the services we provide, contact Pur360 today.
