Although molds growing unchecked can be harmful to human health, molds that are grown in laboratories for specific purposes have been used extensively for many years in order to improve the quality of life.
Penicillin as we know it today was discovered accidentally when Alexander Fleming saw a plate of Staphylococcus aureus had become contaminated by a blue-green mold. He noted that colonies of the bacteria next to the mold were being destroyed by it; he soon after grew a pure culture of the mold and found that penicillin killed not only Staphylococcus, but many other bacteria that cause disease. He named it penicillin, published the results of his experiment in 1929, and the medical community has been using it ever since.
Molds are also used to make different kinds of cheeses, including bleu cheese. Bleu cheese in particular is rumored to have been discovered by accident and since molds are not generally associated with good food, there is good reason for this assumption. Early cheeses were aged inside caves and these places often contained the perfect conditions for mold to grow in.
Without molds, we would have neither bread nor beer and even butchers inject mold into animals before they butcher them for preservation. Aspergillus oryzae is used in Japan to convert the starch in rice into sugar in order to make the traditional alcoholic beverage of sake. Red yeast rice is also made by being cultivated with a mold called Monascus purpureus and was used as a natural food coloring before the discovery of modern chemical food coloring.
Agriculturally, molds also help to decompose different kinds of natural debris such as taking care of the leftovers from forest fires and begin building a base for new plants and trees to grow on. Decaying organic matter is also eaten by mold and thus they are the natural recyclers of the world. If it is organic in origin and needs to be gotten rid of, overtime mold can accomplish this task.
Something most people outside the medical community don’t realize is that if a medicine’s name has the ending of “mycin”, it was made using mold
Mold only becomes a problem if it begins to inhabit the same places that humans and their domesticated animals inhabit. If they remain in a checked status, they do us next to no harm and as shown here, can even provide civilization with many benefits.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
New Jersey mold inspections and other states and cities such as
north carolina mold inspections companies across the united states.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Mold Prevention in Your Bathroom
Your bathroom is the room in your home that most people associate with cleanliness, but it’s one of the worst places for you to allow mold to propagate. Along with the kitchen, this is one of the most common places for mold to be found in the home. What can you do to prevent mold from growing in your bathroom? Here are a few tips.
Check the caulking around the bath tub or shower stall and make sure it isn’t cracked, broken, or even missing in certain areas. If you feel cold air coming in through a hole in the caulking, you should re-caulk it immediately.
It’s not uncommon to find mold growing around the base of your toilet, especially if the toilet has overflowed often in the past or worse, if you have carpet in your bathroom instead of tile. Carpet is generally a bad idea in a bathroom unless you’re very diligent in cleaning up spills of water as soon as they’re made.
You want a vent or a fan in your bathroom so that heat and moisture can escape to the outside of the house. Mold grows not only on the floors of the bathroom, but also on the ceilings where water has been absorbed due to the steam of taking a shower being unable to escape the room.
If you can see mold on the outer surface of your bathroom wall, odds are that you’re looking at a mold problem inside the wall, as well, and cleaning the mold off the outer surface of the wall isn’t going to be enough. If you truly want to get rid of all the mold, you’ll want to replace mold-contaminated building materials, except for wood supports. This includes plywood, carpet, papered sheetrock, plasterboard, and etcetera. If your bathroom has carpet in it and you find mold growing anywhere near the floor, replace the carpet.
Whatever you do, don’t try to cut corners by painting on top of your mold problem. Mold eats paint like candy and it’s nowhere near an effective solution. Even paints containing mildicides are not effective, because these are not strong enough to kill toxic mold infestations.
If you leave moist dirty clothes or towels on the floor in your bathroom closet often, expect mold to grow there. Toss your clothes in a plastic clothes basket instead of directly on the floor and this is one of the best things that you can do to prevent mold in the bathroom that most people don’t think about. We tend to let damp or even wet towels stay on the floor indefinitely, especially if we live in busy households. Clean out your dirty clothes bin often, especially if the clothes are wet.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
New Jersey mold inspections and other states and cities such as
north carolina mold inspections companies across the united states.
Check the caulking around the bath tub or shower stall and make sure it isn’t cracked, broken, or even missing in certain areas. If you feel cold air coming in through a hole in the caulking, you should re-caulk it immediately.
It’s not uncommon to find mold growing around the base of your toilet, especially if the toilet has overflowed often in the past or worse, if you have carpet in your bathroom instead of tile. Carpet is generally a bad idea in a bathroom unless you’re very diligent in cleaning up spills of water as soon as they’re made.
You want a vent or a fan in your bathroom so that heat and moisture can escape to the outside of the house. Mold grows not only on the floors of the bathroom, but also on the ceilings where water has been absorbed due to the steam of taking a shower being unable to escape the room.
If you can see mold on the outer surface of your bathroom wall, odds are that you’re looking at a mold problem inside the wall, as well, and cleaning the mold off the outer surface of the wall isn’t going to be enough. If you truly want to get rid of all the mold, you’ll want to replace mold-contaminated building materials, except for wood supports. This includes plywood, carpet, papered sheetrock, plasterboard, and etcetera. If your bathroom has carpet in it and you find mold growing anywhere near the floor, replace the carpet.
Whatever you do, don’t try to cut corners by painting on top of your mold problem. Mold eats paint like candy and it’s nowhere near an effective solution. Even paints containing mildicides are not effective, because these are not strong enough to kill toxic mold infestations.
If you leave moist dirty clothes or towels on the floor in your bathroom closet often, expect mold to grow there. Toss your clothes in a plastic clothes basket instead of directly on the floor and this is one of the best things that you can do to prevent mold in the bathroom that most people don’t think about. We tend to let damp or even wet towels stay on the floor indefinitely, especially if we live in busy households. Clean out your dirty clothes bin often, especially if the clothes are wet.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
New Jersey mold inspections and other states and cities such as
north carolina mold inspections companies across the united states.
Mold in Your Apartment - Who is Liable?
If you move into an apartment or a home and you sign a lease, some people might think that they’re stuck with that lease even if they discover that the property has a substantial mold problem. This is not true.
No matter who you’re renting from or what kind of property, it is the landlord’s responsibility to provide you with a healthy place to live. If you or your children become sick due to the mold located in the home, apartment, or business you are leasing, your landlord can be held responsible.
The only thing that you have to do first is prove that mold exists in your rented space. That burden or proof is on you because in most leases, mold testing, inspections, and removal are not covered by the landlord. Landlords do not pay for these; you do. If there is a problem, you have to prove it.
If the rental property is infested with mold, the landlord might be liable for the damage to the tenant’s health, the medical bills associated with mold, loss of income due to sickness, and for the damage to clothing and other possessions. Other possible liabilities include the expense it takes to move to a mold-free environment, the difference between the rent at the mold-infested rental and the new, habitable rental, and for any mold inspections, testing, and remediation of the rental that were paid for by the tenant before moving out.
You should mail a notice to your landlord via certified mail that there is a mold problem first and foremost and provide proof within the envelope. An analysis and identification of the mold sample you collected using a mold test kit signed by a mold laboratory is a good way to prove that mold exists in the property. Even better than this is to have a written report signed by a certified mold inspector along with the above mentioned laboratory report. If notice is ignored by your landlord, you can choose to send a second notice stating that due to the failure to have the mold removed from the property, you are withholding your rent. Lastly, if that is ignored by your landlord, you should send another notice via certified mail that you are vacating the premises and that legal action is going to be taken, especially if you have suffered health complications due to the mold. You shouldn’t need a lawyer to draw up these notices for you, as long as you are clear and to the point that mold exists on the landlord’s property that you are renting and you want it removed and if you are suffering any health complications, these should be stated very clearly and with proof, as well. Most landlords will respond promptly.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Chicago Water and Sewage Extraction and other states and cities such as
North Carolina Water and Sewage Extraction companies across the united states.
No matter who you’re renting from or what kind of property, it is the landlord’s responsibility to provide you with a healthy place to live. If you or your children become sick due to the mold located in the home, apartment, or business you are leasing, your landlord can be held responsible.
The only thing that you have to do first is prove that mold exists in your rented space. That burden or proof is on you because in most leases, mold testing, inspections, and removal are not covered by the landlord. Landlords do not pay for these; you do. If there is a problem, you have to prove it.
If the rental property is infested with mold, the landlord might be liable for the damage to the tenant’s health, the medical bills associated with mold, loss of income due to sickness, and for the damage to clothing and other possessions. Other possible liabilities include the expense it takes to move to a mold-free environment, the difference between the rent at the mold-infested rental and the new, habitable rental, and for any mold inspections, testing, and remediation of the rental that were paid for by the tenant before moving out.
You should mail a notice to your landlord via certified mail that there is a mold problem first and foremost and provide proof within the envelope. An analysis and identification of the mold sample you collected using a mold test kit signed by a mold laboratory is a good way to prove that mold exists in the property. Even better than this is to have a written report signed by a certified mold inspector along with the above mentioned laboratory report. If notice is ignored by your landlord, you can choose to send a second notice stating that due to the failure to have the mold removed from the property, you are withholding your rent. Lastly, if that is ignored by your landlord, you should send another notice via certified mail that you are vacating the premises and that legal action is going to be taken, especially if you have suffered health complications due to the mold. You shouldn’t need a lawyer to draw up these notices for you, as long as you are clear and to the point that mold exists on the landlord’s property that you are renting and you want it removed and if you are suffering any health complications, these should be stated very clearly and with proof, as well. Most landlords will respond promptly.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Chicago Water and Sewage Extraction and other states and cities such as
North Carolina Water and Sewage Extraction companies across the united states.
Mold in the Workplace
Mold is a serious problems not only in homes, but also in the places where we work. Employers and landlords should take special care to make sure their properties are not infested with mold and they should do this not only because the value of their property will decrease as the infestation spreads, but also because anyone working or living in the property will suffer adverse health effects.
All kinds of medical conditions can be attributed to mold: development of asthma, bleeding in the lungs, chronic dandruff, colds, coughing incessantly, fatique, skin rashes, and more. If you notice any more than a few of your employees exhibiting these and other health complications, you should take a look around your property and see if you can detect any mold growing on your own. If you can’t, talk to your employees, especially new hires, and ask them if they had these problems before they started working for you. If the answer is “no”, you might have a hidden mold problem on your hands and it could be time to call in a professional.
If the mold inspector does indeed find mold, it’s time to inform your employees that remediation is going to begin and what measures are going to be taken. Telling your workers that mold exists where they work is a recommendation of the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and you should follow it.
Inform your employees when the remediation will begin and approximately when it will begin. Any employees that exhibit any health complications that could have been caused by exposure to mold should be advised to go to their doctor and be referred to someone who knows about mold health consequences and treatments that can be done to encourage recovery.
After the remediation is completed, the property must pass a test proving that it is safe for people to return to work. Don’t try to cut corners here; the sooner you get the mold problem fixed, the sooner you can allow your workers to return and resume production.
If someone develops a medical condition because of the mold you allow to grow on your property (meaning you were notified that it existed and did nothing), you could be liable for more than just their medical bills, but it’s up to them to prove that you knew about the problem. Your best bet to make sure you don’t suffer legal consequences for the mold growth in your workplace is to have it removed as soon as you discover it.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Chicago Water and Sewage Extraction and other states and cities such as
North Carolina Water and Sewage Extraction companies across the united states.
All kinds of medical conditions can be attributed to mold: development of asthma, bleeding in the lungs, chronic dandruff, colds, coughing incessantly, fatique, skin rashes, and more. If you notice any more than a few of your employees exhibiting these and other health complications, you should take a look around your property and see if you can detect any mold growing on your own. If you can’t, talk to your employees, especially new hires, and ask them if they had these problems before they started working for you. If the answer is “no”, you might have a hidden mold problem on your hands and it could be time to call in a professional.
If the mold inspector does indeed find mold, it’s time to inform your employees that remediation is going to begin and what measures are going to be taken. Telling your workers that mold exists where they work is a recommendation of the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and you should follow it.
Inform your employees when the remediation will begin and approximately when it will begin. Any employees that exhibit any health complications that could have been caused by exposure to mold should be advised to go to their doctor and be referred to someone who knows about mold health consequences and treatments that can be done to encourage recovery.
After the remediation is completed, the property must pass a test proving that it is safe for people to return to work. Don’t try to cut corners here; the sooner you get the mold problem fixed, the sooner you can allow your workers to return and resume production.
If someone develops a medical condition because of the mold you allow to grow on your property (meaning you were notified that it existed and did nothing), you could be liable for more than just their medical bills, but it’s up to them to prove that you knew about the problem. Your best bet to make sure you don’t suffer legal consequences for the mold growth in your workplace is to have it removed as soon as you discover it.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Chicago Water and Sewage Extraction and other states and cities such as
North Carolina Water and Sewage Extraction companies across the united states.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
How to Avoid a Buying a Water Damaged Car
One of the most important events in a young person’s life is the purchase of a vehicle and if you are unfortunate enough, as many of us are, to have to buy a used vehicle, well, you might already be a tad aggravated at the process. Maybe you cannot find the right color or the right make or model vehicle that you really want and even if you do find that, is the vehicle a sound one? Does it run the way it should for its age? These questions and more plague those of us who cannot afford a brand new vehicle, but did you ever think about asking whether a vehicle has been submerged completely in water before?
Flooded vehicles being sold without telling the consumer that they have been flooded is a bit more common than you might think. Unfortunately, most of us who go to purchase a used car do not think to ask about this or even check for signs of water damage before we sign the final sale papers. There are a few things that you can do to check and make sure if a vehicle has been flooded before.
Check the upholstery. If it does not appear to match the rest of the vehicle, such as the dashboard and other interior parts of the car, it may have been taken up and replaced due to water damage. If you think it has been replaced, do not hesitate to ask if it has and why the replacement was necessary. If it was due to the vehicle being submerged in water, then this is a vehicle that you probably do not want. You could have a full inspection done by a mechanic that you trust, however, if this is the exact make and model that you want.
Check the trunk and inside the dashboard for signs of rust. Checking around the taillights in the trunk is especially advised, because this is a typical spot where rust will build up if the car has been submerged.
The engine also needs to be checked. If the car was driven into a lake or a river, then the possibility that silt, sand, or mud has gotten into the engine is pretty large. These items can completely ruin an engine beyond repair, even though they may run for a short period of time.
If mold has started to grow in the interior carpet or upholstery, then the vehicle will have a fairly musty smell to it. If you stick your head inside the car and smell air freshener, however, you might want to be careful from that point forward. Air freshener is sometimes used to cover up undesired smells and give you the impression that the car is in better condition than it really is.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Water Damage Miami and
water damage restoration in atlanta companies.
Flooded vehicles being sold without telling the consumer that they have been flooded is a bit more common than you might think. Unfortunately, most of us who go to purchase a used car do not think to ask about this or even check for signs of water damage before we sign the final sale papers. There are a few things that you can do to check and make sure if a vehicle has been flooded before.
Check the upholstery. If it does not appear to match the rest of the vehicle, such as the dashboard and other interior parts of the car, it may have been taken up and replaced due to water damage. If you think it has been replaced, do not hesitate to ask if it has and why the replacement was necessary. If it was due to the vehicle being submerged in water, then this is a vehicle that you probably do not want. You could have a full inspection done by a mechanic that you trust, however, if this is the exact make and model that you want.
Check the trunk and inside the dashboard for signs of rust. Checking around the taillights in the trunk is especially advised, because this is a typical spot where rust will build up if the car has been submerged.
The engine also needs to be checked. If the car was driven into a lake or a river, then the possibility that silt, sand, or mud has gotten into the engine is pretty large. These items can completely ruin an engine beyond repair, even though they may run for a short period of time.
If mold has started to grow in the interior carpet or upholstery, then the vehicle will have a fairly musty smell to it. If you stick your head inside the car and smell air freshener, however, you might want to be careful from that point forward. Air freshener is sometimes used to cover up undesired smells and give you the impression that the car is in better condition than it really is.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Water Damage Miami and
water damage restoration in atlanta companies.
Diseases Caused by Mold Exposure
We all know that mold poses a pretty good sized threat to our health, but the diseases that come about because of mold are some of the most serious around. These diseases almost always end in the suffix of “mycosis” or simply “osis” and they can sometimes end in damage to your internal organs that is often irreparable. They can also sometimes eventually result in death in the most extreme of cases.
These diseases are the most threatening for those people who have weakened immune systems. This can include small children (especially infants), those with HIV or AIDS, and the elderly who have any kind of health problems. Perfectly healthy small children and elderly people might fight off these infections a little better than some of their peers, but it is still not recommended that these people be exposed to mold for a long period of time.
The symptoms of diseases caused by mold can be anything from flu-like symptoms such as fever, chills, coughing, and sneezing all the way to more serious symptoms like the coughing up of blood. Anti-fungal medications can also pose a threat, since these medications can sometimes cause the exact symptoms that they are being prescribed to treat. Almost any doctor that gives a patient antifungal medication will request the patient to come back and lab work be done on a regular basis in order to spot these possible side effects before they move into their next stage.
When you have a mold-related disease, one of the things that you should not do is eat foods that have been manufactured using funguses like mold. This includes things like blue cheese and blue cheese dressing, roguefort, and gorgonzola cheeses, and especially foods that contain mushrooms.
Aspergillosis is caused by those molds that are in the genus Aspergillus. One of the most intriguing and dangerous things about this is that what are called “aspergilloma” have been known to start growing in the lungs and other organs that have pre-existing cavities in them. These cavities can be a result of cancer or a disease that has a similar effect to tuberculosis. Unfortunately, aspergilloma typically do not cause the person to have any symptoms, although in later stages a person might cough up blood, experience weight loss, shortness of breath, and fever.
Penicilliosis is an opportunistic infection that occurs mainly in southeast Asia where the mold that causes it is indigenous. The vast majority of those who develop this infection are those that have HIV and AIDS and it is the third most common opportunistic infection for these individuals in the region
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Los Angeles water damage and restoration services and Denver water damage restoration companies.
These diseases are the most threatening for those people who have weakened immune systems. This can include small children (especially infants), those with HIV or AIDS, and the elderly who have any kind of health problems. Perfectly healthy small children and elderly people might fight off these infections a little better than some of their peers, but it is still not recommended that these people be exposed to mold for a long period of time.
The symptoms of diseases caused by mold can be anything from flu-like symptoms such as fever, chills, coughing, and sneezing all the way to more serious symptoms like the coughing up of blood. Anti-fungal medications can also pose a threat, since these medications can sometimes cause the exact symptoms that they are being prescribed to treat. Almost any doctor that gives a patient antifungal medication will request the patient to come back and lab work be done on a regular basis in order to spot these possible side effects before they move into their next stage.
When you have a mold-related disease, one of the things that you should not do is eat foods that have been manufactured using funguses like mold. This includes things like blue cheese and blue cheese dressing, roguefort, and gorgonzola cheeses, and especially foods that contain mushrooms.
Aspergillosis is caused by those molds that are in the genus Aspergillus. One of the most intriguing and dangerous things about this is that what are called “aspergilloma” have been known to start growing in the lungs and other organs that have pre-existing cavities in them. These cavities can be a result of cancer or a disease that has a similar effect to tuberculosis. Unfortunately, aspergilloma typically do not cause the person to have any symptoms, although in later stages a person might cough up blood, experience weight loss, shortness of breath, and fever.
Penicilliosis is an opportunistic infection that occurs mainly in southeast Asia where the mold that causes it is indigenous. The vast majority of those who develop this infection are those that have HIV and AIDS and it is the third most common opportunistic infection for these individuals in the region
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Los Angeles water damage and restoration services and Denver water damage restoration companies.
Discard Molded Foods
If we all kept our refrigerators cleaned out along with keeping an eye on what outdated items exist in it, we would probably all have healthier meals throughout the day. Most people, however, tend to forget just how important cleaning out their fridges can be and just accept the fact that foods will become moldy and that you will have to throw away a fair portion of the food that you store every year. There are a few things that you can do to prevent mold from growing in your refrigerator, but one of the best things is just to simply keep track of what food is in your refrigerator and how long it has been in there.
Some outdated items are fine as long as they have not been opened. Even things like mayonnaise or sour cream can last quite a while as long as they are still in sealed containers. But, after these are opened, their shelf life drastically decreases and the chance that mold will start to grow inside them goes up significantly. When you break the seal on an item such as this, you let the air in your home and your refrigerator inside the container. If mold spores are in the air in your home (and they probably are), these will get inside the container, as well. This does not mean that they will start to grow immediately, but the longer it remains uneaten, the bigger the chance that it will become the home of a mold colony.
Something else to keep an eye on is sour cream. Sour cream is notorious for becoming molded and this is unfortunately one of the foods that cannot be saved once it does. Once you start to see mold spots growing in your tub of sour cream, it is time to throw it out. This is a porous, highly moist food item and like other foods that meet that criteria, once it becomes contaminated by mold on the top, the whole container is, as well.
Other porous items that you might not keep in your refrigerator that are popular with mold are baked items. These are things like bread, cookies, cakes, and just about anything else that you bake in the oven. These should be thrown away and never eaten.
Other moist items in your refrigerator that tend to have mold problems are things like jelly and jam. Other spreads such as marmalade can also become molded if left uneaten long enough, so these should be completely discarded as well as soon as mold spots begin to appear.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Water Damage Restoration Contractors and
Miami water Damage companies.
Some outdated items are fine as long as they have not been opened. Even things like mayonnaise or sour cream can last quite a while as long as they are still in sealed containers. But, after these are opened, their shelf life drastically decreases and the chance that mold will start to grow inside them goes up significantly. When you break the seal on an item such as this, you let the air in your home and your refrigerator inside the container. If mold spores are in the air in your home (and they probably are), these will get inside the container, as well. This does not mean that they will start to grow immediately, but the longer it remains uneaten, the bigger the chance that it will become the home of a mold colony.
Something else to keep an eye on is sour cream. Sour cream is notorious for becoming molded and this is unfortunately one of the foods that cannot be saved once it does. Once you start to see mold spots growing in your tub of sour cream, it is time to throw it out. This is a porous, highly moist food item and like other foods that meet that criteria, once it becomes contaminated by mold on the top, the whole container is, as well.
Other porous items that you might not keep in your refrigerator that are popular with mold are baked items. These are things like bread, cookies, cakes, and just about anything else that you bake in the oven. These should be thrown away and never eaten.
Other moist items in your refrigerator that tend to have mold problems are things like jelly and jam. Other spreads such as marmalade can also become molded if left uneaten long enough, so these should be completely discarded as well as soon as mold spots begin to appear.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Water Damage Restoration Contractors and
Miami water Damage companies.
Avoid a Water Damaged Vehicle
Buying a used car is usually a pain in the rear, simply because of the fact that there are so many things that can be wrong with the car. It could be a bad transmission, alternator, carburetor, fuel injector, or any one of a thousand problems that could make you not want a vehicle. Some people buy cars that are “fixer-uppers” simply because of the fact that they are a cheaper buy if they decide to just repair the vehicle on their own. This is typical of mechanics who need a new vehicle, because a lot of the cost of repairing a vehicle comes from paying for the labor, not the actual parts itself.
But, what about water damaged vehicles? Most people do not think about this when they go to buy a vehicle, so they are not sure what to look for.
The first thing you should probably do is smell the interior. You should smell next to nothing. If the smell is a musty odor, then that probably means that mold is growing somewhere inside the vehicle. This could be due to liquid spills inside the car like soda, but it could also be due to the car having been flooded. Look for other signs of water damage if you detect a musty odor. Your prospective vehicle should NOT have been treated with air freshener. This is typically used to cover up musty odors and the dealer you are buying from may be hiding something.
Checking the car’s trunk for buildup of silt, rust, or mud is also a good idea. The area around the taillights should be checked thoroughly, since this is an area where these things will build up most often.
You can get a vehicle history report from a site like Carfax.com, but these are not always reliable. An accident or an incident of flooding will only be on this report if an insurance claim was filed. If the car is in an accident and the insurance company the person is with is not notified, then the incident will not appear on the history report.
Check the electronic parts of the vehicle such as gauges and make sure they are in working order. This can include the fuel gauge and other various indicator lights. Wires in the dashboard and under the steering wheel can be flexed and if they crack, they have probably been exposed to water.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Texas Residential Water Damage Restoration Contractors and
Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states.
But, what about water damaged vehicles? Most people do not think about this when they go to buy a vehicle, so they are not sure what to look for.
The first thing you should probably do is smell the interior. You should smell next to nothing. If the smell is a musty odor, then that probably means that mold is growing somewhere inside the vehicle. This could be due to liquid spills inside the car like soda, but it could also be due to the car having been flooded. Look for other signs of water damage if you detect a musty odor. Your prospective vehicle should NOT have been treated with air freshener. This is typically used to cover up musty odors and the dealer you are buying from may be hiding something.
Checking the car’s trunk for buildup of silt, rust, or mud is also a good idea. The area around the taillights should be checked thoroughly, since this is an area where these things will build up most often.
You can get a vehicle history report from a site like Carfax.com, but these are not always reliable. An accident or an incident of flooding will only be on this report if an insurance claim was filed. If the car is in an accident and the insurance company the person is with is not notified, then the incident will not appear on the history report.
Check the electronic parts of the vehicle such as gauges and make sure they are in working order. This can include the fuel gauge and other various indicator lights. Wires in the dashboard and under the steering wheel can be flexed and if they crack, they have probably been exposed to water.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Texas Residential Water Damage Restoration Contractors and
Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states.
Techniques Used to Clean Up Mold
While there are a lot of different ways to kill and remove mold from your home, depending on what the mold has gotten on or into, you may want to use one technique before trying the other. Note that killing mold and removing it is not one and the same thing. Killing mold is just that: terminating the life of the mold so that it ceases to continue growing. Since the mold is dead, it cannot cause infections if it gets onto your skin because it must be alive to change into yeast. However, the bad thing about simply killing the mold is the fact that it does not have to be alive in order to cause an allergic reaction in a person. The mold spores remain intact and in their same physical condition as before, so when the spores enter the body, the body does not realize that the spores are dead and pose no threat.
You can use a wet vacuum to clean up standing water in areas of your home where it exists, since this is where mold likes to grow the most. This is especially true if there are any cellulose-based materials that have been soaked by it, such as paper, cardboard, and anything else that can be decomposed. You should only use these vacuums when the surface is wet, so mold spores do not get tossed into the air. The equipment should be cleaned and dried thoroughly after you use it, since mold and its spores can attach themselves to it.
Sometimes you can use a damp paper towel or damp cloth to clean mold off of surfaces that are nonporous, like countertops or a vinyl floor, but if you are going to do this, using chemicals that kill mold are a must. Trying to clean mold off of porous surfaces like drywall usually ends in heartbreak, because most of the time they cannot be saved. The entire item is usually too contaminated. Clothes can be saved sometimes, but this is only because of the very thin nature of the item. Thick porous surfaces like drywall are simply too thick for it to be feasible to try to save them.
HEPA filter-equipped vacuum cleaners are good to have around if you are trying to remove as much mold from your home as possible, since these vacuum cleaners will filter clean air back into the room as you vacuum. The mold spores and dirt particles will get caught in the filter and are easily disposed of afterward. When you dump the contents of the receptacle, do not touch it with your bare hands. Wear gloves if you can and do not let it come into contact with your skin. Try not to stir the contents up and do not breathe them.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Miami Residential Water Damage Restoration Contractors and
Orlando water Damage companies
You can use a wet vacuum to clean up standing water in areas of your home where it exists, since this is where mold likes to grow the most. This is especially true if there are any cellulose-based materials that have been soaked by it, such as paper, cardboard, and anything else that can be decomposed. You should only use these vacuums when the surface is wet, so mold spores do not get tossed into the air. The equipment should be cleaned and dried thoroughly after you use it, since mold and its spores can attach themselves to it.
Sometimes you can use a damp paper towel or damp cloth to clean mold off of surfaces that are nonporous, like countertops or a vinyl floor, but if you are going to do this, using chemicals that kill mold are a must. Trying to clean mold off of porous surfaces like drywall usually ends in heartbreak, because most of the time they cannot be saved. The entire item is usually too contaminated. Clothes can be saved sometimes, but this is only because of the very thin nature of the item. Thick porous surfaces like drywall are simply too thick for it to be feasible to try to save them.
HEPA filter-equipped vacuum cleaners are good to have around if you are trying to remove as much mold from your home as possible, since these vacuum cleaners will filter clean air back into the room as you vacuum. The mold spores and dirt particles will get caught in the filter and are easily disposed of afterward. When you dump the contents of the receptacle, do not touch it with your bare hands. Wear gloves if you can and do not let it come into contact with your skin. Try not to stir the contents up and do not breathe them.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Miami Residential Water Damage Restoration Contractors and
Orlando water Damage companies
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