Black mold can be one of the most distressing things to find in your home, especially when you have children or people with medical conditions living there. Depending on the severity of the damages, black mold can either be a quick fix, or something which can take a professional quite some time and work to rectify. There are many tell-tale symptoms to look out for that you or your family may encounter prior to even seeing any evidence of the infestation.
How To Identify And Cure Black Mold In Your Home
There are three different levels of symptoms of black mold exposure – common, advanced and severe. Common symptoms can be experienced with brief exposure to the fungi, where advanced and severe symptoms are only seen after repeated and long-term contact. Common symptoms consist of mostly topical issues such as a runny nose, red or itching eyes, red or irritated skin and a headache. With repeated exposure, advanced black mold symptoms include nose bleeds, diarrhea, sores on the skin and ear infections and pain. After long-term exposure to a large number of mold spores, severe reactions can include blindness, brain damage and even death.
If you think you have a fungal outbreak in your home, the first thing that you need to do is to have an experienced home inspector come and find out how extensive the black mold damage is, how dangerous it is to your family and how difficult it will be to solve the problem.
Black Mold Removal And Common Symptoms
Black mold removal can be a simple, home fix, or it may require the services of a professional to do major work to your home. It is important to have a professional diagnose the problem and find the root of the mold. Many times, people simply remove black mold on the surface and leave the underlying problem to continue to produce spores behind your walls, in your carpet or in the ceiling. Severe infestations need to be dealt with by a professional and can become costly. For that level of fungal outbreak, it is imperative to have a trained and licensed professional complete the remediation.
For less severe, topical problems, it is very simple for homeowners to remove the black mold and help prevent it from returning. The most common place to find black mold in a home is in the bathroom. This occurs because bathrooms are a constant source of moisture in the air and on the walls, and most bathrooms, especially in older homes, do not have proper ventilation systems to be able to dissipate all of the moisture. When it accumulates on and in the walls it is a breeding ground for black mold. This can be just from constant exposure to the moisture, or perhaps through cracks or gaps in the lining of your tub or shower.
For these mild buildups of black mold, fill an empty spray bottle with bleach and apply it topically to the affect areas. Be sure to cover your face and also do everything possible to increase ventilation during treatment. The bleach chemically breaks down the black mold and will get rid of any traces within a matter of just a few minutes.
Common Black Mold Symptoms And How To Cure Them
Once you have the mold re mediated, there are a few small tips which you can follow in order to prevent a future buildup. The first is to ensure that all rooms in your home have proper ventilation. This can be anything ranging from a ventilation fan in the bathroom, to good air-conditioning and filtering systems to simply opening the doors and windows occasionally. Next you need to make sure that the house is structurally sound and free of places for outside rain and water to get in. Make sure your roof is in good condition and that there are no holes for cables or wires in the walls that have space for water to enter – these small opening can become starting points of a black mold problem. Lastly, make sure that you clean up all water spilled or sitting in the home. This is most common in the bathroom or kitchen, but can also be applied to drinks being spilled on carpets. All-in-all, it is must easier and less costly to prevent black mold rather than to try and cure it. 
