Common Home Problem: Indoor Air Quality & Mold
The health of your home can directly relate to your personal health and well-being. Aside from obvious health issues, when your home is invaded by mold, a number of problems can arise such as the cost of repairs and removal. Even more, it significantly impacts your indoor air quality. Essentially, whenever you notice the buildup of mold within your home, it vital that you do something about it.
Common Home Problem: Indoor Air Quality & Mold
Contents
This article discusses indoor air quality and mold and what options you have available if you experience mold growth inside of your home.
Why Does Mold Develop?
Mold develops in different places in your home for various reasons. If you have leaking water within your home or high humidity, then mold and mildew can form and grow out of control fairly quickly. These same conditions can also lead to superficial issues such as rotting, flaking paint, and structural damage in various parts of your home.
Generally mold forms due to the existence of moisture which can originate from many different places such as a leaky roof, a leaky foundation, a leaky toilet, and even a poorly ventilated bathroom.
Stopping water leaks as soon as they start is important to get rid of indoor mold before it has a chance to form. Once you have cleaned up the obvious visible water pools and leaks, you need to find the source of the leak. If you find that part of your home’s exterior has been compromised, then you may need to hire a professional contractor to fix it.
Humidity: The Invisible Enemy
Humidity generally comes with the warm summer weather. If your home isn’t properly equipped, it can lead to mold growth in many different areas. Essentially, humidity is a measure of the amount of moisture in the air. As we’ve just discussed, mold loves moisture.
Battle Humidity
If your home has high levels of humidity, then it can lead to mold growth as we have discussed above. Fortunately, there are effective ways to combat it.
Venting Your Appliances
Venting your appliances to the exterior of your house is an easy way to ensure they aren’t contributing to poor air quality and adding moisture to the air in your home. Vents from your kitchen, laundry room, and bathrooms should connect directly outdoors and not behind walls or between floors. When cooking or showering, be sure to turn on your fans to let the moisture outdoors.
Air Conditioner
Ensuring your air conditioner is operating efficiently is important to help get rid of indoor mold. Your air conditioner is the best defense against humidity because, in addition to cooling the air in your home, it also removes the moisture from the air. An inefficient air conditioning system can result in high humidity levels, which in turn can lead to mold growth. The best way to ensure your air conditioning system is operating properly is to have a professional, from an HVAC company like Point Bay Fuel, evaluate your system.
Air Drafts
Sealing air leaks in your home can also assist you in preventing and getting rid of indoor mold. By sealing air leaks in exteriors walls and around windows and doors, you’re preventing less humid air from escaping your home and humid air from entering. Sealing up holes in your home’s duct system is also a good way to ensure your air conditioner has the opportunity to draw and push air throughout your home. Similarly, it can remove as much moisture as possible.
Dehumidifier
Using a dehumidifier in your home is a great way to reduce the moisture and chances of mold growth in high moisture areas. A portable dehumidifier can be targeted to specific areas that you know are typically higher in moisture and humidity than the rest of your home. Likewise, you can talk to Point Bay Fuel about installing a whole-house dehumidifier or air purifier to help manage humidity levels more effectively.
Conclusion
Overall, the best way to deal with mold is to attack it before it has a chance to form. This can be achieved by removing the humidity from the air in your home and removing moisture from surfaces and walls.
Call Point Bay Fuel For All Of Your Home Comfort Needs
Point Bay Fuel offers superior heating and cooling services in Ocean and Monmouth Counties, New Jersey. We hire the best NATE certified technicians who can provide you with excellent HVAC tune-ups, repairs, installations, and replacements. Each of our techs has the knowledge and experience to service your HVAC system correctly.
Point Bay Fuel guarantees the most competitive heating and cooling service costs in the area. Our services can improve your comfort, increase your energy efficiency while reducing your home cooling costs. Likewise, we can find practical solutions to improve your indoor air quality.
If you happen to need an HVAC repair or replacement system, we can recommend the best one for your home while staying within your budget. We back all of our work with a guarantee to ensure your satisfaction. To schedule a service appointment, give Point Bay Fuel a call today. We offer free, in-home estimates.
Contact us now by calling (732) 349-5059 to speak to one of our home comfort specialists!