Are you suspicious about the presence of mold in your home but looking for ways to detect it properly? Are you looking for signs that you need a home mold inspection? If so, this article is going to help you a lot in this regard. In this article, you will learn about the top signs of mold presence, what to do, and why to hire a professional inspector. Let’s start!

Top 5 Warning Signs that You Have Mold in Your Home

There could be multiple reasons behind the presence of mold in your home, we have laid out the top 5 signs of mold presence as follows:

1. Visible Mold Traces

This is the obvious one…  Mold is green or white in color and can be easily detected. It may appear at some smaller place first and if left untreated, could spread to many other places in your home. For example, you may see the patches of mold around your plant buckets, or on your basement floor. You may see it at different places in your concrete floor or at various other indoor places. There are much higher chances of mold growth if there is moisture in the environment. In such situations, mold can first attack a little object and then spread rapidly over much of the home. If you visibly see any mold traces in your home, take immediate action!  Otherwise, it could be very harmful and sometimes poisonous depending on its type.

2. Standing Water

A common reason behind the outbreak of mold in your home is the presence 0f standing water. Standing water is considered as the best inhabitant for mold growth. The mold has the highest chances to grow on top of the standing water and then spreading to other surfaces. Therefore, if there is standing water in your home, basement or around your home exterior, there are higher chances of mold presence.  Not only the mold, but a number of mosquitos also grow on standing water. In such cases, it becomes critically important to resolve the issue of standing water inside or outside your home. Usually, professional mold inspectors perform the water mold testing over the standing water to determine mold presence. Further testing can be done to analyze which type of mold is growing in it and what could be the best treatment for it.

3. Moldy Smell

Funny enough, mold smells are characterized usually as having a sort of “tangy” smell. This is a very irritating or bad smell that is produced by the mold over an area of your home. Mold grows at a very high rate in the moisture and creates a “tangy”, persistent, bad smelling odor. If you smell such an odor in your house, there is a high chance that mold is present within your home. Traditionally, the strength of the odor starts off relatively weak and becomes more potent as the mold spreads over time.

4. High Humidity

As previously mentioned, high humidity environments are the most favorable conditions for mold to grow. Particularly, the mold can grow at places where the moisture level is very high and concentrated. For example, basements are among those places where the moisture level is much higher, thus the chances of mold growth are higher as well. Outbreaks may occur in your basement or at any other place such as under carpets, sofas, or any other concentrated humidity zones within the home. Therefore, it is highly recommended to keep regulating or monitoring the moisture level in your home. It’s worth noting that if the humidity is high in the environment, then the use of humidifiers should be avoided. This is because they would simply compound the problem by adding additional moisture into the environment. 

5. Health Issues

If mold growth gets bad enough in your home, you could begin to experience a number of health issues. Some examples include: an itching in your eyes or difficulty breathing. The presence of mold is known to create many problems with breathing for people with asthma. Similarly, it is also known to cause a number of skin allergies. Suppose, you have carpets in your home and mold is growing under them. When you walk on those moldy carpets with bare feet, the mold will have the opportunity to attack your feet. As a result, you may acquire medical conditions such as athlete’s foot, eczema, and/or others. You may also experience respiratory issues like: infected sinuses, coughing, and also recurring sneezing. If you feel any of these symptoms on a constant basis, be sure to look for the mold signs described above in your home and hire a certified mold inspector immediately.

What to do if you see signs of mold in your home?

If you see any of the mold signs in your home, take immediate action. This is very important because mold can spread very rapidly and the quicker it is caught, the better the outcome will be for yourself and your home.  It may also save you from a number of related health issues while ensuring a safe and healthy life in your home. If you see any mold sign in your home, first check for any potential causes of it. If you figure out the reason or issue, treat it properly in order to make your home mold-free. However, it is always recommended to hire a home inspector or certified mold inspector to perform the professional mold testing. In this way, the mold can be professionally controlled and managed appropriately.

Why is it important to hire a certified mold inspector?

It is very important to hire a certified mold inspector because they know how to detect and determine the root-cause of mold growth. Molds come in many different shapes and sizes and are known to pop up in very random places, thus it is critical to hire the right person with the right experience to track down the underlying problem.  As mentioned before, catching mold growth early is very important so it is not recommended to take any risks. 

Testing for molds properly takes a specific set of knowledge and experience that a certified mold inspector or home inspectors should have. Your inspector will go through air testing, bulk testing, and surface testing at different places in your home in order to track down the presence and intensity of it. Inspectors can also provide you with follow-up services to see if your home is completely safe and mold-free. In this way, they will help you in ensuring that you’re living in a clean, safe, and mold-free environment.