You might think that your property has a problem with mold and when you realize that this might be true, you may go out and hire the first mold removal company that you run across in the yellow pages to come and fix the problem, but the trick is knowing whether they are truly a professional company. One good way to tell this is to note whether or not they use dogs to find mold in the building.
The usage of mold dogs is not that widely used except by companies that are exactly what was implied earlier: unprofessional. The use of these dogs is deplorable, since they are trained to do exactly the thing that human beings are told not to do when coming into contact with mold. They are taught to seek out the mold spores and to actively inhale them in large quantities in order to detect the presence of mold growing in a home. This is not only unscientific, but it is also extremely harmful to the health of the dog. There are much more modern methods to use to detect mold in a person’s home or business and the use of a dog will not tell you if the mold is toxic or in what quantity the mold exists. Mycologists are typically employed by mold remediation companies and they fill the role of telling you whether the mold you have in your home is toxic or not.
The health of the dog will deteriorate over time, since animals are no less at risk of developing health complications related to mold than human beings are. They will eventually develop respiratory and skin infections, particularly around the muzzle.
The animal cannot tell a human being that something is wrong with them and the human often does not realize it until it is too late. Any veterinarian will tell you that the usage of dogs to detect mold is an inhumane practice and it is all but the deliberate infection of the animal and an act of pure negligence. Aspergilloma and aspergilliosis are also two conditions that dogs are susceptible to when they are used to detect mold and these often have no symptoms at first. By the time symptoms do develop, it is often too late and the dog has to be put down.
If you are considering hiring a professional company to detect and remove the mold from your home, please refrain from hiring a company that uses dogs. If you discover that the company that you hire does use dogs, decline to use their services and state this as the reason. Please do not support this practice.
Jim Corkern is a writer and respected contributor to the Water damage restoration and mold remediation Industry. Visit his sites for more information.
http://www.localrestoration.com and
http://www.moldrestorationusa.com
Friday, September 28, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
House Renovating Woes
Buying a new house can be a headache all by itself, but if you are wanting to purchase a fixer upper, then you have a lot more on your plate than most people do. House flipping is a popular way to make some quick money, but it is not usually as easy as television shows and magazines make it out to be. It is not only difficult because of the construction costs, but also because of the physical and emotional strength you have to have to get through the process. Carrying the loan or loans that you may have to get to be able to afford the property is something else. If you are unmarried and already have an apartment or mortgage to pay for, then carrying another mortgage until the home is fixed up and finally sold can be a little scary.
One thing that you need to be careful about if you are planning on renovating on a budget is taking on tasks that you have no experience in. You may be able to paint the interior on your own, but cutting your new granite countertops may be something you want to leave to the professionals. This can be very complicated and can most of the time only be done once. Mess up the granite slab and you will have to buy another to replace it and this can punch a huge hole in your budget. When in doubt, leave something to the professionals and do not cut corners by taking on projects you are not sure that you can do to professional quality.
Always check for water and mold damage to the property before signing any papers. You want to know just what you are getting yourself into and these two problems cropping up in the middle of your renovation can sink you further into debt than you intended to go. Repairing these problems can sometimes cost thousands of dollars and most of the time, mold cannot be gotten rid of without removing all of the building materials affected by it. It can be scrubbed off of drywall sometimes, but if the growth is heavy on the surface, you should throw it away instead. Cleaners cannot get into the porous drywall far enough to completely kill it and it will return.
The most moist areas of the home are often the most likely to be structurally damaged and there have been many stories of toilets and bath tubs falling through the floor due to rotted supports. This is usually because the floor has been soaked with water on a regular basis for a long time and unfortunately, this can be a real pain. If you are remodeling the floor with new tile, you may want to go ahead and check for this kind of damage underneath it, just to be sure you do not have to go back and do all this again.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Orlando water damage restoration companies and
Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states.
One thing that you need to be careful about if you are planning on renovating on a budget is taking on tasks that you have no experience in. You may be able to paint the interior on your own, but cutting your new granite countertops may be something you want to leave to the professionals. This can be very complicated and can most of the time only be done once. Mess up the granite slab and you will have to buy another to replace it and this can punch a huge hole in your budget. When in doubt, leave something to the professionals and do not cut corners by taking on projects you are not sure that you can do to professional quality.
Always check for water and mold damage to the property before signing any papers. You want to know just what you are getting yourself into and these two problems cropping up in the middle of your renovation can sink you further into debt than you intended to go. Repairing these problems can sometimes cost thousands of dollars and most of the time, mold cannot be gotten rid of without removing all of the building materials affected by it. It can be scrubbed off of drywall sometimes, but if the growth is heavy on the surface, you should throw it away instead. Cleaners cannot get into the porous drywall far enough to completely kill it and it will return.
The most moist areas of the home are often the most likely to be structurally damaged and there have been many stories of toilets and bath tubs falling through the floor due to rotted supports. This is usually because the floor has been soaked with water on a regular basis for a long time and unfortunately, this can be a real pain. If you are remodeling the floor with new tile, you may want to go ahead and check for this kind of damage underneath it, just to be sure you do not have to go back and do all this again.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Orlando water damage restoration companies and
Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states.
Getting Rid of the Mold
Even if you manage to kill the mold that exists in your house, your job is not over. When people discover there is mold in their homes, the first thing they usually want to know is the best way to kill it. This is the wrong way to approach the problem, because even though the mold is dead, it can still cause you health problems. The spores cannot cause yeast infections because they are dead and can no longer grow, but your body still recognizes them as something to be fought against, so you will experience allergy symptoms or even sometimes severe reactions to them. About one third of the population has mold allergies of some kind, so this is something that you want to consider.
Most of the time, removing the mold from the property completely is the only way to get rid of the allergy symptoms you or your loved ones may experience. This will probably mean opening up walls and removing drywall or even sometimes lumber from the home and replacing them with new material. You can sometimes wash mold off of the surface of drywall slabs, but if the growth is thick and heavily covers the surface, then it may be embedded into it and removal will be necessary. Mold killing chemicals cannot penetrate far enough into the drywall to kill the contamination and so it will only return, no matter how much scrubbing you do.
You can save clothes that have become molded sometimes, but unfortunately clothes that have been left molded for a long period of time can be so stained that it can never be taken out. Outside in the natural environment, the job of mold is to help with the decomposition of organic materials and it tends to do this fairly well, which is why you need to worry about it in your house. Lumber is organic, of course, and certain kinds of mold will cause it to rot completely.
Regularly check your house for water damage. If there is water damage, you can be sure that mold will start to grow there eventually if it is not taken care of. Moist areas in the home are the most at risk for mold growth and if you do not take care of them, you may end up having to do some heavy remodeling in the future to take care of the problem.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Miami water damage restoration companies and
mold remediation companies across the united states.
Most of the time, removing the mold from the property completely is the only way to get rid of the allergy symptoms you or your loved ones may experience. This will probably mean opening up walls and removing drywall or even sometimes lumber from the home and replacing them with new material. You can sometimes wash mold off of the surface of drywall slabs, but if the growth is thick and heavily covers the surface, then it may be embedded into it and removal will be necessary. Mold killing chemicals cannot penetrate far enough into the drywall to kill the contamination and so it will only return, no matter how much scrubbing you do.
You can save clothes that have become molded sometimes, but unfortunately clothes that have been left molded for a long period of time can be so stained that it can never be taken out. Outside in the natural environment, the job of mold is to help with the decomposition of organic materials and it tends to do this fairly well, which is why you need to worry about it in your house. Lumber is organic, of course, and certain kinds of mold will cause it to rot completely.
Regularly check your house for water damage. If there is water damage, you can be sure that mold will start to grow there eventually if it is not taken care of. Moist areas in the home are the most at risk for mold growth and if you do not take care of them, you may end up having to do some heavy remodeling in the future to take care of the problem.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Miami water damage restoration companies and
mold remediation companies across the united states.
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