Mold is Great, for Cheese and Wine.

As I began to research indoor air quality, one of the first words that popped up was “mold.” I’ve been around the block a couple of times, so of course, I had heard about that before. I just never gave it much thought. I know that mold can have beneficial uses. It is used to make cheese and wine, for example, as well as soy sauce, sausage, bread, penicillin, cholesterol-lowering drugs, and others, not to mention the fact that mushrooms are molds. But mold can also be very harmful. It can cause respiratory problems like asthma and chronic coughing, allergies, memory loss, depression, anxiety, REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM FAILURE, and sometimes even death. Sorry, did I shout? I was a little surprised. Anyway, I wanted to make some crack about how mold was not all about wine and cheese and dancing, but that it also has a downside. Somewhere in the back of my head, I had some memory about bread mold being associated with St. Vitus Dance, the dancing mania of the middle ages, so I looked it up. It turns out that the link is not very likely, and that the strange dancing behavior of large numbers of people back then was more likely some sort of religious frenzy. On the other hand, I learned that Saint Anthony’s Fire, a completely different sort of phenomenon, may have been ergot poisoning, from ergot, a fungus, growing on the rye from which bread was made. The pictures that I saw there and the descriptions of the symptoms are not something that I can bring myself to share here, but trust me, you don’t want it. You can look it up if you want, but be warned, it is not pleasant.
And one of the worst things about mold is that it is so sneaky. It very quietly lives and grows in spots where we might not look very often, and by the time we discover it, it is already well established. And if you can sense mold in your air by smelling the air, you already have a serious mold problem. So here is the situation: I think we can all agree that mold is fine when it is used by people who know what they are doing to make wine, cheese, medicine and other good things for us, but we don’t want it loitering in our floors and walls and in the space where the wall and floor meet, and we don’t want it floating around in the air in our homes. In other words, we don’t want moldy molding and we don’t want moldy air. But what can we do to prevent it?
In the first place, we need to clean it up wherever we find mold in our homes. A mixture of no more than one cup of bleach to one gallon of water is effective, as are numerous products available at stores, but just be careful not to mix different products because you could end up with poisonous gases more dangerous than mold. And, of course, wear appropriate protective clothing and eye protection and ensure adequate ventilation. In the second place, we need to prevent further mold growth. Mold needs moisture to live and grow, so we want to be sure to keep the humidity as low as is safe. I don’t know how low that is, but I am pretty sure that low humidity is not our problem in this area. Air conditioning lowers humidity, as do de-humidifiers. Repairing leaks, making sure to properly vent dryers, kitchen fans, etc., and removing wet carpet, furniture, wall, floor, and wall material are all ways to cut down on excess moisture. Products are available such as sealants and mold resistant paint which can help reduce mold growth, and a good air conditioning system goes a long way toward its prevention, as does a good dehumidifier.
For more information on mold and its control and for all your air conditioning needs, call AirTherm Services A/C and Heating.