Cleaning Black Mold

What is Black Mold

Black mold becomes a problem because it grows very fast. When an area become wet or moist longer than a day or two, then black mold spores find there way to that spot and stick to it. Moisture is the one key that will stop black mold from growing. Get rid of the moisture problem and you will greatly reduce black mold from growing.

Another problem with black mold is that it always grows in places where it is hard to find. Black mold is commonly found in crawl spaces, basement, under sinks, in the bathroom and more. If black mold grew out in the open where it is easily seen, then you would clean it up right away, which poses little to no danger. However, the secret and dark places that black mold grows are hard to find and hard to clean and that leads to black mold associated health problems.

The way black mold begins to weaken your immune system is with its spores. The spores are microscopic and travel a the slightest of air currents. Once black mold begins growing, it begins reproducing with its spores. These spore float through the air and land on wet or moist areas. If these moist areas are a food source, then the black mold will flourish and begin to produce more black mold spores and the cycle continues. What makes people and animals sick is the mold spore count. If it is too heavy indoors, then you will eventually have problems.

What is a Black Mold Food Source

A black mold food source is anything that is an organic or cellulose material. Black mold feeds on the paper of drywall. You can find black mold feeding on wood - just look under your kitchen sink. Anything organic will feed black mold and I will let you know that you can find black mold on vinyl and plastics too. The reason is that there is something they are made with that is organic (vinyl) or there is dust and dirt that are on the plastic which black mold can feed on. Look at boat seats as an example.

Any fiber or material can also feed black mold. Just remember anytime you have been in a once flooded basement. You can still smell it probably.

So nearly anything can feed black mold, that is why it is much easier to find the moisture source and eliminate it than it is to eliminate the food source. Also just when you think you don't have anything to worry about, think about your wall paper, the wall paper glue, and how about the humidity level in your home. 

High humidity can be found in the kitchen, bathrooms, and laundry areas. So needless to say the work regarding eliminating the food sources and the moisture is huge.

Given all the trouble with trying to keep black mold from growing, I came up with a couple of secret ways to stop it before it grows. I reveal how to stop black mold from growing in "How to Get Rid of Black Mold".

What are Black Mold Health Symptoms

Black mold health symptoms are difficult to isolate. For instance, if you cut your finger you will immediately notice blood and pain. The symptoms of a cut finger are blood and pain. The root cause is what ever you got cut with.

Black mold spores are allergens that slowly and completey attach your immune system. You won't even notice very much. A few sniffles, possibly a morning sore throat, headaches, sinus infections, and more. There is a real life example of how black mold penetrates your immune system defenses near the top of this page and to the left, under Top 10 Mold/Mildew Solutions. If you are getting nagging problems such as these, then you need to do something immediately.

Black mold symptoms look like symptoms of other common problems. They look like allergies, colds, flus, and more. Prolonged exposure can lead to irreversible health issues such as hair loss and memory loss.

Cleaning Black Mold

Cleaning up black mold in small amounts is usually harmless. Use a specialized moldicide cleaner, or use the one I recommend DepHyze. Using the cleaner of your choice, saturate the area completely and try to allow it to stand 5-10 minutes for the appropriate kill time. Then using a rag, that you will throw away afterwards, wipe up the area. 

Dispose of the rag in a sealable plastic bag and remove from your living area. You don't want the spores that didn't die to reinfect the area.

For larger than spot cleaning you may need more personal protective equipment. An N-95 particulate mask can be purchased at just about any hardware store. This will trap 99% of the spores from black mold before you breathe them. If you have a sensitivity to black mold and it is known to be making you sick you should usually wear the mask.

Back to large black mold area cleaning. Clean the gross material up and discard the rag as above. Now soak the area with your moldicide spray and allow it to set for about 10 minutes. After the kill time, wipe up the area with a clean rag and then dispose of it with the other rag. You'll notice that it is almost like sterilizing the area and that is the way you should treat it. Because one black mold spore is all it takes to keep your problem alive and well.

Always limit your exposure to black mold and the cleaning chemicals. All of the cleaning agents have labels and instructions that should be followed.

How do you know if Black Mold is the problem

Cleaning black mold is one thing, but finding out if you have a serious black mold problem is quite another. You can find inexpensive test kits at your local stores. They have two parts to them - an indoor test and an outdoor test.

You set up the test kit according to its instructions. You are sampling your indoor air compared to outdoor air. If the black mold results are higher inside than they are outside, then you may very well have a problem. If you have cleaned everywhere and searched everywhere in the house and can not find the source of your black mold problem, then you may want to hire a professional.

Black mold can thrive within your walls. It can grow undetected for years, which means you are getting exposed for years. Finally, you have noticed "black mold symptoms" that have driven you to the conclusion that maybe there is a problem. So think about where you have condensation from cold water pipes, condensation may be causing it in your bathroom (ever have a sweating toilet tank on humid days?), look for venting problems in the laundry, and of course look for the roof leak - maybe it's in the attic. Also if you have had water in your basement, that is a good place to start.

I had a friend complain of a headache, massive headache, every day. She said she has had them for years and she knew it was in the house. She thought it was under the sink. Her house was on a crawl space. She also said for a couple of weeks it had smelled as if a mouse died somewhere under the sink.

I asked her if the crawl space was a wet location and she said no, so we focused on the sink area. There was a hole under the sink that entered into the crawl space. I had her use one of my methods in the book and within 8 hours she noticed the smell was gone.

Within a day her headache eased and she knew it was because of the solution I developed. I show you how to do it in "How to Get Rid of Black Mold". We also found out that with every rain water poured into her crawl space. So that was taken care of too. Once the moisture source was significantly defeated and my proactive method for eliminating mold was initiated, she has been very healthy and swears by my little secret.