How To Know When To Check For Mold In Your Home Or Business

With all the new concern about mold growing in our homes in our businesses, you may be wondering just what you can do to determine whether mold exists on your property or not. There are a few different ways to know if mold exists on your property and one of the best ones is to purchase a mold testing kit that you can perform by yourself, but how do you know if you need to test for it?

Do you throw wet clothing and towels on the floor and leave them there? Or even worse, throw dry clothing on top of them and forget the wet clothes are underneath? If this is a habit for you or the rest of your family, especially if the floor you are putting these on is carpeted, then you are inviting mold to start growing in your house. Wash wet clothing as soon as possible or put them in a sink or other container by themselves and never put dry clothing on top of wet.

Has your home suffered water damage due to floods or heavy rain? Mold likes to grow on items that have been wet and forgotten about or just never repaired. It will grow anywhere that there is moisture or high amounts of humidity. Stachybotrys mold in particular likes to grow where there is standing water, such as in a leaky area of your basement. Try to keep the humidity level in your house down and if you see condensation on your windows or on exposed pipes, you are not succeeding in this. Try a de-humidifier.

Any part of your home that has been water damaged, especially floors and walls, could be hiding a mold infestation. To detect mold that you cannot see or smell, purchase a mold testing kit and follow the directions for it exactly as they appear or the test will be useless.

Mold will also grow in closets that have too many clothes packed in them. Air simply cannot circulate in a closet packed too tight and the clothing provides all the food that the mold needs to survive. A solution to this problem is to just give or throw away clothing that you do not need and if there is not much clothing that you do not use, find another way to store it.

Leaking water pipes or even a waterline for the icemaker on your fridge can be hidden causes for this terrible menace. Check the basics and you can help to eliminate the problem before it starts.

Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of
Texas Water Damage Restoration and
Houston Water Damage Restoration Which are Certified IICRC Water damage and mold remediation contractors.

How to Effectively Clean Out Your Fridge

The refrigerator is an important center of the household and as such, you would think that people would remember to keep these food centers cleaned more often than they tend to. Even though it is fairly cool inside, mold can still grow very well in these cool temperatures, as anyone who has opened a jar of spoiled grape jelly can surely tell you. Whether it is a jar of grape jelly or a casserole left in the fridge for a bit too long, mold can grow on anything in your refrigerator that it can get onto. This includes, well… just about everything that is not completely sealed up, such as home-canned goods that have not had their seals broken. Mold spores are everywhere and in the air we breathe, unless the air is purified, such as in a hospital or laboratory clean room, so it is fairly hard to keep mold completely off of something we do not want it on, but it can be done. It just takes a little effort. Cleaning out your refrigerator and knowing what to do with moldy food (some of it can be saved, believe it or not) is essential to keeping a healthy kitchen.

Take everything out of your refrigerator and put it either on your kitchen table or on the counters for you to deal with later. You will go through these items after you are finished cleaning out the inside of your refrigerator.

Remove all drawers, shelves, and racks so that you can wash them in the sink in whatever household chemical you have chosen for this task. Whether it is anti-bacterial soap, bleach, or even better, a chemical made specifically to kill mold, use plenty of it, but do not mix chemicals, especially bleach. If you do use bleach, do your best not to get it on your hands. Wear rubber gloves.

Wash the inside of the refrigerator with a sponge or a rag thoroughly. To get some things that might be stuck to the wall of the fridge or stuck to a shelf off, let some warm water and some of the chemical you have chosen soak on it a few minutes. After you are done with the inside of the refrigerator, wash the parts that you removed, dry them, and replace them.

As for the food you took out, put back everything that is not contaminated with mold. Anything with a high moisture content that is contaminated like sour cream or jelly must be thrown away. Blocks of cheese or dense items like hard salami can have the molded parts cut out and thrown away. Cut 1 inch around and one inch under the molded part(s), remove, and discard. The rest is usable.



Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Orlando water damage restoration companies and
Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states.

Home Canned Food and Mold.

Most of us like homegrown and prepared food, but sometimes when we can them in glass containers when we have too much garden produce to eat or too much to just give away, it does not all go according to plan. There are some tried and true canning techniques that have been in use in the past century or more, but sometimes we forget to use common sense when we are canning and this can lead to mold contamination in our food that we worked so hard to prepare and preserve.

We like to can our own food because we know exactly what chemicals and pesticides are going into it. Most of us do not like the idea of chemicals being put onto our food, even if they are deemed “safe” by the government or FDA. Sometimes the chemicals that they say are safe today are not safe tomorrow. But, mold contamination can be just as dangerous as any pesticide or preservative and there are a few things that you can do as a home canner to prevent this from happening to your canned items.

Make sure that the fruits and vegetables that you are canning are of the best quality from your garden. If they have any bad spots on them, cut these off or simply do not can them. Fruits and vegetables need to be washed and some need to be peeled before you can them. Starting with good quality ingredients is key.

Do not pack the food too tightly into the jars that you will can them in. The food in the center does not get to the high temperature that it needs to in order to kill bacteria and mold spores. You should pack food loosely, with at least a few inches from the top of the jar, depending on the size that you are canning in.

After you fill the jars, put the lids and the bands on. Start processing the food immediately so that mold and bacteria do not have a chance to start growing. If mold spores get into the jar, you might have a problem, because sometimes high temperatures just do not kill mold spores. Make sure any equipment that you use is completely sterile.

If you do happen to find mold growing in a jar after you open it, just throw it away. Foods that have a high amount of moisture are not salvageable when they become contaminated.


Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Miami water damage restoration companies and
mold remediation companies across the united states.

Water Damaged Papers

One of the first things that you need to be concerned with after a hurricane or a flood is the condition of the important documents that reside in your home with your other belongings. These are often the original and only copies of such documents and losing them could cause us at the least some inconveniences and at the most, a good amount of legal trouble. You should know how to protect these documents in case a flood or hurricane or other water-related event ever affects them, but how to restore them should this happen is something else to be aware of.

Any documents should be removed from water before a period of 48 hours is up. This will almost completely insure that mold does not start to grow on these items, since once mold starts to grow on them, they must be thrown away. Mold loves to eat cellulose-based products like paper and cardboard. Lower the humidity in the home as much as you can and the temperature inside should be around 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Opening the windows and doors throughout your house should also help with lowering the humidity and helping with the air circulation, as long as the humidity outside is not higher than it is inside. Air circulation inside the house will also help dry things out.

Remove any standing water from the home and any documents found in it should be removed very carefully and put on a dry, flat surface. This will allow the paper to dry completely, but do not put documents on top of each other to dry. If papers are stapled together, take the staple out carefully and separate the pages.

The documents that are the most important to you and your family should be taken care of first and foremost. This will include items like birth certificates, social security cards, divorce papers, banking information, and warranties on any large appliance in your home. Other valuable information that is printed, but that you may not have stored on electronic media, will also need to be saved. Company presentation materials, a writer’s manuscript, and other valuable items should also be given high priority.

Items that you need to have taken to a freeze dry facility should be packed loosely in freezer paper. Loose leaf papers should be packed in boxes with other loose leaf papers and books should be packed with books. Keep these materials separated. After you get them packed up, make sure all of your contact information appears on the outside of the box.



Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Texas Residential Water Damage Restoration Contractors and
Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states.

Water Damage and Interior Paint

Using waterproof paint to help prevent water damage to the walls and ceilings of your home is an option for most of us. The everyday wear and tear on the interior of our homes comes from all the areas in the home that are moist by nature such as the bathroom, the laundry room, kitchen, and basement. Showering, washing dishes, hot baths, and the steam from cooking all cause the water damage and discoloration of our walls and ceilings, but with waterproof paint, this does not have to be so.

Not only does water discolor the ceiling and cause the paint on your walls to peel, but it can also cause mold to grow in these areas, which introduces a new health risk to the indoor environment. Moisture becomes trapped under a layer of paint that allows it to seep in and mold begins to grow underneath it.

The best places for you to apply waterproof paint if you cannot apply it to the entire home are the areas that are most subject to the exposure of water vapor and steam. These are typically the kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, and your basement. Your bathroom and kitchen are the ones that you should concentrate on first, since every member of your household will have to go into these rooms at least once or twice every single day.

Using a primer that is waterproof and mold resistant is also good to use in these areas. The primer that you use does not have to be mold resistant, but it is definitely a plus. Finding one that is stain resistant is also good, since you will not have to repaint very often.

When it comes to just what kind of paint you need to apply to different things in your home, it depends on what kind of surface you intent on applying it to. A high-gloss paint is typically easy to clean, but if there are any flaws in the surface that you paint with it, they will all show up in perfect detail. Semi-gloss paints have less shine than high-gloss paints do, but these are easier to clean than high-gloss. Eggshell and flat finishes are the easiest to cleanse and these paints are starting to become more widely used since higher quality paints are becoming available in these no-gloss finishes.

Water damage, mold, and stains are all common household problems, but applying waterproof, stain resistant, and mold resistant paints to the moist areas of your home should help prevent a good bit of it.



Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
North Carolina Basement water damage restoration and other states and cities such as
New Jersey Basement water damage restoration companies across the united states.

Water And The Concrete in Your Basement

Most contractors know this, but something most homeowners do not know is that the concrete in their basement is a naturally porous material and that if there is water seeping in the house through it, this is something that should be expected. Well, it should be expected if your basement was not properly waterproofed when your home was first built. The problem with water getting in the basement through the concrete usually lies with the construction of the home and not with the actual concrete itself, since water will eventually seep through any concrete at any thickness.

Keeping a dry basement can be a difficult thing to do if your basement was not waterproofed very well. Sometimes ground water is responsible for getting into the basement through the walls and the only real thing that you can do about this is to have a drainage system installed so that the soil around the house does not become oversaturated.

Checking around outside the home’s foundation is the first thing that you need to do. See if there is any water settling in pockets around the exterior walls of the house and if there is, then one thing that you can do to stop this is piling up more soil in this area to do away with the puddles. Making sure your rain gutters are completely cleared out at all times will help keep the water directed to the downspouts instead of falling down onto the ground next to the base of the house.

Cracks in concrete walls cannot be caulked shut, because the caulking will eventually be worked loose by the water and will peel off. Hydraulic cement will also not work because it does not stick to the concrete very well. Installing cement will not work, either, because cement is a rigid material and the concrete is not. Cement placed inside the cracks will become as loose as the caulking you put in before.

Cracks in the walls can be filled in with a number of different effective materials, but will either bond or not bond depending on if the surface is wet. Expandable polyurethane will work and will bond to the surface whether the surface is wet or dry. This merely creates a waterproof barrier.

An injection of concrete with a caulking gun is an option, but so is an injection of epoxy. Epoxy, however, will not bond to wet surfaces.


Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Connecticut flood water damage restoration and other states and cities such as
South Carolina Sewage Damage Clean-up companies across the united states.

Water And The Concrete in Your Basement

Most contractors know this, but something most homeowners do not know is that the concrete in their basement is a naturally porous material and that if there is water seeping in the house through it, this is something that should be expected. Well, it should be expected if your basement was not properly waterproofed when your home was first built. The problem with water getting in the basement through the concrete usually lies with the construction of the home and not with the actual concrete itself, since water will eventually seep through any concrete at any thickness.

Keeping a dry basement can be a difficult thing to do if your basement was not waterproofed very well. Sometimes ground water is responsible for getting into the basement through the walls and the only real thing that you can do about this is to have a drainage system installed so that the soil around the house does not become oversaturated.

Checking around outside the home’s foundation is the first thing that you need to do. See if there is any water settling in pockets around the exterior walls of the house and if there is, then one thing that you can do to stop this is piling up more soil in this area to do away with the puddles. Making sure your rain gutters are completely cleared out at all times will help keep the water directed to the downspouts instead of falling down onto the ground next to the base of the house.

Cracks in concrete walls cannot be caulked shut, because the caulking will eventually be worked loose by the water and will peel off. Hydraulic cement will also not work because it does not stick to the concrete very well. Installing cement will not work, either, because cement is a rigid material and the concrete is not. Cement placed inside the cracks will become as loose as the caulking you put in before.

Cracks in the walls can be filled in with a number of different effective materials, but will either bond or not bond depending on if the surface is wet. Expandable polyurethane will work and will bond to the surface whether the surface is wet or dry. This merely creates a waterproof barrier.

An injection of concrete with a caulking gun is an option, but so is an injection of epoxy. Epoxy, however, will not bond to wet surfaces.


Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Connecticut flood water damage restoration and other states and cities such as
South Carolina Sewage Damage Clean-up companies across the united states.

Taking Care of Smoke Damaged Clothes

Most clothes that are damaged directly by fire cannot be saved, but those that are damaged only by the soot and ash that is left behind afterward can be if they are taken care of properly. Most often this kind of damage occurs to clothing that is hanging in the closet and becomes engulfed in smoke as the fire ravages another part of the house. Clothes that have soot and ash all over them might not be as difficult as you think that it is, but you still need to take care in the way that you attempt to clean the clothing. Most of this task will be just sorting the clothing into types of fabric and determining when to wash them.

Begin by sorting the clothes by how heavily soiled they are. Lightly soiled items need to be washed first, but they should be shaken out thoroughly first to remove excess soot.

Make piles of clothing and put synthetics with synthetics and organics with organics. Cotton and wool items will be a little more difficult to get the smoke smell out of than synthetic items, but it can be done.

Use as much laundry detergent as the detergent’s manufacturer says to use for every load you need to wash and you should also add one cup of water conditioner. Adding a half a cup of all-fabric bleach will also help. The temperature of the water also matters when washing these soiled clothing items and you should also use the most amount of water that your washer will be able to handle.

Synthetic items should be washed in warm water only in order to stop them from wrinkling when the spin cycle turns on.

All soiled items need to be washed twice and if the soot is still visible, the clothes need to be air dried instead of using the electric dryer. The smoke odor should be gone after they air dry, but if it is not, then the clothes should be aired out outside the house and washed again. Detergents that have perfumes can mask the smell of smoke damage, but after the perfume dissipates, the smell may return.

Chlorinated bleach should not be used on fabric that is organic, because the fabric might have been weakened in certain areas due to the excess heat.

Items that are not subject to dye running, such as very light colors, can be washed in hot water, but this can vary depending on the type of fabric. Look at the clothing tag and see what the care directions say.




Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
New York water damage restoration and other states and cities such as
New York Basement Water Removal companies across the united states.

Sump Pumps in Wet Basements

Having a wet basement due to a flood, hurricane, or ground water seeping in is at the very least an inconvenience to most homeowners and at the most, it can lead to serious structural damage that can cost thousands to fix. No matter what you use your basement for, you probably have a lot of important things down there that you either use all the time or are simply in storage to be taken care of at a later date.

The best thing that you can do to prevent having a wet basement is to keep a properly functioning sump pump in it so that the water that builds up in the lowest portion of the basement is pumped out when it reaches a certain level. The pump directs the water to a drain that carries it outside and away from your home’s foundation. This makes sure that the rest of the basement does not become flooded with water.

Keeping an eye on your sump pump and making sure that it working correctly is essential if you want to keep a dry basement. After all, the pump cannot do all the work on its own. It can pump the water out of the basement during heavy rains and floods, but keeping it maintained is your job. Check the float inside the tank and make sure that it is working right by pouring a large amount of water into it. The float should rise to the top, cause the pump to turn on, the water will drain out, and the float will trigger the pump to turn off when it gets to the bottom of the tank. This is how the pump behaves when it is working properly.

Having a backup pump is also a good idea and a lot of times the backup tends to be a water pressure powered one and this will come from the water system in your house. If the electricity flips off during a storm, the backup pump that does not require electricity will take care of the water flooding into your basement.

You should also consider what kind of pump you need to install in your home. Cast iron pumps will last much longer than the plastic ones, but they do come at a higher cost.

Submersible sump pumps are something else you might want to think about. These are designed to work while under water, but these are quieter and tend to last longer than other types.



Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Connecticut water damage contractors and other states and cities such as
Chicago mold remediation companies across the united states.