We want our bathrooms to stay as clean as possible and the idea of something unsanitary such as mold living in it is a little gross to most of us. Bacteria is bad enough, but when you start thinking about the fact that fungi might be growing in what’s supposed to be one of the cleanest places in your home, you tend to wonder what you can do to prevent it from happening to you. How can you do that? Here are a few tips.
Don’t put carpet in your bathroom. If your toilet overflows, having carpet at its base will prevent you from being able to soak up all the water and if it isn’t cleaned up properly and is allowed to dry naturally, mold can start to grow within 48 hours. The best kind of floor to have in the bathroom is a tile one and caulking around the bathtub and walls will make sure the water can’t escape into the wood behind it.
One of the most important purchases you can make if you buy an older home is a bathroom vent that will allow steam and warm air to escape outside into the atmosphere instead of collecting and causing condensation on your ceiling. The sheetrock on your ceiling will absorb this condensation and become water damaged over time if the steam from your shower or bath has nowhere to go. If you don’t have a vent like this installed in your bathroom, it will save you money to have one installed as quickly as you can gather the funds to do so.
Throwing wet or damp towels and rags into your bathroom closet and leaving them in contact with the floor, even if you do have a tile one, will cause mold to grow if they’re not removed regularly. It’s best to use a clothes hamper or something else to put the clothes into besides just leaving them on the floor. Dirty clothes baskets or bins should be emptied often, at least every two days. Even if they’re in a bin instead of on the floor, mold can still start to grow.
If you discover mold growing anywhere in your bathroom on the sheetrock or around the floor, it’s best to assume that the mold is also growing inside the wall, ceiling, or floor. Most of these building materials will need to be replaced as soon as possible.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Miami Residential Water Damage Restoration Contractors and
Orlando water Damage companies.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Employees, Tenants, and Mold
As if mold invading our homes wasn’t enough, it also invades other buildings such as the places where we work. Anyone who owns a rental property or hires employees to work in a building that he or she owns must ensure that the building is free and clear of mold infestations not only because this can cause significant structural damage, but because they can be held legally liable for any and all medical bills associated with mold health complications resulting from working in a mold infested environment.
The list of health complications that can be blamed on mold are almost endless. You’d have a better chance of picking a winning roulette number than you would of guessing the health effect(s) mold will cause in you. You can become sick with anything from chronic dandruff, skin rashes, to bleeding in your lungs and aspergilloma (fungus balls that grow in cavities within the body). The list of conditions caused by or aggravated by mold is longer than can be listed here. What can employers and landlords do to ensure the safety of their workers and tenants?
First of all, take the claims that mold exist on the property seriously. Check out the areas where your workers or tenants claim mold exist yourself and if you see even the slightest evidence that they could be right, you should be quick to have a professional test for mold. If the test comes back as positive, you’re required to inform your workers that mold exists on the property and when remediation of it will begin and a general idea of when it will be concluded. As soon as the property has had the mold removed, you need to have another test done to prove that the mold is gone. Getting your employees back to work and your tenants back in their rental as soon as you can will restart your cash flow.
You should encourage any of your employees that suffer health effects that could be attributed to the mold in your workplace or your rental property to see a doctor. Any mold infestation that you detect should be dealt with as quickly as possible because you can be held responsible for more than just their medical bills associated with the mold. If they’re your tenants, you can also be held responsible for their relocation bills and moving expenses.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
mold removal in Atlanta Georgia and
Water Damage Restoration companies.
The list of health complications that can be blamed on mold are almost endless. You’d have a better chance of picking a winning roulette number than you would of guessing the health effect(s) mold will cause in you. You can become sick with anything from chronic dandruff, skin rashes, to bleeding in your lungs and aspergilloma (fungus balls that grow in cavities within the body). The list of conditions caused by or aggravated by mold is longer than can be listed here. What can employers and landlords do to ensure the safety of their workers and tenants?
First of all, take the claims that mold exist on the property seriously. Check out the areas where your workers or tenants claim mold exist yourself and if you see even the slightest evidence that they could be right, you should be quick to have a professional test for mold. If the test comes back as positive, you’re required to inform your workers that mold exists on the property and when remediation of it will begin and a general idea of when it will be concluded. As soon as the property has had the mold removed, you need to have another test done to prove that the mold is gone. Getting your employees back to work and your tenants back in their rental as soon as you can will restart your cash flow.
You should encourage any of your employees that suffer health effects that could be attributed to the mold in your workplace or your rental property to see a doctor. Any mold infestation that you detect should be dealt with as quickly as possible because you can be held responsible for more than just their medical bills associated with the mold. If they’re your tenants, you can also be held responsible for their relocation bills and moving expenses.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
mold removal in Atlanta Georgia and
Water Damage Restoration companies.
Blastomycoses and Your Pet’s Health
Blastomyces dermatitidis or “Blasto” as it is sometimes called is a very harmful kind of mold that can cause your pet to become seriously ill. It can cause pneumonia and other respiratory infections in humans, dogs, and sometimes cats. The infections have also been known to spread and infect other parts of the body. It is a naturally occurring part of our environment, especially the outdoors, and the most common kinds of dog that become infected with blasto are hunting or sporting dogs. Any dog that spends a lot of time outdoors is at a higher risk of being infected than a dog that stays indoors often, unless the indoor environment has a mold infestation.
Mold spores can be taken into the body either by inhaling them or by allowing them to enter the body through a break in the skin, such as when a person or animal comes into contact with soil contaminated by the mold. Mold, when it enters the body and is heated to body temperature, becomes yeast. While some of us might be concerned about catching this from their dog or cat, the yeast form of the mold is not contagious and if you have a pet that is exhibiting signs of a blasto infection, you shouldn’t worry about contracting it.
There are three different kinds of blastomycosis and these are respiratory, disseminated, and cutaneous. Much of the time all three of these conditions appear in the same animal or person at the same time. The cutaneous version can appear as skin lesions on the body and these lesions can be caused by the mold spores going into the body through a cut or other sore and are characterized by itchiness. They are also typically wet and if left untreated, can do a lot of damage to surrounding tissue and bone.
The most serious form of blastomycosis (and unfortunately, the most common kind) is pneumonia. The treatment for this is usually expensive and it can take up to six months to clear up the infection, so it’s important to catch this disease as early as you can. If you suspect that your dog might be sick with pneumonia (watch for coughing), take him to your veterinarian immediately and have a physical done. Sometimes these infections are misdiagnosed and receive antibiotics instead of the antifungal medication that it needs. It might be diagnosed as blasto too late, especially if the case involves pneumonia.
Blasto yeast cells can be identified if sores on the skin, if they exist, are swabbed and the contents of that swab looked at under a microscope. Extracting fluids from lymph nodes with a needle can be another option.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Water Damage Miami and
water damage restoration in atlanta companies.
Mold spores can be taken into the body either by inhaling them or by allowing them to enter the body through a break in the skin, such as when a person or animal comes into contact with soil contaminated by the mold. Mold, when it enters the body and is heated to body temperature, becomes yeast. While some of us might be concerned about catching this from their dog or cat, the yeast form of the mold is not contagious and if you have a pet that is exhibiting signs of a blasto infection, you shouldn’t worry about contracting it.
There are three different kinds of blastomycosis and these are respiratory, disseminated, and cutaneous. Much of the time all three of these conditions appear in the same animal or person at the same time. The cutaneous version can appear as skin lesions on the body and these lesions can be caused by the mold spores going into the body through a cut or other sore and are characterized by itchiness. They are also typically wet and if left untreated, can do a lot of damage to surrounding tissue and bone.
The most serious form of blastomycosis (and unfortunately, the most common kind) is pneumonia. The treatment for this is usually expensive and it can take up to six months to clear up the infection, so it’s important to catch this disease as early as you can. If you suspect that your dog might be sick with pneumonia (watch for coughing), take him to your veterinarian immediately and have a physical done. Sometimes these infections are misdiagnosed and receive antibiotics instead of the antifungal medication that it needs. It might be diagnosed as blasto too late, especially if the case involves pneumonia.
Blasto yeast cells can be identified if sores on the skin, if they exist, are swabbed and the contents of that swab looked at under a microscope. Extracting fluids from lymph nodes with a needle can be another option.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Water Damage Miami and
water damage restoration in atlanta companies.
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