After spending a long day at work, two of the first things people do when they get home are eating and bathing. No matter what social class you belong to, this is a pretty normal routine and most people expect their kitchens and bathrooms to be clean, but we all know that this usually is not the case unless there is a maid in the home. One of the worst things that you can find in your bathroom or kitchen, though, is mold. Dirty laundry or an un-mopped floor cannot hold a candle to the problem that mold can present to your home and to your family. There are some things that you can do to prevent mold, though.
If you have carpet in your bathroom, have it taken up and tile put down under it if there is not any. The toilet or the bathtub will eventually overflow and if you do not get it soaked up with towels or by any other means as soon as possible, your carpet will absorb all this water and so will the floor underneath it. If you have tile under the carpet, you are a little better off, but it is still a bad idea to have carpet in the bathroom.
One thing that you should have in both the bathroom and the kitchen is a vent to allow steam to escape the room while bathing, showering, or cooking on the stove. Boiling water or just generally cooking anything will give off steam into the air and this will stick to your cabinets, wall, and ceiling.
If you have wet rags or towels from the kitchen or the bathroom, it is not a good idea to just throw them into the closest dirty laundry closet and just leave them there. If left there for more than 24 hours, mold can start to grow. Avoid this by using a plastic laundry basket for these items and washing whatever is in it regularly. Putting them in the basket will help prevent mold from growing on your floor or walls, but it will not stop mold from growing on the clothes in the basket if you leave it there long enough.
Mold is also a problem with produce like fruit and vegetables. These should be refrigerated if you have the room and if you find mold growing on anything, it should be thrown away immediately before it has a chance to contaminate anything next to it.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
New York flood water damage restoration and other states and cities such as
South Carolina mold remediation companies across the united states.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Monday, September 10, 2007
Natural Ways To Kill Mold
If you are a person that likes to use organic products and remedies, then using chemically-based mold killers in your home is possibly a taboo subject, but what else can you do? Some people say that we have become far too dependent on chemicals to do what nature can do and they have found some natural ways to kill mold that you might not have thought of before and at least one of them should be readily found in your own kitchen cabinet, even if it is a little smelly.
The most available and cheap way to kill mold without buying a bunch of chemical cleaners is simply white vinegar. This method is pretty simple to use and it does not take a lot of effort to prepare it. Vinegar kills somewhere around 80 percent of the different kinds of mold that will grow in your home and even better, if you spill white vinegar onto your carpet or furniture, there is no risk that it will discolor it. It should kill almost any kind of mold you come across in your home or business and if it does not, you probably have a more serious contamination that you should not be trying to deal with on your own, anyway. The only thing that you will need for this is a spray bottle and a funnel. Pour a sufficient amount of vinegar into the spray bottle and spray it where you find it necessary. The only drawback to this method is that it will be smelly in your house for a few hours. It will go away before the day is over.
Tea tree oil can also kill mold, but it is a bit more expensive than vinegar. You should be able to find it at most health food stores and it will kill a few more kinds of mold than vinegar will. All you have to do with this one is take two teaspoons of tea tree oil and combine it with 2 cups of water. Pour into a spray bottle and spray where you need to. Do not rinse. The shelf life on this mixture is indefinite.
The last say is almost identical to the tea tree oil method. Take about 20 drops of grapefruit seed extract and combine it with 2 cups of water. Put it into a spray bottle and spray where you need to. The good thing about this method is that there is no smell.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
flood water damage restoration New Jersey and and other states such as
Connecticut Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states.
The most available and cheap way to kill mold without buying a bunch of chemical cleaners is simply white vinegar. This method is pretty simple to use and it does not take a lot of effort to prepare it. Vinegar kills somewhere around 80 percent of the different kinds of mold that will grow in your home and even better, if you spill white vinegar onto your carpet or furniture, there is no risk that it will discolor it. It should kill almost any kind of mold you come across in your home or business and if it does not, you probably have a more serious contamination that you should not be trying to deal with on your own, anyway. The only thing that you will need for this is a spray bottle and a funnel. Pour a sufficient amount of vinegar into the spray bottle and spray it where you find it necessary. The only drawback to this method is that it will be smelly in your house for a few hours. It will go away before the day is over.
Tea tree oil can also kill mold, but it is a bit more expensive than vinegar. You should be able to find it at most health food stores and it will kill a few more kinds of mold than vinegar will. All you have to do with this one is take two teaspoons of tea tree oil and combine it with 2 cups of water. Pour into a spray bottle and spray where you need to. Do not rinse. The shelf life on this mixture is indefinite.
The last say is almost identical to the tea tree oil method. Take about 20 drops of grapefruit seed extract and combine it with 2 cups of water. Put it into a spray bottle and spray where you need to. The good thing about this method is that there is no smell.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
flood water damage restoration New Jersey and and other states such as
Connecticut Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states.
Mold in the Ancient World
If you live in an apartment or a home that has been found to be contaminated by mold due to no fault of yours, then you might have a good reason to speak with your landlord about the problem. Some landlords are quick to remedy the problem, but some are not and either try to blame the mold problem on you or they try to say that the mold poses no threat to your health or the health of your family and pets. No matter what they say, if you want to get any benefits from them, you will have to dispute anything that says mold is not a threat to you or that it is your fault. Agree that it is no threat or that it is your fault will get you absolutely nothing.
If you have to, you can even quote the Holy Bible on the fact that mold was considered to be a threat to the health of people and their animals in ancient times. It was common practice to visit a rabbi if you believed that your home was contaminated by mold and if it was found to be so by the priest, then everything in your home was removed and thrown into an “unclean place” far from where any people lived so they would not suffer from the contamination. The house was shut up for 7 days, says the scripture, and after that period of time had passed, the rabbi returned and re-examined the house. If it was still found to be diseased, the entire house was torn down and all building materials were taken also to that same “unclean place”. If you had any clothing that you thought might be infected, you were to take it to the rabbi, as well. If he deemed them unfit, then they were to be thrown to that unclean place, also.
It is also thought that the last plague of Egypt could be attributed to mold-contaminated food that had been stored underground to save it from the plague of locusts. The oldest Egyptian children of that time were given two portions of their meals and would have likely consumed enough of the molded food for it to make them sick at the very least. Jewish children were not afforded this and nor did they consume the same foods that the Egyptians did.
Be careful what you agree to when speaking with your insurance claims adjuster. Even if you are not Christian or Jewish, you can still quote these scriptures as evidence of mold being seen as a “disease” in times long past.
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.floodchicago.info
http://www.damagewatersc.info
If you have to, you can even quote the Holy Bible on the fact that mold was considered to be a threat to the health of people and their animals in ancient times. It was common practice to visit a rabbi if you believed that your home was contaminated by mold and if it was found to be so by the priest, then everything in your home was removed and thrown into an “unclean place” far from where any people lived so they would not suffer from the contamination. The house was shut up for 7 days, says the scripture, and after that period of time had passed, the rabbi returned and re-examined the house. If it was still found to be diseased, the entire house was torn down and all building materials were taken also to that same “unclean place”. If you had any clothing that you thought might be infected, you were to take it to the rabbi, as well. If he deemed them unfit, then they were to be thrown to that unclean place, also.
It is also thought that the last plague of Egypt could be attributed to mold-contaminated food that had been stored underground to save it from the plague of locusts. The oldest Egyptian children of that time were given two portions of their meals and would have likely consumed enough of the molded food for it to make them sick at the very least. Jewish children were not afforded this and nor did they consume the same foods that the Egyptians did.
Be careful what you agree to when speaking with your insurance claims adjuster. Even if you are not Christian or Jewish, you can still quote these scriptures as evidence of mold being seen as a “disease” in times long past.
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.floodchicago.info
http://www.damagewatersc.info
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
