How Do I Prevent Mold?

This is a very common question among homeowners. Concerns for fungal growth or mold often arise when an unfamiliar odor is noticed or a small leak occurs, and at that time one starts to investigate how to prevent the growth from occurring! I am often asked if there is a special treatment or construction product that can be used to prevent fungal growth in the home. While there are products on the market that are resistant or retard growth, there are even simpler solutions to prevention.

Before even looking at how to prevent fungal growth, what must first be understood is whether mold is ubiquitous to the environment. No matter what we do, we cannot keep mold spores from being in the air! It is the nature of our world and part of the air we breathe. With the understanding that these spores are everywhere, we can look at how to stop them from growing. In order for fungal growth to occur, there are four items that need to be present; removal of any of the four will prevent growth:

1. Mold Spores
Common sense would prompt the thought that for if spores are everywhere, then why even discuss this? Of course, spores are one of the four items that are required for growth, and there is little that can be done to prevent them from being in the air. What should be understood is that if you have some growth in the home, remove it - you don’t want to increase the number of spores that are there. I have had several individuals ask if they could just leave the mold growth if they removed one of the other three items required for growth; the answer is no. If you leave the growth, you have left spores on the surface; if you reintroduce optimum conditions for growth, you have just created a bigger problem because there are more spores present than under normal conditions. The bottom line is that you can do little to prevent the number of spores in the home; however, if you have growth, no matter how little, remove it before you just create a bigger problem if the conditions that are conducive to growth become favorable.

2. Temperature
This is the one item that is hard to control, and in all actuality, you really can’t. Though there are some species of mold that like to grow outside of our comfortable temperature range for living, many grow in the same temperature range that we like to inhabit, so there is not much that we can do. I am often asked if someone can cool or heat a home to help with the growth. There is some possibility to this, but often the range that inhibits (or prohibits) growth is out of our comfort range, so this is difficult to do.

3. Nutrition Source
Like all living organisms, fungus needs something to "eat" to grow. This comes down to organic material, which is often drywall paper and wood in our homes. Things that are not organic and will not support fungal growth for the most part are bricks, stones, and fiberglass. These objects do not have nutritional value for the fungal growth, and for the most part will not support it. However, dust and dirt collected on these items can have nutritional value, so there can be an exception to this rule. If we build our homes primarily out of material that supports growth, how do we eliminate this item? For the most part, we can’t, but this is where all the new materials on the market can help, such as fungal-resistant wall board and the variety of products that have Microban as a component. We can limit the nutritional value in the products we use, but again, this is something that comes along with the construction of the home, so it is less of a preventative measure in older homes.

4. Moisture
This is the most preventable of the four items in preventing fungal growth from ever occurring. Stop the moisture in the home! If you have a water leak, correct it and dry out the area. If you have water intrusion through your basement wall, stop it. Plain and simple, keep your home dry. Most homeowners understand this and do well with stopping the large water intrusions. Some of us could do a little better at doing maintenance inspections to find leaks, but again, for the most part, active leaks are typically corrected. Sometimes catastrophic damage occurs from a water line breaking or when piece of equipment malfunctions, such as a dishwasher. This cannot always be prevented, but there are items on the market that can help reduce the likelihood of the damage being significant, as well as good practices with preventive maintenance.

The one moisture source that most homeowners overlook is humidity. We all know how high humidity affects us, especially in the south, but mold likes a relative humidity above 60%. If your air conditioner is not properly operating and removing the moisture from the air in the summertime, or even in some cases putting more moisture into the air, you can have a mold problem without ever having water damage. The solution to this is to monitor your relative humidity and make sure the air conditioner is functioning properly.


Install a Radiant Barrier

A radiant barrier in your attic does not add to the insulation value of the attic, but it does help manage radiant heat. Radiant heat is the warmth we feel when standing in the sunlight. In the summertime, we want to keep this out, and in the wintertime we want to keep it in. Depending on the installation of the barrier, you can achieve both of these functions and reduce the heating and cooling cost of the home.