We all know mold causes health damage, but one mold in particular called Stachybotrys chartarum can be extremely dangerous. Stachybotrys is the mold that most people think about when they think of “black mold” and for good reason.
Stachybotrys (sometimes called simply “stachy”) grows on water damaged wood and paper, but where it does not grow is plastic, the tiles in our kitchens and bathrooms, and concrete. Wood and water that has gotten wet and allowed to dry that way will become infected with the mold and it will spread to other areas in your house. It requires almost constant moisture in order to grow and thrive. Wet clothing tossed in the backs of closets and forgotten about is often found to have mold growing upon it. Stachy mold is usually a greenish-black, wet, and slimy when found and it requires cellulose products like paper, wood, and cotton in order to grow long term. Although the spores of wet mold do not easily enter the air, if the mold is allowed to dry out, it becomes more of a health hazard.
While stachy mold is not the only kind or even really the most common kind of mold found growing in these conditions, it is still one of the most dangerous kinds of mold to allow in your home or office because it kills brain cells and has similar symptoms to Alzheimer’s Disease. If you or anyone in your home are experiencing disorientation, memory loss, and the inability to think logically at times and are not at the age to be at risk for Alzheimer’s, a test for mold should be done to determine if this is the cause.
Common health complications due to exposure to this mold include asthma, pneumonitis, skin rashes, bloody noses, headaches, and other respiratory problems. Prolonged exposure can cause internal bleeding of the lungs, kidney failure, and liver failure. Pulmonary emphysema can also be caused by prolonged exposure to this and other black molds.
This mold is particularly likely to show up in homes or buildings that have been flooded or extensively water damaged and areas where constant leaks are present, such as water pipes and hot water heaters. Just touching this mold can cause skin rashes and because of the excessive health risks associated with it, it is often recommended that only trained mold removal specialists should be used to remove it from a home or building where it is present.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Connecticut water damage restoration and other states such as
New Jersey Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Protect Your Water Pipes in the Winter
People who are spending their first winter in their new home and have never owned a home before might not think about the kind of damage a burst water pipe can cause. New homeowners don’t often think about this very real problem and it can lead to some very expensive consequences.
Water pipes in the home that are not properly insulated can freeze and burst in the winter if the temperature drops to below 20 degrees. Even a crack that is only one-eighth of an inch can let out over 250 gallons of water each day and the water damage this can cause can potentially be catastrophic. Your floors, clothes, carpet, and personal items will be damaged and as the water dries up and spring returns, it will leave you with a more serious problem. This problem is mold and when water damage to your home isn’t repaired correctly or not repaired at all, it can grow in your home and make your entire family become sick over time. While most insurance policies do not cover mold, water damage is usually covered to some extent. Preventing water damage to your home that is covered can help you prevent the mold damage to your home that isn’t covered and while any kind of water damage can cause this mold to grow, but burst frozen pipes are one of the easiest things to prevent.
One of the first things that you should do during the winter is cover your indoor water pipes with insulation. Where possible, make sure warm air can get to your pipes during a deep freeze. Do this either by opening the cabinets under your kitchen and bathroom sinks or placing a space heater in the room with these pipes. If you’re going to use space heaters, be careful and don’t leave them unattended for long or where they can possibly catch things on fire. Don’t use extension cords with space heaters and keep anything that could catch fire preferably over 5 feet away or you could be facing a fire damage problem instead of water.
Disconnect any garden hoses and make sure cracks in your home’s foundation are sealed so cold air, water, and snow can’t get inside to your pipes. Keeping a small bit of water running through hot and cold water faucets can also mean the difference between a busted and an un-busted pipe.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Houston Fire Damage Water Restoration Contractor companies and
Los Angeles Water Damage and Restoration Services.
Water pipes in the home that are not properly insulated can freeze and burst in the winter if the temperature drops to below 20 degrees. Even a crack that is only one-eighth of an inch can let out over 250 gallons of water each day and the water damage this can cause can potentially be catastrophic. Your floors, clothes, carpet, and personal items will be damaged and as the water dries up and spring returns, it will leave you with a more serious problem. This problem is mold and when water damage to your home isn’t repaired correctly or not repaired at all, it can grow in your home and make your entire family become sick over time. While most insurance policies do not cover mold, water damage is usually covered to some extent. Preventing water damage to your home that is covered can help you prevent the mold damage to your home that isn’t covered and while any kind of water damage can cause this mold to grow, but burst frozen pipes are one of the easiest things to prevent.
One of the first things that you should do during the winter is cover your indoor water pipes with insulation. Where possible, make sure warm air can get to your pipes during a deep freeze. Do this either by opening the cabinets under your kitchen and bathroom sinks or placing a space heater in the room with these pipes. If you’re going to use space heaters, be careful and don’t leave them unattended for long or where they can possibly catch things on fire. Don’t use extension cords with space heaters and keep anything that could catch fire preferably over 5 feet away or you could be facing a fire damage problem instead of water.
Disconnect any garden hoses and make sure cracks in your home’s foundation are sealed so cold air, water, and snow can’t get inside to your pipes. Keeping a small bit of water running through hot and cold water faucets can also mean the difference between a busted and an un-busted pipe.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Houston Fire Damage Water Restoration Contractor companies and
Los Angeles Water Damage and Restoration Services.
Mold: The Benefits We Forget
Although molds growing unchecked can be harmful to human health, molds that are grown in laboratories for specific purposes have been used extensively for many years in order to improve the quality of life.
Penicillin as we know it today was discovered accidentally when Alexander Fleming saw a plate of Staphylococcus aureus had become contaminated by a blue-green mold. He noted that colonies of the bacteria next to the mold were being destroyed by it; he soon after grew a pure culture of the mold and found that penicillin killed not only Staphylococcus, but many other bacteria that cause disease. He named it penicillin, published the results of his experiment in 1929, and the medical community has been using it ever since.
Molds are also used to make different kinds of cheeses, including bleu cheese. Bleu cheese in particular is rumored to have been discovered by accident and since molds are not generally associated with good food, there is good reason for this assumption. Early cheeses were aged inside caves and these places often contained the perfect conditions for mold to grow in.
Without molds, we would have neither bread nor beer and even butchers inject mold into animals before they butcher them for preservation. Aspergillus oryzae is used in Japan to convert the starch in rice into sugar in order to make the traditional alcoholic beverage of sake. Red yeast rice is also made by being cultivated with a mold called Monascus purpureus and was used as a natural food coloring before the discovery of modern chemical food coloring.
Agriculturally, molds also help to decompose different kinds of natural debris such as taking care of the leftovers from forest fires and begin building a base for new plants and trees to grow on. Decaying organic matter is also eaten by mold and thus they are the natural recyclers of the world. If it is organic in origin and needs to be gotten rid of, overtime mold can accomplish this task.
Something most people outside the medical community don’t realize is that if a medicine’s name has the ending of “mycin”, it was made using mold
Mold only becomes a problem if it begins to inhabit the same places that humans and their domesticated animals inhabit. If they remain in a checked status, they do us next to no harm and as shown here, can even provide civilization with many benefits.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
water damage restoration contractors and
Mold Remediation companies across the united states.
Penicillin as we know it today was discovered accidentally when Alexander Fleming saw a plate of Staphylococcus aureus had become contaminated by a blue-green mold. He noted that colonies of the bacteria next to the mold were being destroyed by it; he soon after grew a pure culture of the mold and found that penicillin killed not only Staphylococcus, but many other bacteria that cause disease. He named it penicillin, published the results of his experiment in 1929, and the medical community has been using it ever since.
Molds are also used to make different kinds of cheeses, including bleu cheese. Bleu cheese in particular is rumored to have been discovered by accident and since molds are not generally associated with good food, there is good reason for this assumption. Early cheeses were aged inside caves and these places often contained the perfect conditions for mold to grow in.
Without molds, we would have neither bread nor beer and even butchers inject mold into animals before they butcher them for preservation. Aspergillus oryzae is used in Japan to convert the starch in rice into sugar in order to make the traditional alcoholic beverage of sake. Red yeast rice is also made by being cultivated with a mold called Monascus purpureus and was used as a natural food coloring before the discovery of modern chemical food coloring.
Agriculturally, molds also help to decompose different kinds of natural debris such as taking care of the leftovers from forest fires and begin building a base for new plants and trees to grow on. Decaying organic matter is also eaten by mold and thus they are the natural recyclers of the world. If it is organic in origin and needs to be gotten rid of, overtime mold can accomplish this task.
Something most people outside the medical community don’t realize is that if a medicine’s name has the ending of “mycin”, it was made using mold
Mold only becomes a problem if it begins to inhabit the same places that humans and their domesticated animals inhabit. If they remain in a checked status, they do us next to no harm and as shown here, can even provide civilization with many benefits.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
water damage restoration contractors and
Mold Remediation companies across the united states.
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