How Do I Know if I Have Mold in Seattle?

What are signs of mold in your house?

Because they understand the health risks, thinking they might have mold in their home can be a frightening thing to many people. It would seem the solution is relatively easy, just get rid of it – problem solved. Unfortunately, that is easier said than done.

First of all, discovering the presence of mold in your home isn’t as easy as you might think.

Yes, there are times when you can see it, but maybe even more often, there are times when it’s hiding, lurking in places you can’t or seldom look at like back in the dark corners of an under sink cabinet, or in the padding of your carpet or even in your drywall.

Mold is called a Filamentous fungus and is considered a parasite.

Mold can grow anywhere it has a food source (any organic materials), moisture or high humidity, and a little time (if conditions are just right, it doesn’t take much time at all for mold to begin growing).

What are the signs of unseen mold?

Mold smells…mold is considered a microbial volatile organic compound that releases gas while it’s growing which is where its odor comes from. When it is growing in enclosed spaces or in high concentration, the odor is much more noticeable.

If everytime you enter your home or a certain room in your house, you get a whiff of “musty”, chances are good that you have mold.

Keep in mind that in addition to the fact the smell develops slowly over a period of time, because you live in your home and you’re there a great deal of time, you could get used to the odor and not recognize it’s presence.

Health issues are another good indicator that you have mold.

Mold can make you sick…Although mold exposure doesn’t have the same effect on everyone, for some, it doesn’t take a great deal of exposure to cause health problems, especially for infants, the elderly and people who have respiratory or autoimmune disorders.

Some of the symptoms might be:

• Burning, watery or reddened eyes
• Nasal or throat irritations
• Sinus congestion
• Coughing, sneezing, difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
• Chronic headaches

The difficulty using these symptoms as mold indicators is that they are so similar to cold and flu symptoms. If these symptoms persist and don’t go away it’s evidently not a cold.

If you have any indication of mold in your home, give us a call, don’t put your health at risk.

Mold Solutions is a full service mold solutions provider for the Seattle Puget Sound area, Bellevue, Everett, or Tacoma
We can remove the threats to your health and safety caused by mold.