White Mold On Furniture
In moist conditions, white mold can grow on wood, upholstered, and leather furniture. Over time, the mold fungus can lower the furnitures value and make it give off an awful, musty smell. However, you should detect the factors stimulating this growth so you can protect your family against dangerous allergens.
First, it could be due to the furniture being enclosed, damp storage for a long time before taking it out. But if a piece of furniture suddenly starts to grow white mold, examine the surrounding areas that may likely introduce moisture to the furniture.
When floorboards, windows, and ceilings have cracks and leaks, they can turn furniture humid. These thus encourage white mold to start growing on the piece of furniture.
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White Mold In Bathroom
White mold in your bathroom can be unsightly, bringing in health risks to homeowners. Not sure whether white mold is in your bathroom? Check your ceiling the painted or wallpapered walls, caulk, and tile grout. These are the most common places where you can find mold fungus developing in your bathroom.
The bathroom has the perfect humid and temperature conditions for mold growth. Leaky plumbing pipes, sinks, and toilets can encourage fungus growth. Also, the absence of ventilation can cause lingering moisture. Considering the well-being of your household, you need to get rid of the white mold fungi as soon as you spot them.
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If You Buy The Home And There Is Mold
If there is a small amount, you can take a spray bottle with ½ vinegar and ½ baking soda and mix it together. Spray this on the mold, let it soak, and wipe it away. You dont want to use bleach as it is not safe to breathe in. If the area is larger than 3×3, you may want to talk to the GC and see if there is warranty coverage. If not, you may be paying for the remediation.
What Is The Difference Between White Mold And Black Mold
Black mold is one of the most well known mold species because its the most harmful of all the molds found in indoor environments. It is typically greenish-black in colour, which makes it easy to distinguish, especially when found growing in areas of high moisture. Black mold is considered highly toxic mold and poses terrible health risks.
On the other hand, white mold is a powdery, stringy, flakey, or filmy substance that can change colour or remain white, making it difficult to identify. Generally speaking, white molds present less health risks than black mold.
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Why Should I Be Concerned
One of the easiest places for mold to grow is in your crawl space since it doesnt necessarily require sunlight to grow. In fact, the major factor that mold needs for growth is moisture.
Mold can result in a negative impact on your health and continued exposure to crawl space mold can lead to a range of health issues.
The air from your crawl space finds its way into your house and circulates. Since heat rises, warmer air rises which then brings along with it various particles. Some of these particles are crawl space mold. Therefore, spending time in a place with mold present such as your crawl space is a potential cause of ill health.
If you do have a serious mold issue, it is very important to both the health of your crawl space and the rest of your home to get it removed and remediated so that it does not return.
Mold in the crawl space is very common in high humid areas. Wood rot fungus in the crawl space should not be ignored because every minute of every day it eats more and more of your joists and subfloor.
Each year mold destroys more wood than all the fires and termites combined.
White Mold: Is It Dangerous & How To Remove It
White mold is lesser-known but still an incredibly dangerous species of mold to deal with. If youre ever unsure of what type you have, calling in certified professionals to perform mold testing services immediately is important. With that said, weve learned quite a bit about white mold in our many years of mold inspection and removal. Heres all you need to know and more!
Mold is a naturally occurring fungi, much like mushrooms and yeast. Hundreds of species of mold can be found in both indoor and outdoor environments. While many of these species are perfectly safe, others can be hazardous to your health, especially when they grow inside your home.
While most people tend to focus on black mold, also known as Stachybotrys, only a few are concerned about white mold growing within a building or home. However, white mold can also be very dangerous and should be dealt with as soon as possible.
In this article, we will outline the best ways to identify white mold in your home and remove it safely.
Contents
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What Causes Yellow Mold
Like other kinds of mold, yellow mold spreads by releasing spores into the air. These spores can then start new mold colonies anywhere they find these key ingredients:
- Organic matter to feed on
- The right temperature
Depending on the particular species of mold, warmer or cooler parts of your home may provide the ideal environment for a yellow mold infestation to take root. For more information on this topic, see our article on Causes of Mold.
Wood Rot Fungus Affecting Your Home
The effect wood decay fungus has on the home is more than just a few rotten boards in the crawl space. It can damage door jambs, rim joists, sill plates, roof decking and window sills. When water is trapped against wood, like between crawl space sub-floor and floor joist insulation, its damage is magnified greatly. Floor joist and sub-floor insulation can trap plumbing leaks and high humidity and create a hotbed for wood rot fungus. This is why we recommend the Ninja Crawl Space Encapsulation System to ensure sub-floors are kept dry.
4.1 Damaging Floor Joists and Sub-floors
In most cases, your entire home rests on a few square feet of wood. The floor joists are holding up the sub-floor, so if they become brittle and break from wood rot, it can impact your floors, walls, doors, and roof. A bigger issue comes when the sill plate and rim joists are damaged by wood decay fungus and need to be repaired.
The floor joists and sub-floor tend to be a little easier to get to and repair if needed. The outside of the home covering the rim joists and sill plate may need to be removed to repair wood rot damage. Plus, the sill plate can become flattened and the entire home sink causing a major structural problem which includes jacking of sections of the home to repair. The crawl space encapsulation costs pail in comparison to reconstructing the wood around the perimeter of the crawl space.
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Eliminating Moisture To Prevent Wood Fungus
The wood fungus that causes dry rot thrives on wood fibers, but it also needs moisture to survive. Clemson University advises that the first step in treating it is to find out where the moisture is coming from. There may be a roof, wall or plumbing leak or a combination of high humidity and poor venting that is causing condensation to collect. It’s also possible that the wood is too close to the concrete foundation or that the lumber company didn’t dry it enough before selling it. After you’ve tracked down and addressed the cause of the moisture, the wood may need several weeks to dry out completely.
What Help Is Provided
The procedure may seem complex at first glance, but the help provided can be invaluable, literally. The subsidy granted by SHQ covers 75% of the recognized cost of the work, up to $75,000 when the losses in your building are partial, and up to $100,000 per eligible building in the case of a demolition and reconstruction .
Moreover, the Société dhabitation du Québec will fully cover expenses related to the contamination assessment report, the technical specifications and any professional fees in case additional expertise was required.
To find out more, visit the SHQ website. Our indoor environmental professionals are also at your disposal if you need more information about dry rot removal.
Get Special Gift: Industry-Standard Mold Removal Guidelines
Download the industry-standard guidelines that Mold Busters use in their own mold removal services, including news, tips and special offers:
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Removing Fungus From A Crawlspace
Identify the areas that are infected with fungus as well as the potential source for increased moisture levels. Simply cleaning the fungus without addressing the moisture source will guarantee that the fungus will return and will need to be removed again. Prepare to deal with the moisture source in advance so that you can knock out the fungus in one punch. A vented crawlspace may need to be sealed, according to Inspectapedia.com, due to vents actually increasing the amount of moisture in a crawlspace. Also, while the crawlspace is being worked on, openings to living areas should remain closed as much as possible to keep spores from spreading.
Test fungus samples. Certain cosmetic funguses are not dangerous and do not need to be addressed. However, if the moisture source is unchecked, then more serious types of fungi have the potential to develop. Taking samples to a professional will help to determine whether or not the fungus is potentially hazardous.
Put on all safety equipment, including respirator and gloves, before entering the crawl space so that you do not inhale fungal spores or get contaminated by the cleaning chemicals.
Rinse the surfaces with clean water and a sponge. Dry the area thoroughly with a clean towel. Since moisture is one of the main sources of fungal growth, leaving behind a wet, moist environment after cleaning negates the purpose of cleaning and removing the fungus. Keeping the environment clean and dry will help to prevent future fungal growth.
Health Effects That May Be Caused By Inhaling Wood Destroying Fungus Or Wood Destroying Fungus Spores
Inhalation exposure to Wood Destroying Fungus indoors can cause adverse health effects in some people. Wood Destroying Fungus produce allergens , irritants, and in some cases, potentially toxic substances or chemicals . Inhaling or touching Wood Destroying Fungus or Wood Destroying Fungus spores may cause allergic reactions in sensitive individuals. Wood Destroying Fungus does not have to be alive to cause an allergic reaction. Dead or alive, Wood Destroying Fungus can cause allergic reactions in some people.
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Mycotoxins And Health Effects
As wood destroying fungi grow, some of them produce potentially toxic by-products called mycotoxins under some conditions. Some of these are commonly found in moisture-damaged building. More than 200 mycotoxins from common fungi have been identified, and more remain to be identified. The amount and types of mycotoxins produced by a particular fungi depends on many environmental and genetic factors. No one can tell whether a it is producing mycotoxins just by looking at it. Some mycotoxins are known to affect people, but for many mycotoxins little health information is available. Research on mycotoxins is ongoing. Exposure to mycotoxins can occur from inhalation, ingestion, and skin contact. It is prudent to avoid unnecessary inhalation exposure.
For more information on mycotoxins, see the 2004 Institute of Medicine Report, “Damp Indoor Spaces and Health”, published by The National Academies Press in Washington, DC, and available on the Web.
White Mold In Your Car
Even though your car isnt technically your home, it is still one of the more common places we have found white mold. The truth is that moisture can easily make its way into your car, whether through the air conditioner, a poorly sealed window, door or sunroof, a spill, or simply an open window. Once mold has started growing inside your car, it can quickly spread onto upholstery, carpeting, and seatsultimately destroying your vehicle. And if mold has gotten inside your cars air conditioner, it will circulate through the air and expose you to potentially toxic mold spores. The best indication that your car has mold is white spots or an earthy odour.
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Is Yellow Mold Dangerous And Toxic
Some species of yellow mold produce poisons called mycotoxins. These poisons can enter the body through breathing in spores from yellow mold in the home, through the skin by touching yellow mold, or otherwise ingesting the toxin. There are many types of mycotoxin, and illnesses resulting from mycotoxin poisoning can vary from acute to chronic, mild to severe.
You might be familiar with toxic black mold that is notorious for producing these harmful mycotoxins, but some yellow mold can produce it too. Therefore, if you find yellow mold in your household, its important to eradicate it right away.
Inspecting For Wood Rot Fungus
Molds are microscopic until the fruiting body becomes visible like a mushroom or visible wood rot as seen in the picture above. This is why you detect mold first with your nose. A musty or damp smell may be an early indication of a problem, but if ignored and it can become a huge problem.
Crawl Space Ninja offers free inspections and quotes to homeowners in many areas of the country. We do this by providing a visual inspection, humidity readings plus wood moisture readings to determine if your crawl space is at risk of wood-decaying fungus. We are currently operating in Delaware, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, parts of Alabama, South Carolina, and North Carolina. You can see our up-to-date territories here.
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The Answer You Have To Your Crawl Space Issues
Think about this if you take action now, then you can protect your home from a myriad of problems that can be caused with moisture entering your crawl space. Everything from dangerous mold that could potentially kill you to the pests that invade to make their home your home and literally eat you out of house and home. Not to mention the fungus that also attracts those pests. A Crawl Space encapsulation when installed properly after any potential mold is dealt with, will protect your home for years to come.
Watch this video below to see how a free inspection could give you the intelligence you need to take action. Call Scouts Pest Control now and protect your greatest asset.
References On Poria Identification Properties Damage Prevention
- Verrall, Arthur Frederic. PORIA INCRASSATA ROT: PREVENTION AND CONTROL IN BUILDINGS. No. 1385. US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 1968. Available as a free eBook courtesy of Google, at https://play.google.com/ books/ reader?id=YaMoAAAAYAAJ& hl=en& pg=GBS.PA1 This bulletin reviews the literature on Poria incrassata and summarizes 30 years of experience with its control in the South. … The water – conducting or building Poria was first described as Merulius incrassatus by Berkley and Curtis in 1849 from a sporophore on a pine stump in South Carolina.
- Miller, Dini, SIGNS of SUBTERRANEAN TERMITE INFESTATION Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Tech / Virginia State University, retrieved 2020/11/23 original source: https://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/444/444-501/444-501.html
- Money, Nicholas, P. PLAGUES UPON HOUSES AND CARS: THE UNNATURAL HISTORY OF MERULIPORIA GEOFF GADD is Professor of Microbiology and Head of the Division of Environmental and Applied Biology at the University of Dundee.: 289. Department of Botany, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio
- Royes, Joy, and A. R. Loveless. “Poria carbonacea Cooke as a cause of timber rot in Jamaica.” Transactions of the British Mycological Society 43, no. 3 : 571-577.
Prevention: of Poria Fungus Damage in Buildings
Our list of building construction & maintenance details that reduce the chances of a building being attacked by Poria or by termites has been moved
Poria or Meruliporia and Termites
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A Perfect Environment For Wood
Wood-decay fungus is a living organism, and it must have the triangle of life to survive. Im referring to shelter, water, and food. Inside a crawlspace, these living organisms have everything they need to survive, grow, and develop. The crawlspace environment is dark, protecting the organisms from sunlight that would dry them up and wind that would blow them away. The crawlspace is a moist environment, and the wooden members provide the food source that wood-decay fungus feeds on.
Wood-decay fungus spores are so tiny that most of the time they cannot be seen floating around in the air. These spores are like seeds, and when they come in contact with an organic substrate like wood, they will attach and start to germinate under the right conditions. Early in their development as growing spores on the wood surface, you may see them with a magnifying glass, and eventually later in their development you can see them with the naked eye. These growing spores appear like mushroom caps on the surface of the wood.
