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Water Mold Fire Restoration, 800-905-0277, understands that the discovery of mold in their homes can sometimes cause terror for the average homeowner. At one time or another, everyone has heard a mold horror story; houses infested with it, family members suffering serious, sometimes life-threatening illnesses. Our certified, knowledgeable, mold remediation specialists are here to help. One thing we can do to help is to make homeowners aware of some of the bad information concerning do-it-yourself mold remedies that can be found on the world-wide-web. Take into account the following scenario:
Uh, Oh, There's Some Mold!
You have discovered mold growing in that dark corner of your basement. The situation doesn’t look too bad. There’s not a lot of mold that you can see. It’s just barely visible on the drywall in the corner.
You think maybe you can save a little money and clean it up yourself by researching mold remedies on the Internet. So-called “experts” will tell you that all you need is some super duper mold cleaning chemicals and you’ll wipe that mold into oblivion. Watch out! You could be concocting a mold cleaning formula for disaster!
You've read somewhere online that some do-it-yourself mold removal "guru" says bleach works well to remove mold. Another so-called "expert" says to use vinegar to kill mold. So you put one and one together and decide to mix up a solution of bleach and vinegar.
Hours later a family member comes looking for you in the basement and they find you on the floor under the laundry tub, on the edge of death! When you mix bleach and vinegar together it creates chlorine gas. Chlorine gas will cause severe eye irritation, bronchitis, vomiting, spitting up blood, or pulmonary edema, a fluid build up in the lungs. Basically, you drown.
Okay, let's go back. You've found that mold but you done a little more online research. It’s not bleach and vinegar you should use, it’s bleach and ammonia. Once again, hours later a family member comes looking for you in the basement and they find you on the floor under the laundry tub, on your hands and knees as sick as a dog! Mixing bleach and ammonia creates toxic chloramines. This stuff will damage your cardiovascular system, your respiratory system, your renal system (kidneys, bladder, urinary tract, etc.), messes up your central nervous system, and weakens your immune system. If you're lucky, you end up in the hospital.
Okay, okay, forget all that mixing stuff! Let's say you decide that all you need to kill that mold is a little chlorine bleach. So you spray the bleach on the mold, wipe it off and, whala! The mold is gone. Great job! You may have coughed a little; you probably just inhaled some of those bleach fumes; probably have a bit of a headache for a day or two. But you saved some money! You think. That is until you come back a few of days later and the moldy area is twice as large as it was before. What the heck happened?
Manufacturers combine chlorine and water to make chlorine bleach. The truth of the matter is, bleach is almost 96% water. The chlorine in the bleach is scientifically designed not to penetrate porous materials, so it did nothing to the mold growing inside the wall cavity. But do you know what part of bleach will penetrate? That’s right, the water. You may have eliminated the surface mold on your wall but at the same time you have “watered” the mold growing inside the wall. And mold loves lots of water and dark corners.
Don't believe everything you read on the internet about home remedies for mold removal. Mold remediation requires specific training, equipment, and chemicals. At Water Mold Fire Restoration, 800-905-0277, our mold removal technicians are nationally certified. They will safely contain, remove, and treat structural components to guarantee the mold is removed from your home, for good! Don't risk the health and wellbeing of yourself and your family by trying to remove mold on your own. Call us or email us at help@watermoldfire.net. Our initial inspection and advice is always free of charge.
