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I love my food, but unfortunately, if I do not remember to keep my refrigerator cleaned out regularly, mold loves my food, too.  Often people who have busy lives working and taking care of children cannot remember to clean their refrigerators out as often as they probably need to and since they have more people in the house to feed, there will also be more food.  More food in the refrigerator equals more of an opportunity for bacteria and mold to grow.  This is not typically a problem as long as someone keeps an inventory of what is in the refrigerator and what needs to be thrown away.  You cannot completely keep mold out of your refrigerator because it exists in its spore form in the air that we breathe and unless we are talking about an extremely controlled situation like a hospital clean room, it is truly everywhere.  There is not really any escaping it and while mold can grow in your fridge, you can do things to inhibit its growth rate.

Take anything that is outdated and obviously inedible out of your refrigerator and throw it away.  Cleaning out everything from the refrigerator and setting it aside to go through later is a good idea when you need to clean out the entire refrigerator and sterilize it.  Gather whatever chemicals you might want to use for cleaning the fridge and while this can include bleach, you might want to find another alternative that kills mold and bacteria specifically.  If you only have bleach, though, go ahead and use it; just do not mix bleach with any other household chemicals. 

Wash all the surfaces in the refrigerator with whatever cleaning solution you have decided on, including the racks in the door and the shelves and drawers inside the main part of the unit itself.  Give it a good and thorough scrubbing.  This is probably something that you should consider doing between two and three times a year or possibly more, depending on how messy your fridge gets.

When you are done cleaning the inside of the refrigerator (and the outside, if it needs it), it is time to go through what you took out.  Take anything that you no longer desire and is no longer edible and throw it away.  If any jars have any sticky residue on the bottoms of them, wash these off with a warm rag so you don’t get sticky grape jelly or whatever it is back on the surface of your clean fridge.

Atlanta Water Damage Repair 

In March of 2003, Congressman John Conyers Jr. out of Michigan introduced a bill to Congress called the United States Toxic Mold Safety and Protection Act. 

This Bill says that the Centers for Disease Control and the Environmental Protection agency will be responsible for examining the effects of different kinds of mold on the health of human beings and they will research and develop more accurate results of the serious problems that are presented by the presence of mold in human habitats.

This Bill will also direct the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a certain number of items that will constitute the conditions that will cause mold to grow indoors and will outline what can be done in order to inhibit this growth.  These guidelines will not only address the causes of mold growth and what can be done to prevent it, but also the inspection, testing, and remediation techniques. 

The Bill also says that you could receive tax credits for the inspection and/or removal and remediation of any mold in the home or business.

Grants will be given for the removal of mold in any and all buildings accessible by the public. 

It also will create what it calls a National Toxic Mold Insurance Program that will be administered by FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) in order to protect home and business owners from any crippling financial losses, because most insurance companies do not provide insurance for mold at all or what they do provide is inadequate.

It will also necessitate the modification of building codes in local areas in order to keep the risk of mold infections in newly built homes and other buildings down. 

This bill will also require mold inspections for apartment complexes and any other multi-unit residential property.  Public housing is also subject to these mandatory mold inspections. 

Victims of mold health complications will also be covered by Medicaid if they do not have any other health care in place at the time. 

It has also authorized the establishment of different public information programs that will educate the public about the hazards of mold that is allowed to grow indoors.  It is believed that an educated public is better prepared to defend itself against these hazards.

For more information, please visit http://www.house.gov/conyers/mold.htm .  If you support this bill, please contact your congressman.

 Wet Carpet Drying

One of the most damaging things to a building, especially a residential one, is mold. While there are many kinds of mold and some are good and even used to make certain foods, when it grows inside your home it tends to lead to not only structural damage, but damage to the health of the people living in it as well. Home buyers are becoming more and more aware of the mold problem and wondering what they can do about it not only because of the health consequences of mold, but also of the damage it can do to the value of their home. Here are a few things you can do to help prevent mold from growing in your home.

Ventilating your household properly and in the right places is essential. Mold grows in warm, humid areas of your home that are not properly ventilated. It doesn’t need standing water to grow, only a humidity of over around 65% and if the humidity in the house is kept low enough, mold cannot grow. If you see condensation start to build up on a windowpane inside your house, this can be a sign that the humidity in your home is too high. Keep these areas wiped dry as much as possible until you can determine the best way to keep this from happening. Try a de-humidifier to help solve this problem.

Something else that helps with mold growth prevention is paperless sheetrock. This might be only feasible if you’re planning on building a completely new home, but if you’re doing any heavy remodeling or adding on any new space, paperless sheetrock is best because mold loves to feed on paper.

If you store papers and other items in your basement like cardboard boxes, don’t store them directly in contact with the floor, especially if there’s a chance that they could come into contact with moisture such as leaks around the indoor foundation or a leaky water heater. As stated before, mold eats paper and needs moisture to survive.

Clean up spills and any leaks you find in your home as quickly as possible and if you have a fan in your bathroom that can be used to let heat and steam outside the house, use it while showering. If you can vent the heat from items like clothes dryers and stoves to the outside of the house, do this while they are in use, as well.

Cold surfaces in the home such as pipes, especially in basements, should be insulated so condensation does not form. This not only prevents mold, but also helps to prevent the pipes from rusting.

With some smart actions, preventing mold from growing in your home isn’t just beneficial, it’s easy. The benefits of a mold free home definitely outweigh the cost of going to the small bit of trouble to keep it that way.

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