Whether you are attempting a large scale mold remediation in your home or you just want to keep the mold spore level in the air of your home down on a daily basis, items that have HEPA filters in them will go a long way to assisting you in this.
“HEPA” is an acronym standing for “High Efficiency Particulate Air” and it does exactly what the name suggests: it removes 99.9% of particles out of the air in your home, including mold spores, dust, gas, smoke, allergens, and etcetera. You may not realize it, but the air inside your house may be what is making you sick, since breathing air of poor quality can cause all kinds of health problems such as headaches, dizziness, red eye, congestion, fatigue, and can aggravate asthma and other respiratory conditions.
The HEPA filter technology was first developed by the United States Atomic Energy Commission to get rid of radioactive particles in the air. To quality as a real HEPA filter, it must be able to remove 99.97% of any particles that are as small as 0.3 microns. This is equal to about 1/300 of the diameter of one of the hairs on your head. These are usually used in hospitals and in clean rooms of laboratories or anywhere that clean air is important.
There are a few different products that you can purchase to help you breathe better air in your home. These are a HEPA filtered vacuum cleaner and an air purifying system equipped with a HEPA filter. Dyson is one of the most popular brands, but it is also one of the most expensive.
HEPA filtered air purifiers are also quite expensive and most of them cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars. They can also be purchased by how large of an air space that you need to have cleaned. Ionic air purifiers have been competing with these, however, because the ionic purifiers make no noise.
Almost anything with a HEPA filter in it is going to be expensive, but in the end it will probably be worth it, especially if you have small children or elderly people in the house. It will be even more beneficial if you or a member of your house has a respiratory condition like emphysema or asthma. If you are about to take on a large mold remediation project, purchasing a respirator equipped with a HEPA filter may be something that you want to consider, since opening up walls and removing contaminated material will stir up all kinds of particles.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of
Emergency Water Damage Restoration and
Houston Water Damage Restoration Which are Certified IICRC Water damage and mold remediation contractors.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Controlling Humidity to Prevent Mold
There are a number of ways to keep the humidity in your home from building up to a level that it allows mold to grow inside the house. The air in your home should not be made completely dry, however, because both airs that are too dry or too wet can cause you and the other members of your household significant discomfort. Having air that is too dry in your home can cause nosebleeds, but having air that is too wet will allow mold to grow, which in turn can cause some serious health problems.
One thing that you should seriously consider is installing a dehumidifier in your basement, if you have one. This is one of the most difficult areas of your home to keep the humidity down in, so sometimes purchasing a piece of equipment to help is necessary. Other ways to keep the humidity in your basement down are pretty cheap, though, in comparison. If the concrete walls in your basement are leaking, you can usually fix this with an injection of concrete using a caulking gun. Something else that you can do is to install an exhaust fan in the basement to alleviate some of the moisture. If you use the basement to do laundry, one of the worst things that you can do is hang clothes up to dry there, since as the clothes dry out, the moisture evaporates and saturates the air around them.
To keep your house as dry as possible, you need to clean up spills of water as soon as they happen and these spills are most likely to happen in the kitchen or the bathroom. Both of these rooms should have tile installed on the floor that is water tight, so any spills that do occur do not leak water into the sub-flooring. Sub-flooring that keeps getting wet will eventually crumble, leaving your toilet, bathtub, or sink on the ground under the house. Most people have not had to deal with a floor collapse in their home, but water damage or termites are the usual culprits.
Replacing the plumbing in your home can also help with preventing water damage (and thus, excess humidity) in the house. Older homes may have plumbing that needs to be replaced, since these can not only become inefficient due to mineral buildup inside them, but are also more likely to leak. If you notice any discoloration of the drywall in your house near the bathroom, kitchen, or laundry room, you might have a leak behind the wall that needs to be dealt with.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of
Texas Water Damage Restoration and
Houston Water Damage Restoration Which are Certified IICRC Water damage and mold remediation contractors.
One thing that you should seriously consider is installing a dehumidifier in your basement, if you have one. This is one of the most difficult areas of your home to keep the humidity down in, so sometimes purchasing a piece of equipment to help is necessary. Other ways to keep the humidity in your basement down are pretty cheap, though, in comparison. If the concrete walls in your basement are leaking, you can usually fix this with an injection of concrete using a caulking gun. Something else that you can do is to install an exhaust fan in the basement to alleviate some of the moisture. If you use the basement to do laundry, one of the worst things that you can do is hang clothes up to dry there, since as the clothes dry out, the moisture evaporates and saturates the air around them.
To keep your house as dry as possible, you need to clean up spills of water as soon as they happen and these spills are most likely to happen in the kitchen or the bathroom. Both of these rooms should have tile installed on the floor that is water tight, so any spills that do occur do not leak water into the sub-flooring. Sub-flooring that keeps getting wet will eventually crumble, leaving your toilet, bathtub, or sink on the ground under the house. Most people have not had to deal with a floor collapse in their home, but water damage or termites are the usual culprits.
Replacing the plumbing in your home can also help with preventing water damage (and thus, excess humidity) in the house. Older homes may have plumbing that needs to be replaced, since these can not only become inefficient due to mineral buildup inside them, but are also more likely to leak. If you notice any discoloration of the drywall in your house near the bathroom, kitchen, or laundry room, you might have a leak behind the wall that needs to be dealt with.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of
Texas Water Damage Restoration and
Houston Water Damage Restoration Which are Certified IICRC Water damage and mold remediation contractors.
Why You Need a Waterproof Safe
Our lives are often contained in our legal papers and other documents that are important to us, so taking good care of them and keeping track of where they are at all times is pretty important for most people. If it is not important to you, it should be, since losing these items can cause you problems later on. These documents can include anything from a birth certificate to a death certificate and from divorce papers to marriage papers and everything in between. Insurance documents, contracts, bank statements, tax records, and anything else that you can think of that you might need in the legal arena is something that you need to take care of and while this may seem like a daunting task for most people, it really is necessary in order to retain a somewhat organized life.
But, what do you do when a flood strikes your home? The documents that you have done so much to take care of are often flooded along with the rest of your home and depending on the amount of time they stayed in the water, they may not be salvageable. One thing that you can do to protect your most important documents is to purchase a waterproof safe. These can protect your papers in some of the most dilapidated watery conditions in a way that other plastic containers and drawers cannot.
When sewage, chemicals, bacteria, and other things contaminate your home and everything in it, you will want to know that the copy of your homeowner’s insurance policy is safe. Floods are not covered by most insurance policies, but if you have purchased it, you will want to find your copy of the policy as soon as possible after the event occurs. If it is lost in the sea of contaminated items in your home and damaged beyond repair, you may be in trouble. Water damaged papers are difficult to salvage sometimes, but you will not have to worry about this if you have a waterproof safe in your home to hold your most valuable possessions and documents.
Purchasing a safe that is both waterproof and fireproof can be an even better investment. Unlike water damaged documents, fire damaged documents are usually not salvageable, since there is often only a scrap or two of it left after the fire is over.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Orlando water damage restoration companies and
Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states.
But, what do you do when a flood strikes your home? The documents that you have done so much to take care of are often flooded along with the rest of your home and depending on the amount of time they stayed in the water, they may not be salvageable. One thing that you can do to protect your most important documents is to purchase a waterproof safe. These can protect your papers in some of the most dilapidated watery conditions in a way that other plastic containers and drawers cannot.
When sewage, chemicals, bacteria, and other things contaminate your home and everything in it, you will want to know that the copy of your homeowner’s insurance policy is safe. Floods are not covered by most insurance policies, but if you have purchased it, you will want to find your copy of the policy as soon as possible after the event occurs. If it is lost in the sea of contaminated items in your home and damaged beyond repair, you may be in trouble. Water damaged papers are difficult to salvage sometimes, but you will not have to worry about this if you have a waterproof safe in your home to hold your most valuable possessions and documents.
Purchasing a safe that is both waterproof and fireproof can be an even better investment. Unlike water damaged documents, fire damaged documents are usually not salvageable, since there is often only a scrap or two of it left after the fire is over.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Orlando water damage restoration companies and
Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states.
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