The Mold Risk in Your Home
Mold has
become a significant problem in many homes in recent years, oddly enough due to
improvements in home construction. These new homes are tightly sealed, and as
such allow water and moisture to become trapped, creating the perfect breeding
ground for mold. You can very easily move into a
brand new home that already has a serious pre-existing mold problem.
If there is
good news on the mold front, it’s that while repeated long term exposure to mold spores will eventually cause some
unpleasant side effects, most folks with healthy immune systems can resist the
effects of mold, for a time anyway.
The health
problems commonly associated with mold are wide and varied. Sometimes just
touching mold can be enough to trigger an allergic reaction, as well as disturb
the growth and send hundreds of thousands of mold spores into the air,
spreading them throughout the home. The most common physical problems, skin
rashes, sneezing, coughing, runny noses, and itchy or watery eyes, may be
viewed strictly as allergic problems and mold is never even considered.
Black mold, or Stratobotrysatra, has been
responsible for a number of high profile cases involving long term or permanent
health issues as a result of exposure in mold infected structures.
In 2003,
Bill H.R 1286 was introduced. Known as the United State Toxic Mold Safety and Protection Act. This bill mandated comprehensive research
into the various causes and fixes for mold growth, as well as creating programs
designed to educate people about the danger of mold and provide the necessary
assistance to those affected by mold. The act also provides detailed guidelines
for preventing interior mold growth, establishing standards for mold removal, and provides grants for removal of mold from public buildings. It will also authorize tax credits for the inspection
and remediation of mold problems, and provide insurance
coverage for catastrophic losses due to mold.
