A common misconception in homeowners is that mold growth which is visual to the human eye is the only mold which can cause allergy illnesses. However, the opposite is true as microscopic dead mold particles are responsible for over 99% of mold allergy related illnesses. Dead spores are more likely to become airborne only to be breathed in by persons living in the home.

Mold Should Be Kept Outdoors

Mold particles are everywhere in the outdoor environment and cause poor indoor air quality when they start growing indoors. The combination of mold particle size and the quantity found indoors which leads to mold related allergies.

Each cubic foot of indoor air in a typical home environment will contain millions of particles. Airborne particles found indoors are measured in microns which is a metric unit of measure. Over 98% of all particles of measured indoor air are found to be in the sub-micron size range of 10 microns or less in size. These sub-micron particles are known as "respirable" and are invisible to the naked eye. An adult may breathe in millions of these "respirable" particles found in the typical home environment.This number grows much larger if there is a mold growth problem present.

What Are Indoor Mold Related Illnesses?

Mold related illnesses are health symptoms which have been or can be directly associated to an outbreak of mold contamination in the indoor environment. They may range from mild to serious depending on a number of factors and conditions such as the immune response of an individual living in the home. Persons which have chronic allergies or asthma or more likely to react to molds in the home. Mold related illesses or symptoms may include:

• Allergies
• Asthma
• Coughing
• Skin Rashes
• Upper respiratory difficulties
• Pneumonia

Areas or Situations of Possible Mold Growth

It is important to keep aware of potential mold growth areas if there are young children, eldery, allergy sufferers or asthma sufferers living in the home. Such areas or situations include:

• Refrigerator drip pans
• Air conditioning condensate pans, coils and adjacent duct plenums
• Plumbing leaks
• Roofing leaks
• Humidifiers (centralized or portable)

Perform regular visual checks of these areas at the beginning of each seasonal weather change. The best times are early spring and during summer. It is also important to understand the proper methods for cleaning mold to assure the problems does not re-occur in the future.