The Three Key Ingredients for Successful Mold Growth

If you’re doing some maintenance around your home or business this spring, you might want to spend a little time looking for mold growth in and around your structure. Mold may begin as a small patch here or there, but can quickly spread throughout your home and cause problems with your building and your health.

Mold is a fungus - it’s part of the fungi kingdom to which yeasts and mushrooms also belong to. But unlike the mushrooms you add to your omelette, household mold is microscopic and can cause a lot of trouble if it’s not dealt with promptly. The root causes of mold are simple to identify - mold can grow when there is moisture, temperature, and food. With the mild spring and plenty of rain we’ve been experiencing, the humidity conditions for mold growth have been exceptional this season.

Moisture is the single most important factor for mold growth - without water, mold will not grow. Our lives produce plenty of water - dripping taps, leaking caulking around the tub, and foundation cracks or poorly waterproofed basements can all let water into your home or building. Once in, if the remaining conditions are right, mold can quickly start to colonize your home and start growing.

Temperature is another important ingredient in mold growth. While some molds can tolerate chillier temperatures, most need a temperature between 4-40° Celsius. With temperature you can also add humidity - mold likes the humidity level in a space to be a touch higher than usual. While in most homes a relative humidity of 40-65% is considered average and comfortable, the everyday activities in your home may be increasing that: drying laundry indoors, using the shower or bath in an unventilated room, and even the outdoor temperature and weather can have an affect on your indoor humidity. Managing your humidity levels and keeping them low can help reduce your risk of mold growth.

Finally, mold needs something to eat! As a fungus, mold gets busy decomposing dead organic material - in the natural world this is an important part of the circle of life, but in your home it could mean trouble. While leaf molds in your lawn put important nutrients back into the soil, mold growing on your drywall or on grandmother’s old couch in the basement may mean extensive repairs or the loss of a family heirloom. If you think that the ten layers of paint or synthetic adhesives mean you’re safe, think again - mold is an ingenious part of the ecosystem and has adapted over thousands of years to be able to survive on even the most inhospitable of materials.

As we head into the hot and humid month of July, if you’ve found some mold (big or small) on your property, it’s worth having a trained professional come out to assess the situation . At MoldTech, we have 10 years of experience in mold removal and remediation and can help you assess the depth of the problem and follow it back to the source, removing both the mold, and offering solutions to preventing it from happening again. Whether the problem is moisture, temperature or a food source, MoldTech can assist you in bringing your home back to 100%.