Will Mold Damage My Home?

5/27/2020 (Permalink)

Will Mold Damage My Home?

With the showers and storms of this season in Indiana come potential water damage to your home. Water can seep in through windows, leaky roofs, cracks in the foundation, and through basement walls. If you catch the water damage quickly, the cleanup can sometimes be somewhat easy and fast especially if you have a professional water damage restoration company like SERVPRO of Indianapolis East on the job. 

However, if you don't catch the water damage in time and allow it to sit, mold can quickly grow. In general, mold tends to grow in damp and dark areas. These areas can include basement drywall, carpet padding, carpeting, bathroom grout, ceiling leaks, up in attics, insulation inside walls, and drywall around windows. You can also find mold around leaky dishwashers and washing machines, as well as, around sinks, tubs, and toilets. 

If you find mold growing in your home, it’s usually best to call a mold remediation company like SERVPRO of Indianapolis East. No type of mold is good in the home, but there are types of black mold that can be especially dangerous to one’s health. The experts at SERVPRO will be able to identify the mold and determine the right steps to remediate the mold from your home. They have the tools, equipment, and cleaners to properly and effectively remediate the mold. 

Mold Can Be Dangerous to Your Health and Your Home

While we’ve stated above that mold can be dangerous to one’s health, it can also be dangerous to one’s home. For mold to grow and thrive, it must have food to eat. For mold, food is organic matter like that found in drywall (ceilings and walls), wood flooring, wood subflooring, carpets, carpet pads, fabric curtains, furniture, cardboard storage boxes, clothing, house framing studs, insulation, and more. Basically, mold can eat away and destroy the most porous materials in the home. If left untouched, mold can eat away floors, walls, and ceilings eventually leaving nothing but the concrete foundation of a home. 

Be on the Lookout for Leaks and Mold

It’s always a good idea, especially during the rainy season in Indiana, to check around your home for damp or wet areas from leaks. You want to check around the exterior walls, windows, doors, and ceilings. If you have a basement, check it after a storm to make sure there are no leaks and that your sump pump is operating. Many times, Indiana homeowners discover their basement flooding as a result of their sump pump going out. You can help reduce this risk by installing a battery backup to the sump pump and a flood sensor that will alert you if water starts pooling on your basement floor. This can be especially valuable for those who do not use their basement that often in the first place. By being proactive and catching any water leaks or damage quickly, you can reduce or prevent any damage that mold growth could have caused.

Mold growth that’s hidden usually doesn’t get spotted until it’s spread to a more visible area or in the scenario at the beginning where it’s on the ceiling, will only show once the mold has spread through the drywall on the ceiling causing the visible dark spot on the ceiling. 

Do you have mold growth or water damage in your Indiana Home?

If you find water damage or mold damage in your home, call SERVPRO of Indianapolis East immediately. The water and mold damage restoration experts are available 24/7 for any size emergency. They can remove the water and remediate the mold and help restore the damage to your home quickly. Contact them today if you discover mold growing in your Indianapolis home.