Lightning Restoration

Mold is ubiquitous. You will be hard-pressed to find any place that does not have some levels of mold present. In Florida, one of the costs of living in a beautiful, tropical environment is high mold levels outside.

However, most people do not have any adverse health reactions from being exposed outside. For that reason, some people assume that if they are fine outside that they should be fine indoors.

This can cause more people to tolerate high mold levels inside and suffer from the adverse effects.

The indoor environment is much different than the outside. There are molds that are dominated outdoors but can be a dominate species inside. These tend to be the same molds that are the more toxigenic species, such as Stachybotrys and Chaetomium.

Indoors, these are molds that need sustained moisture for a long period of time before germinating. They are also heavy and sticky molds, so they are not easily aerosolized which is the reason that they are not a dominate mold outside.

However, inside they can do a lot of damage both to other mold colonies and to the human occupants.

Another factor that helps molds thrive indoors is that they are in a confined space. Mold growth outside tends to disperse spores when released into the air. People in the area are not exposed to high concentrations, because of the broad disbursement.

When molds grow inside, the spore release is trapped and build up to high concentrations rarely ever seen outdoors.

One last factor to keep in mind is that homes are essentially a delicious smorgasbord for mold.

Mold is on this planet to eat away dead, organic material. This includes drywall paper, wall framing, wood cabinets, leather sofas and clothes, etc.

Add moisture to the mix, including high humidity, and the mold will grow, eat, and produce more mold. If you suspect that you have elevated mold in your home or office, call Lightning Restoration today. There is no charge for our initial evaluation.