No matter what time of year it may be, or how clean you keep your home, there can be a hidden danger, lurking, waiting to strike. It can be growing right now, as we speak, threatening to cause health problems for you and your family. It’s pervasive, invasive, and unwelcome in any home. Often, you don’t even know you have it, and it can be hard to spot, even while damage is being done. What is this hidden menace? Mold, mildew, and common allergens!
Some people are extremely sensitive to common allergens, mold, mildew, bacteria, and other unpleasant things that can develop in your home office, garage, and elsewhere. Others may not be sensitive to these problems, but can, over time, develop serious health issues as a result. In all cases, these hidden dangers should be identified and dealt with, in order to reduce any harm that may come to you or your family members. It’s especially important for those people who have small children, the elderly, or anyone with high sensitivities or depressed immune systems to deal with these problems promptly and professionally, before they have a negative impact on your life.
The best way to ensure that allergens, mold, and mildew in your home is identified, treated, removed, and is less likely to reoccur is to have a professional inspection service conduct tests in your home. In the greater Los Angeles area, FunGuy Inspections is a leading company that performs these tests, and many other related diagnostic and investigative services. They can help identify what is growing in your home, what’s spreading in the air, and – most importantly – how to get it treated, and steps to take so that it won’t happen again.
Common Allergens Found in the Home
Common allergens are one of the most common ill health triggers found in the home. These can be from local sources within the home, such as pet hair/dander, dust, and other irritants. They can also come from sources outside the home, such as air pollution, dust carried by the dry, windy air endemic to our area most of the year, industrial sites, and much more. That’s not including the kinds of pollens that can spread and accumulate, and send sensitive individuals running for allergy treatment. Pests in the home can also leave allergens and health triggers that are often overlooked in lists of allergies and their causes. All of this can spell trouble for you and your family.
The Trouble with Mildew and Moist Environments
Mildew and other bacterial or fungal growths can develop in your home due to excessive moisture. Moist environments are essential for the growth of many microorganisms, and a precursor to mold growth in many cases as well. The rainy season in southern California can particularly be a major trigger of mildew and mold growth in the home. For most of the year, the air tends to be dry in our area, with little if any sources of water to potentially leak into the home (other than leaky pipes and similar problems inside). The rainy season can see a sudden deluge of precipitation, which can make its way inside through a leaky roof, cracked foundation, damaged siding, and many other vectors.
Once in the walls or other dark and undisturbed areas, this moisture creates the perfect environment for mildew and mold growth. Before you know it, hidden in your walls can be a veritable zoo of harmful microorganisms, many of which give off spores or other byproducts that can cause ill health effects, and even damage the structure of your home. Identification and treatment is essential, as is stopping future moisture from getting into your home. FunGuy Inspections can help identify what may be growing – even in places you can’t see, and set you on the path to removal and elimination of those threats.
So how do you identify allergens in the home? FunGuy Inspections uses the latest equipment and techniques to detect the concentrations of numerous common allergens, which is the first step towards figuring out where they are coming from, and putting a stop to them in your home. Whether from internal or external sources, FunGuy Inspections can provide vital information to enable you to seek allergy treatment and take remedial action. This can often be as simple as installing new or additional air filters in the home, cleaning more frequently, adjusting ventilation fans, and other techniques. It all starts with detection and identification, which is what FunGuy Inspections is all about.
Mold in the House: How Much Mold Exposure is Harmful?
Far more serious than common allergens is the growth of mold. Mold in the house is often spawned in moist areas, though that’s not always essential for mold growth. There are many different kinds of mold – from the beneficial kind that was identified to create the first antibiotics, to extremely toxic kinds that give off spores that shouldn’t be inhaled even for a short period of time. There are a myriad of ill health effects, and depending on the type of mold, the answer to “How much mold exposure is harmful?” can be as simple as “any.”
As a result, mold in your house is one of the most serious conditions that should be evaluated and remediated as soon as possible. Mold removal is only effective when you have identified what kind of mold(s) are growing. FunGuy Inspections can assist with mold removal by identifying mold, conducting or coordinating mold removal, and performing post-removal analysis to make sure that the toxic, dangerous spores are no longer present in your home. They can also provide useful information on how and why mold grows, where mold spores come from, and measures you can take to prevent mold from ever taking hold in your home again.
Other things we can do to reduce allergens at home.
It is possible to help reduce indoor allergens by taking a few additional steps. In some cases regular HVAC heating/cooling filter changes can be completed to increase filtration throughout the home. Different types of filters are available from 3m and other manufacturers that will reduce the amount of particulates floating within your home.
In addition, regular cleaning and dusting indoors will minimize the total amount of dust inside the home. When cleaning consider using a HEPA vacuum such as a Shark or Dyson. These units will allow the finest particles to be capture and not resuspended into the air following weekly housecleaning activities.
The third step to help reduce indoor allergens is by using a HEPA filter. The rabbit, Dyson and Honeywell have air filters with HEPA filters and capture 99.9% of particulates inside your home. Particulates inside our home include pollens, dust, mold spores, animal dander, and even some inorganics such as fiber glass and starch. The HEPA filter is very efficient at removing these particulates. Regular maintenance and filter changes are required to maintain efficiency of these filters.
Conclusion
All of these actions you can take to keep your home safe start with identification and surveillance. Determining what might be growing in your home, where it is, and what’s enabling it to grow is essential to effective treatment. Professionals from FunGuy Inspections use the latest equipment and methods to identify a wide array of home health hazards, and provide the most effective advice for treatment and remediation. You owe it to yourself, your family, your health, and your peace of mind to have a professional inspection from FunGuy Inspections. Trust us – you’ll sleep better at night, and have a happier, healthier home!
To book an appointment or learn more, explore the website of FunGuy Inspections at https://funguyinspections.com.