New carpet is something that almost every home owner wishes that they could afford, especially if that carpet has become contaminated by mold. Mold is everywhere in our homes in its spore form, but it becomes more hazardous and more visible when it actually starts to grow in colonies in our carpet, on our walls, and virtually on anything else composed of organic material.
Dealing with carpet that has become contaminated with mold can really be a pain, because many times you are just better off purchasing new carpet. It just depends on your situation, what area of your home you are having to replace the carpet in, and whether you want to hire someone else to install it for you or not.
Unfortunately, a lot of the time when your carpet becomes contaminated with mold, you have to tear it up and throw it out in the end. At the very least, you will have to pull it up and remove the padding from underneath it because this padding cannot be cleaned. You just have to buy more of it.
Also, if your carpet has been submerged in water throughout the house or even just in one room, the best thing that you can do is just tear it up and throw it away. This is especially true if it is due to flood waters that can have all kinds of chemicals, sewage, and even cadavers floating in it. The biological hazards that could be present in your old carpet will be there even after the carpet dries and will affect the health of you and your family. Mold loves to grow on items that have gotten wet and been allowed to dry naturally.
Purchase a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter if you can. This will filter the air that your vacuum cleaner is dispersing back into your home, but when you have to empty this filter’s contents in to your garbage, do so with gloves on.
Another bad thing that you could have in your home to help mold grow is wall-to-wall carpeting. If you have this in your home already, you can reduce the amount of mold that could grow if you just remove your shoes before walking upon it and not allowing pets on it at all.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of
Texas Water Damage Restoration and
Houston Water Damage Restoration Which are Certified IICRC Water damage and mold remediation contractors.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Mold Miracles
For the millions of years that mold has been around, it has been considered a harmful scourge to our health. However, there are a variety of ways that mold has been used by human beings for years in order to improve our quality of life as opposed to harming us. It has been used in various kinds of foods. It has been used for medicinal purposes. It has even been used to decompose dead organic matter.
There have been many different kinds of foods have been produced with the aid of mold for millennia. And perhaps the most famous food created using mold is cheese. Blue cheese was actually an accident when mold had been allowed to grow on a block of cheese that had been left to age. Roquefort, as well as gorgonzola, is also made with molds. It takes cultivation of the right kinds of molds to make these blue cheeses. The cultivation of these molds has become somewhat of a science over the years, and the gorgonzola and Roquefort are the so-called “kings” of cheese.
The popular Japanese alcoholic beverage sake is produced by using the mold aspergillius oryzae, also known as “koji-kin”. Sake is not the only drink that employs the use of aspergillius oryzae as an ingredient. It is splashed on the top of steamed rice and it provides all of the enzymes that are needed to make the sugar that the yeast needs to grow. The mold is also very important to the creation of sake, as any brewer who would be proud of his drink would tell you. Depending on the desired flavor of the sake, the koji-creation process is manipulated by the use of different temperatures, the different kinds of rice used, the mineral content of the water, and all of the other factors affect the final product.
Alexander accidentally created penicillin back in the early 1900s and it is used in countries worldwide in order to keep all sorts of different diseases and infections at bay. While there is a group of people who are allergic to penicillin, they are not common enough to prevent doctors from breaking out their prescription pads.
Apart from the usual uses that human beings have found for mold, its natural role is very basic. Its role is nothing more than to decompose dead matter in the natural environment. This is how it makes its way into our homes and work places, because these buildings are composed of organic material.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Orlando water damage restoration companies and
Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states.
There have been many different kinds of foods have been produced with the aid of mold for millennia. And perhaps the most famous food created using mold is cheese. Blue cheese was actually an accident when mold had been allowed to grow on a block of cheese that had been left to age. Roquefort, as well as gorgonzola, is also made with molds. It takes cultivation of the right kinds of molds to make these blue cheeses. The cultivation of these molds has become somewhat of a science over the years, and the gorgonzola and Roquefort are the so-called “kings” of cheese.
The popular Japanese alcoholic beverage sake is produced by using the mold aspergillius oryzae, also known as “koji-kin”. Sake is not the only drink that employs the use of aspergillius oryzae as an ingredient. It is splashed on the top of steamed rice and it provides all of the enzymes that are needed to make the sugar that the yeast needs to grow. The mold is also very important to the creation of sake, as any brewer who would be proud of his drink would tell you. Depending on the desired flavor of the sake, the koji-creation process is manipulated by the use of different temperatures, the different kinds of rice used, the mineral content of the water, and all of the other factors affect the final product.
Alexander accidentally created penicillin back in the early 1900s and it is used in countries worldwide in order to keep all sorts of different diseases and infections at bay. While there is a group of people who are allergic to penicillin, they are not common enough to prevent doctors from breaking out their prescription pads.
Apart from the usual uses that human beings have found for mold, its natural role is very basic. Its role is nothing more than to decompose dead matter in the natural environment. This is how it makes its way into our homes and work places, because these buildings are composed of organic material.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Orlando water damage restoration companies and
Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states.
Mold Fun Facts
Mold is everywhere around us. Be it indoors or outdoors. It is simply there. There is no such thing as a mold-free environment on this planet, or any other. There are three things that mold absolutely must have to survive. And the only time that mold is visible to the naked human eye is when large colonies begin to grow and gather. Previously stated was the fact that there are three things that mold need to survive.
First of all, mold requires nutrients. And if the mold was in an outdoor environment, these nutrients would most likely be acquired from organic matter like dead animals or dead plants. This is natural and necessary so that debris that builds up from the cadaver of the animal or plant. The mold causes decomposition and that helps the fertilization product in plants. The mold can also inhabit discarded trash such as cardboard, paper, pieces of drywall, fabrics, and other kinds of dust.
Another key element that is essential to the survival of mold is moisture. The decaying of organic matter requires moisture. As does the digesting of the organic matter by the mold. In fact, the highest numbers of cases of mold infestation occur during the summer time, when there is high humidity, and therefore higher condensation. This condensation gathers inside of a house. Winter time is also a bad time for homes, because certain areas can become drafty, and that can lead to condensation build up.
Something else that mold requires is something that there is an unlimited supply of. And that would be: time. Mold simply requires the time to grow. It can start a colony, after it has gained a sufficient amount of nutrients and moisture, in up to twenty four hours. And if something like a wet towel or piece of clothing is simply allowed to sit, then the mold is simply being handed enough time to gather in size and in number.
The last thing mold requires in order to survive and continue to spread is heat. Most molds do not even require an exponential amount of heat in order to spread. However, a good number of molds need it. Molds have been known to remain dormant at extreme temperatures while not growing. They stay in a kind of suspended animation. This goes for cold temperatures as well. They can be exposed to temperatures near two degrees Celsius, and they would revert to this state of suspended animation.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Orlando water damage restoration companies and
Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states.
First of all, mold requires nutrients. And if the mold was in an outdoor environment, these nutrients would most likely be acquired from organic matter like dead animals or dead plants. This is natural and necessary so that debris that builds up from the cadaver of the animal or plant. The mold causes decomposition and that helps the fertilization product in plants. The mold can also inhabit discarded trash such as cardboard, paper, pieces of drywall, fabrics, and other kinds of dust.
Another key element that is essential to the survival of mold is moisture. The decaying of organic matter requires moisture. As does the digesting of the organic matter by the mold. In fact, the highest numbers of cases of mold infestation occur during the summer time, when there is high humidity, and therefore higher condensation. This condensation gathers inside of a house. Winter time is also a bad time for homes, because certain areas can become drafty, and that can lead to condensation build up.
Something else that mold requires is something that there is an unlimited supply of. And that would be: time. Mold simply requires the time to grow. It can start a colony, after it has gained a sufficient amount of nutrients and moisture, in up to twenty four hours. And if something like a wet towel or piece of clothing is simply allowed to sit, then the mold is simply being handed enough time to gather in size and in number.
The last thing mold requires in order to survive and continue to spread is heat. Most molds do not even require an exponential amount of heat in order to spread. However, a good number of molds need it. Molds have been known to remain dormant at extreme temperatures while not growing. They stay in a kind of suspended animation. This goes for cold temperatures as well. They can be exposed to temperatures near two degrees Celsius, and they would revert to this state of suspended animation.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Orlando water damage restoration companies and
Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states.
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