Using White Vinegar to Prevent Mold and Mildew in Showers and Bathrooms

Not only can plain white vinegar that you find in the supermarket help to kill mold, but it can also help from mold and mildew forming in the first place. Use a half and half water to vinegar solution and wipe down your showers and shower doors. The vinegar naturally helps to prevent and inhibit the formation of mold and mildew. It might be a little stinky for a half hour or so afterward, but the smell will naturally go away after a little while.

This is especially helpful, since bathrooms and showers are natural areas for mold to grow, since it is such a humid and moist environment...and mold loves to grow in humid areas!

One story of a family dealing with mold: Our Mold Journey

Here's a fascinating blog that features one family's ongoing battle against exposure to toxic mold: Our Mold Journey If your family has experienced similar symptoms, but you're fighting back, please post a comment!

I also love the simple, yet effective tip that using borax or white vinegar in the laundry is an easy and cost effective anti-fungal agent.

What is a Mold Inspector?

Hiring a professional mold inspector may be one of the most important steps to take to help your family have better health. This is especially true when your family have been complaining of a list of strange symptoms, often including respiratory. Mold inspectors know exactly what to look for to find all the hidden spots in your potential home that may be harboring mold spores, especially toxic black mold, which can cause a variety of devastating health effects on everyone in your family - young and old.

Check with your local Better Business Bureau to ensure that the mold inspector is a professional. They should have testimonials from families whom they've helped. Once you've determined that mold is present, often mold remediation or removal is necessary. Depending on the extent of the mold contamination, you may need professional mold removal, or you might be able to (carefully!) handle the job of removing the mold yourself.

How Mold Could be Affecting Your Health - Symptoms

How do you know if you've been exposed to toxic black mold, or other types of mold in your home, workplace, or school? Sometimes, the best way of knowing is by listening to the signals your body is sending out.

Depending on which experts you talk to, some of the following diseases can be caused by or exacerbated by exposure to mold:

• lung disease
• cancer
• brain damage

Obviously, this brief list shows that mold exposure and mold related illness is not to be taken lightly. As mold invades your body, mycotoxins are relased. Mycotoxins are basically poisons that make you sicker and sicker. If you have chronic health problems that seem to be consistenly misdiagnosed, you might want to look to mold as a possible cause of such problems.

Initially, your body will react to breathing in those mold spores with symptoms such as: sniffling, sneezing, itchiness, headache, watery eyes and irritated eyes. Even your allergies might be due to mold.

If you're concerned about possible mold exposure, take the necessary steps to check for mold infestations in your home. Speak to your doctor about possible treatments for mold related illness.

Do It Yourself Mold Remediation

Sometimes you can actually tackle the job of mold remediation without calling in the experts. (But, when in doubt - get a professional in to take a look. It's worth a little money to save your health. Toxic black mold is especially dangerous.)

The trick is to be completely thorough - any mold left lingering behind can cause the infestation to start up again. A bleach solution can help to kill mold on non porous surfaces - suggested is 1 1/2 to 2 cups of bleach per gallon of water.

How to Kill Mold with Hydrogen Peroxide

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has suggested that hydrogen peroxide is an effective tool to kill mold in your home. The type of peroxide you can purchase at the drugstore or supermarket is generally a 3% concentration. Spray any mold infested surface very thoroughly with an undiluted 3% concentration of peroxide. Let the hydrogen peroxide sit and work to kill mold for at least 10 minutes. Scrub away the mold and stains.

You may have to use this technique a few times to successfully get rid of all the mold in any given area. This works only on hard surfaces, not soft surfaces like furnishings.

What is Boric Acid? Boric Acid to Remove Mold

Boric acid is a popular substance often used to remove and kill mold infestations. But, what is boric acid?

Boric acid is basically the substance that is found in Borax, that popular powdered substance that many of us use to whiten clothes in the laundry. It is generally considered to be non-toxic, and along with hydrogen peroxide is one of the more mild solutions used to kill mold spores. Some solutions combine both hydrogen peroxide and Borax to create a powerful mold killer.

Remember that before using any sort of mold removal mixture or formula, always protect your hands, eyes, nose, mouth and skin from any contact from the mould.

Protective Gear to Wear During Mold Removal/Mold Remediation

It goes without saying that when you're removing mold from any surfaces in a home or other building, protective gear must always be worn. Here are some suggestions on what sort of protective equipment and gear you should use to protect your eyes, skin, lungs, nose and mouth:

• Wear good quality protective gear - the cheapest certainly isn't always the best. But, it might not always be necessary to buy the very priciest either.
• Wear eye goggles that don't have any sort of holes (some goggles do, to provide ventilation) - you want to protect your eyes against the mold spores you're battling against.
• Biohazard suits sound scary, but just protect your whole body from coming in contact with mold. They can be purchased for as little as $10-$15 at hardware stores.
• Wear good quality work gloves that fully protect your hands. You can even use heavy duty tape around the edges of the gloves, to secure them to the biohazard suit to prevent any contamination.
• If you're working in a dangerous mold infested area, then look into purchasing a face mask to prevent inhalation of any mold.

When it comes to mold remediation, be prepared before you begin! Protect yourself and anyone who is working with you, to prevent any possible illness down the road.