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Find the mold
Finding mold isn’t always as easy as it sounds. It can be all around you without being visible. You may smell it and lift the rug, check behind the couch, investigate all abutting rooms and still find no sign of it. Take my word, though. If you’re smelling it, it is there. You may just need to dig a little deeper to locate it. If you’re pretty sure it’s coming from the floor but can’t see any evidence on the rug, it could be growing out of sight below the floorboards. Maybe you had a water leak a few years back and you now have mold growing in the walls. Seek it out so you can assess how big a problem it is. When it comes to mold, it is essential to know how big a problem you’re dealing with. This will inform which steps you take to remediate it.
Eliminate the source of moisture
Equally important to finding the mold itself is locating the source of the mold—aka moisture. The good news is that the moisture will likely be easier to find, but make sure you find all instances of it. If you don’t, the problem will persist. For example, I knew that standing water in my basement was a problem. What I didn’t know was that my garden was a contributing factor. A visitor pointed out that I had mulch pushing up against my house, which allowed moisture up under the siding. This issue resulted not only in damp siding but also to a bug issue inside my house. To fix that, I dug the mulch and dirt away and poured stone to allow the water a place to escape.
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