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Make sure it doesn’t come back
Mold remediation doesn’t rid your house forever of mold. Mold spores are everywhere, so the only thing anyone can do is take steps to keep it at bay. To do that, you have to keep the moisture levels in your house low. Water and moisture can find their way into your house in a multitude of ways, through cracks in your foundation, mulch too close to your house, openings around your eaves, water breaks within your walls, humidity from the air outside—the possibilities are endless, so you just have to keep your eyes open and clean up wet surfaces when you see them.
Once you’ve wiped up obvious areas of dampness or standing water, use a fan and/or a dehumidifier to keep the area as dry as possible. There are a variety of options when it comes to dehumidifiers, so make sure you get one that is the appropriate size for the space it needs to keep dry. If you’re getting one for your basement, you may want one that will pump directly to the outdoors so you don’t have to worry about emptying it.
Whatever you do….
DON’T USE BLEACH ON WOOD: You can use bleach on other surfaces if you want (though I’d advise not, since it usually isn’t necessary and the smell is toxic), but for wood, it is a major no-no. Because of its chemical composition, the chlorine in the bleach doesn’t reach far enough into the nooks and crannies of the wood but the water (aka, the enemy) will. Inadvertently, you will be feeding the very mold you want to kill.
DON’T PAINT OVER THE MOLD: Painting is not an effective technique for getting rid of mold. If the cleaning techniques suggested above don’t work, it may be time to throw it away. Otherwise, the mold will eat its way out and you’ll have peeling paint within no time.
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