Aprilaire 5000

Tis the season to start sealing the doors in our homes, but before you do, it is good to think about what you might be trapping inside to keep you company all winter.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the growth of mold can exist almost anywhere. Whether you're indoors or outdoors, mold spores are there. They can enter your home through openings as big as doors or windows, or as small as the smallest gap you ever hunted with a caulk gun. Once in your home, the spores can grow on clothes, shoes, toys and even pets. Worse, the mold is almost certain to release clouds of spores potentially dangerous, once airborne, can take the shortest way to your lungs.

Some molds are harmful, others are benign. And, how mold affects you can count on your personal sensitivity. Mold expert Jeff May learned first hand. The Johns Hopkins University Press author of three books (My house is killing me, my office and kills mold Survival Guide), has not always been an accomplished expert on how to mold can make you very sick.

"For years, I had an office air conditioner that was probably too big for the space. Therefore, my office was always wet and coughing when I came to CA. Then one day I opened it and found that everything inside had turned black mold Cladosporium. This was the defining moment when I put the two together, "said Jeff May

According to May, the first step to prevent mold is understanding what makes it tick. Mold needs three things to grow: moisture, air and food, and this combination can be found anywhere in your home. "Mold grows where it can find food: the dust on the bathroom ceiling, starch paste on the back of wallpaper, or plant fibers that make up the pad under a carpet of jute. Add of moisture and mold begins, "said May

Here's what you need to know to keep your home mold:

1. MIND moisture
   Keep humidity below 50% in basement. Improve ranking on the outside and keeping the gutters and drainage of sloping land still far from your home. Cover earth floors crawlspace with plastic to reduce moisture.
2. Store safely
   Keep all storage of at least several inches up off the concrete floors and foundations of moisture which can easily seep in. This is especially important with organic materials such as boxes. Avoid using wooden shelves, metal or plastic shelves are preferred.
3. WARMTH finished basements
   spaces in the basement, such as finished basements are more likely to be infested and should always be heated to at least 60 degrees, even when not in use. The hottest space, the less chance that condensation will form and support for a mold problem.
4. BUILD mold resistant
   When materials of construction materials used in choosing who will not feed the mold. Tom Combs has taken this option if the bathroom renovation in 1990 of his family outside the lake house in Atlanta, Georgia. "The ceiling was covered with mold and I wanted to take immediate action before the situation worsened," said Combs. His solution was the Dens Armor Plus, a gypsum board made by Georgia Pacific, which is specifically designed to prevent microbial growth. Unlike ordinary plasterboard has a face paper, Dens Armor Plus has a fiberglass face that can not feed a mold problem.
5. AIR VIGOROUSLY
   Poor or missing fans in humid areas such as bathrooms and kitchens can leave enough moisture to keep them behind a mold problem. Make sure all the baths and kitchens are evacuated by properly without taking companies humidity outside and not into the attic. Keep the door open bathroom after bathing to accelerate the drying of surfaces.
6. Avoid carpets BASEMENT
   More than any other material in a house, the carpet can be incredibly effective havens for mold. Even non-organic carpet can collect dirt, dust and moisture com.