Water damage occurs most commonly in the bathroom and in the kitchen, but most of the time this damage can be prevented if a few simple measures are taken on a regular basis. Water damage is not only unsightly because it tends to discolor things in your house such as the drywall or the floor, but it also damages the internal structure, as well. Drywall that absorbs too much water will eventually begin to sag due to the weight and the paper on the drywall will become detached.
The kitchen and the bathroom are the two rooms that can add the most value to your home if you choose to sell it, so keeping them in good condition is crucial if a house you purchase is simply an investment. Even if it is not just an investment, keeping these two rooms in good condition is a good idea to keep the quality of life in your home at a good basic level.
Having a vent located in the bathroom and in the kitchen over the stove is necessary to help prevent water damage to the ceiling and upper parts of the walls. You will see these vents located in the bathrooms of most motels and hotels these days, in an effort to protect the room from water damage. Most commercial properties that have bathrooms with showers have these vents because they realize that this is necessary to make their property last as long as possible. If steam has nowhere to go, mold will also begin to grow on the ceiling and walls over time and having that removed is a whole other problem.
Plumbing in your kitchen or bathroom should be inspected often, as well. Even leaks that are only small drips can cause water damage and especially mold growth over time.
Toilets and bathtubs should be allowed to overflow as little as possible, especially in bathrooms that have carpet installed instead of tile or even carpet installed over tile. Tile floors should be completely sealed by caulking to be sure that water does not get to the floor boards underneath.
Water damage and mold can be prevented in the bathroom closet if wet items are not left on the floor. Mold can start to grow as little as 24 hours after a wet item is abandoned and this mold will contaminate any other clothes that are thrown on top of it.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
water damage restoration companies and
mold remediation companies across the united states.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Tips To Protect Your Family And Food From Mold
What is the most important major appliance in your house? Most people would probably say their refrigerator and I would probably agree, but do we really keep them clean as often as we should..? The fact is that refrigerators are not kept as clean by busy families as they should be in order to keep a healthy household. Leftovers are put in the fridge and often get left there for days or something even weeks at a time before finally being thrown away after they have gotten spoiled. Liquids get spilled, frozen foods are left to thaw on the shelves, and just general mess gets left everywhere. A refrigerator might be cleaned out once every 4 or 5 months by a busy family, but if you keep a watch on the items in your refrigerator and the messes plaguing its shelves, you will not have to do this very often.
Look around in your refrigerator and figure out what is outdated and spoiled. If you keep jelly or jam, you probably know that these get molded after a while, either on the top of the food itself or on the inside of the lids. These soft items and other things like yogurt, sour cream, soft cheeses, individually sliced cheeses, and just generally anything with a high moisture content need to be thrown away. The entirety of the food will probably be completely contaminated with mold even though it might only appear to be on the surface of the food.
If you bring fruit or vegetables home from the grocery store and just chuck the plastic bags they’re inside into your produce drawer like that, you’ll probably end up with some moldy and rotted fruit not too long after. What happens in this situation is that condensation builds up inside the bag and mold starts to grow on anything inside it. Just take the fruits and vegetables out of the bags and make sure that none of the fruit already have mold growing on them. If they do, throw them out and wash anything that was in close proximity to it.
If you see any eggs that are cracked in the carton, these need to be thrown away, too. Bacteria growing on the outside of the egg will get inside and contaminate it.
If mold starts growing on a block of cheese, what you should do is take a knife and cut around and under the moldy spot on the block and remove it. Don’t touch the knife to other parts of the cheese to avoid cross-contamination.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
water damage restoration and
mold remediation companies across the united states.
Look around in your refrigerator and figure out what is outdated and spoiled. If you keep jelly or jam, you probably know that these get molded after a while, either on the top of the food itself or on the inside of the lids. These soft items and other things like yogurt, sour cream, soft cheeses, individually sliced cheeses, and just generally anything with a high moisture content need to be thrown away. The entirety of the food will probably be completely contaminated with mold even though it might only appear to be on the surface of the food.
If you bring fruit or vegetables home from the grocery store and just chuck the plastic bags they’re inside into your produce drawer like that, you’ll probably end up with some moldy and rotted fruit not too long after. What happens in this situation is that condensation builds up inside the bag and mold starts to grow on anything inside it. Just take the fruits and vegetables out of the bags and make sure that none of the fruit already have mold growing on them. If they do, throw them out and wash anything that was in close proximity to it.
If you see any eggs that are cracked in the carton, these need to be thrown away, too. Bacteria growing on the outside of the egg will get inside and contaminate it.
If mold starts growing on a block of cheese, what you should do is take a knife and cut around and under the moldy spot on the block and remove it. Don’t touch the knife to other parts of the cheese to avoid cross-contamination.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
water damage restoration and
mold remediation companies across the united states.
Preventing Mold When Home-Canning
Odds are fairly good that if you have a vegetable garden or any fruit trees in your yard that you know how to go about canning these items so that you can have them year-round. Whether you can tomatoes so you will have them during the winter or pickle cucumbers, growing our own food and preserving it at home has been commonplace in American culture for a very long time. Pickles, jams, jellies, marmalades, soups, or chutneys have been being made in homes across the country and the world for quite a while and it is still going on today because some people prefer home-made goods to their commercial counterparts.
There are benefits to both growing and canning your own food at home, even though a process that is similar is used by commercial food canners worldwide. One benefit is that you have the knowledge of just how sterile the equipment being used to preserve your food is. You know how clean the items are that you are using to can your food. When you purchase these items in a store, you do not know whether the equipment used was clean or not. You also have the benefit of knowing what pesticides, if any, were used on the fruits and vegetables that you are preserving. You do not have to be exposed to more pesticides and chemicals than you would use to protect your own garden from insects and different kinds of rodents.
One problem with home-canning, though, is that if it is not done properly, mold can start to grow inside the jars of food that you thought that you were preserving so well. Mold grows in everything that is preserved eventually, anyway, but it can occur much sooner if the food that you can in your kitchen is not properly preserved. Most home-canning guides suggest that you date everything you can and use it within a year to avoid spoilage.
Mold-contaminated jars can be a problem, but you can avoid this problem most of the time by making sure the equipment that you use is sterile. You can sterilize glass jars by filling them and your canning pot with hot water (not boiling) and bringing the pot to a slow boil for around 10 minutes. This should effectively remove all microbes and spores from the water.
Any food you can should be washed and thoroughly inspected. Questionable items should not be canned, but thrown away.
Food should also be packed loosely in the jars so that the food inside can be completely heated throughout. If the temperature does not get high enough, it will not be completely sterilized. Mold spores, bacteria, and yeast can continue to grow even in high temperatures.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Mold Remediation and
water damage restoration companies across the united states.
There are benefits to both growing and canning your own food at home, even though a process that is similar is used by commercial food canners worldwide. One benefit is that you have the knowledge of just how sterile the equipment being used to preserve your food is. You know how clean the items are that you are using to can your food. When you purchase these items in a store, you do not know whether the equipment used was clean or not. You also have the benefit of knowing what pesticides, if any, were used on the fruits and vegetables that you are preserving. You do not have to be exposed to more pesticides and chemicals than you would use to protect your own garden from insects and different kinds of rodents.
One problem with home-canning, though, is that if it is not done properly, mold can start to grow inside the jars of food that you thought that you were preserving so well. Mold grows in everything that is preserved eventually, anyway, but it can occur much sooner if the food that you can in your kitchen is not properly preserved. Most home-canning guides suggest that you date everything you can and use it within a year to avoid spoilage.
Mold-contaminated jars can be a problem, but you can avoid this problem most of the time by making sure the equipment that you use is sterile. You can sterilize glass jars by filling them and your canning pot with hot water (not boiling) and bringing the pot to a slow boil for around 10 minutes. This should effectively remove all microbes and spores from the water.
Any food you can should be washed and thoroughly inspected. Questionable items should not be canned, but thrown away.
Food should also be packed loosely in the jars so that the food inside can be completely heated throughout. If the temperature does not get high enough, it will not be completely sterilized. Mold spores, bacteria, and yeast can continue to grow even in high temperatures.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Mold Remediation and
water damage restoration companies across the united states.
Mold in Our Homes
While there is no real way to completely get rid of the mold that exists in both our outdoor and indoor environments, there are some things that we can do to keep mold from growing on our food and our belongings. This typically happens when items like clothing are improperly stored or when foods are improperly preserved in our refrigerators. Whatever the cause may be, it is very likely that we can prevent these instances of mold from occurring if we just exercise a little diligence in the maintenance of our homes.
Mold likes to grow in the refrigerator, especially in jars of jellies and jams, but as long as we keep our refrigerators clean and free of contaminated items, mold will not grow as quickly. Take an inventory of the items in your refrigerator and make sure nothing is sorely outdated. Outdated items can be used for a short period after they expire, but if they start to show discoloration or mold growth, they should be thrown away immediately. Fruits and vegetables that show signs of mold growth should also be thrown away and anything else they were touching, especially other fruits and vegetables, should be washed.
Mold also likes to grow on clothing that has been packed too tightly into a closet space or other container. Air needs to be able to circulate through the entirety of the closet and some closets have air vents located in them to help with this, but if you pack clothes too tightly, then the vent cannot do its job.
If you have baby bottles in your kitchen, then you might have a problem with getting them completely dry if you do not have a dishwasher. If you have to wash your dishes by hand, then the best thing to do in order to keep mold from beginning to grow inside these and other oddly shaped bottles is to dry them the best that you can and put them in your freezer immediately after. Leave them in there until you need the bottles again.
Wet clothes or towels should never be tossed on the bathroom floor or into a hamper and left there. Any clothes that you throw on top of them will become contaminated with mold after they have been left there after anywhere from 24 to 48 hours. Some molds will grow after 24 hours, but many require up to 48 hours to begin to multiply. Wet clothes should be washed immediately.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Connecticut Mold Remediation services and
flood and water damage cleanup companies across the united states.
Mold likes to grow in the refrigerator, especially in jars of jellies and jams, but as long as we keep our refrigerators clean and free of contaminated items, mold will not grow as quickly. Take an inventory of the items in your refrigerator and make sure nothing is sorely outdated. Outdated items can be used for a short period after they expire, but if they start to show discoloration or mold growth, they should be thrown away immediately. Fruits and vegetables that show signs of mold growth should also be thrown away and anything else they were touching, especially other fruits and vegetables, should be washed.
Mold also likes to grow on clothing that has been packed too tightly into a closet space or other container. Air needs to be able to circulate through the entirety of the closet and some closets have air vents located in them to help with this, but if you pack clothes too tightly, then the vent cannot do its job.
If you have baby bottles in your kitchen, then you might have a problem with getting them completely dry if you do not have a dishwasher. If you have to wash your dishes by hand, then the best thing to do in order to keep mold from beginning to grow inside these and other oddly shaped bottles is to dry them the best that you can and put them in your freezer immediately after. Leave them in there until you need the bottles again.
Wet clothes or towels should never be tossed on the bathroom floor or into a hamper and left there. Any clothes that you throw on top of them will become contaminated with mold after they have been left there after anywhere from 24 to 48 hours. Some molds will grow after 24 hours, but many require up to 48 hours to begin to multiply. Wet clothes should be washed immediately.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Connecticut Mold Remediation services and
flood and water damage cleanup companies across the united states.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Discard Molded Foods
If we all kept our refrigerators cleaned out along with keeping an eye on what outdated items exist in it, we would probably all have healthier meals throughout the day. Most people, however, tend to forget just how important cleaning out their fridges can be and just accept the fact that foods will become moldy and that you will have to throw away a fair portion of the food that you store every year. There are a few things that you can do to prevent mold from growing in your refrigerator, but one of the best things is just to simply keep track of what food is in your refrigerator and how long it has been in there.
Some outdated items are fine as long as they have not been opened. Even things like mayonnaise or sour cream can last quite a while as long as they are still in sealed containers. But, after these are opened, their shelf life drastically decreases and the chance that mold will start to grow inside them goes up significantly. When you break the seal on an item such as this, you let the air in your home and your refrigerator inside the container. If mold spores are in the air in your home (and they probably are), these will get inside the container, as well. This does not mean that they will start to grow immediately, but the longer it remains uneaten, the bigger the chance that it will become the home of a mold colony.
Something else to keep an eye on is sour cream. Sour cream is notorious for becoming molded and this is unfortunately one of the foods that cannot be saved once it does. Once you start to see mold spots growing in your tub of sour cream, it is time to throw it out. This is a porous, highly moist food item and like other foods that meet that criteria, once it becomes contaminated by mold on the top, the whole container is, as well.
Other porous items that you might not keep in your refrigerator that are popular with mold are baked items. These are things like bread, cookies, cakes, and just about anything else that you bake in the oven. These should be thrown away and never eaten.
Other moist items in your refrigerator that tend to have mold problems are things like jelly and jam. Other spreads such as marmalade can also become molded if left uneaten long enough, so these should be completely discarded as well as soon as mold spots begin to appear.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Miami Residential Water Damage Restoration Contractors and
Orlando water Damage companies.
Some outdated items are fine as long as they have not been opened. Even things like mayonnaise or sour cream can last quite a while as long as they are still in sealed containers. But, after these are opened, their shelf life drastically decreases and the chance that mold will start to grow inside them goes up significantly. When you break the seal on an item such as this, you let the air in your home and your refrigerator inside the container. If mold spores are in the air in your home (and they probably are), these will get inside the container, as well. This does not mean that they will start to grow immediately, but the longer it remains uneaten, the bigger the chance that it will become the home of a mold colony.
Something else to keep an eye on is sour cream. Sour cream is notorious for becoming molded and this is unfortunately one of the foods that cannot be saved once it does. Once you start to see mold spots growing in your tub of sour cream, it is time to throw it out. This is a porous, highly moist food item and like other foods that meet that criteria, once it becomes contaminated by mold on the top, the whole container is, as well.
Other porous items that you might not keep in your refrigerator that are popular with mold are baked items. These are things like bread, cookies, cakes, and just about anything else that you bake in the oven. These should be thrown away and never eaten.
Other moist items in your refrigerator that tend to have mold problems are things like jelly and jam. Other spreads such as marmalade can also become molded if left uneaten long enough, so these should be completely discarded as well as soon as mold spots begin to appear.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Miami Residential Water Damage Restoration Contractors and
Orlando water Damage companies.
Avoid a Water Damaged Vehicle
Buying a used car is usually a pain in the rear, simply because of the fact that there are so many things that can be wrong with the car. It could be a bad transmission, alternator, carburetor, fuel injector, or any one of a thousand problems that could make you not want a vehicle. Some people buy cars that are “fixer-uppers” simply because of the fact that they are a cheaper buy if they decide to just repair the vehicle on their own. This is typical of mechanics who need a new vehicle, because a lot of the cost of repairing a vehicle comes from paying for the labor, not the actual parts itself.
But, what about water damaged vehicles? Most people do not think about this when they go to buy a vehicle, so they are not sure what to look for.
The first thing you should probably do is smell the interior. You should smell next to nothing. If the smell is a musty odor, then that probably means that mold is growing somewhere inside the vehicle. This could be due to liquid spills inside the car like soda, but it could also be due to the car having been flooded. Look for other signs of water damage if you detect a musty odor. Your prospective vehicle should NOT have been treated with air freshener. This is typically used to cover up musty odors and the dealer you are buying from may be hiding something.
Checking the car’s trunk for buildup of silt, rust, or mud is also a good idea. The area around the taillights should be checked thoroughly, since this is an area where these things will build up most often.
You can get a vehicle history report from a site like Carfax.com, but these are not always reliable. An accident or an incident of flooding will only be on this report if an insurance claim was filed. If the car is in an accident and the insurance company the person is with is not notified, then the incident will not appear on the history report.
Check the electronic parts of the vehicle such as gauges and make sure they are in working order. This can include the fuel gauge and other various indicator lights. Wires in the dashboard and under the steering wheel can be flexed and if they crack, they have probably been exposed to water.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
New York flood water damage restoration and other states and cities such as
South Carolina mold remediation companies across the united states.
But, what about water damaged vehicles? Most people do not think about this when they go to buy a vehicle, so they are not sure what to look for.
The first thing you should probably do is smell the interior. You should smell next to nothing. If the smell is a musty odor, then that probably means that mold is growing somewhere inside the vehicle. This could be due to liquid spills inside the car like soda, but it could also be due to the car having been flooded. Look for other signs of water damage if you detect a musty odor. Your prospective vehicle should NOT have been treated with air freshener. This is typically used to cover up musty odors and the dealer you are buying from may be hiding something.
Checking the car’s trunk for buildup of silt, rust, or mud is also a good idea. The area around the taillights should be checked thoroughly, since this is an area where these things will build up most often.
You can get a vehicle history report from a site like Carfax.com, but these are not always reliable. An accident or an incident of flooding will only be on this report if an insurance claim was filed. If the car is in an accident and the insurance company the person is with is not notified, then the incident will not appear on the history report.
Check the electronic parts of the vehicle such as gauges and make sure they are in working order. This can include the fuel gauge and other various indicator lights. Wires in the dashboard and under the steering wheel can be flexed and if they crack, they have probably been exposed to water.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
New York flood water damage restoration and other states and cities such as
South Carolina mold remediation companies across the united states.
Techniques Used to Clean Up Mold
While there are a lot of different ways to kill and remove mold from your home, depending on what the mold has gotten on or into, you may want to use one technique before trying the other. Note that killing mold and removing it is not one and the same thing. Killing mold is just that: terminating the life of the mold so that it ceases to continue growing. Since the mold is dead, it cannot cause infections if it gets onto your skin because it must be alive to change into yeast. However, the bad thing about simply killing the mold is the fact that it does not have to be alive in order to cause an allergic reaction in a person. The mold spores remain intact and in their same physical condition as before, so when the spores enter the body, the body does not realize that the spores are dead and pose no threat.
You can use a wet vacuum to clean up standing water in areas of your home where it exists, since this is where mold likes to grow the most. This is especially true if there are any cellulose-based materials that have been soaked by it, such as paper, cardboard, and anything else that can be decomposed. You should only use these vacuums when the surface is wet, so mold spores do not get tossed into the air. The equipment should be cleaned and dried thoroughly after you use it, since mold and its spores can attach themselves to it.
Sometimes you can use a damp paper towel or damp cloth to clean mold off of surfaces that are nonporous, like countertops or a vinyl floor, but if you are going to do this, using chemicals that kill mold are a must. Trying to clean mold off of porous surfaces like drywall usually ends in heartbreak, because most of the time they cannot be saved. The entire item is usually too contaminated. Clothes can be saved sometimes, but this is only because of the very thin nature of the item. Thick porous surfaces like drywall are simply too thick for it to be feasible to try to save them.
HEPA filter-equipped vacuum cleaners are good to have around if you are trying to remove as much mold from your home as possible, since these vacuum cleaners will filter clean air back into the room as you vacuum. The mold spores and dirt particles will get caught in the filter and are easily disposed of afterward. When you dump the contents of the receptacle, do not touch it with your bare hands. Wear gloves if you can and do not let it come into contact with your skin. Try not to stir the contents up and do not breathe them.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
New Jersey mold damage restoration and other states and cities such as
Connecticut mold remediation companies across the united states.
You can use a wet vacuum to clean up standing water in areas of your home where it exists, since this is where mold likes to grow the most. This is especially true if there are any cellulose-based materials that have been soaked by it, such as paper, cardboard, and anything else that can be decomposed. You should only use these vacuums when the surface is wet, so mold spores do not get tossed into the air. The equipment should be cleaned and dried thoroughly after you use it, since mold and its spores can attach themselves to it.
Sometimes you can use a damp paper towel or damp cloth to clean mold off of surfaces that are nonporous, like countertops or a vinyl floor, but if you are going to do this, using chemicals that kill mold are a must. Trying to clean mold off of porous surfaces like drywall usually ends in heartbreak, because most of the time they cannot be saved. The entire item is usually too contaminated. Clothes can be saved sometimes, but this is only because of the very thin nature of the item. Thick porous surfaces like drywall are simply too thick for it to be feasible to try to save them.
HEPA filter-equipped vacuum cleaners are good to have around if you are trying to remove as much mold from your home as possible, since these vacuum cleaners will filter clean air back into the room as you vacuum. The mold spores and dirt particles will get caught in the filter and are easily disposed of afterward. When you dump the contents of the receptacle, do not touch it with your bare hands. Wear gloves if you can and do not let it come into contact with your skin. Try not to stir the contents up and do not breathe them.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
New Jersey mold damage restoration and other states and cities such as
Connecticut mold remediation companies across the united states.
Respirators Needed For Mold Remediations
When you are trying to kill and remove mold from your home or your business establishment, there are a number of different things that you need to purchase before this remediation can begin. Depending on the size of the infection, what you will need to buy can vary. Not stirring up mold spores and having as few in the air that you are breathing as possible is one of the most important concerns when you are doing this remediation on your own, because you are probably not trained in how to do this effectively. Any porous material that has become infected with mold can stir up mold spores when you begin to break it apart, such as drywall or contaminated wallpaper. If you are going to do any invasive procedures in the home to remove mold such as trying to remove mold from the inside of your walls by removing drywall, you will want to have a good respirator on hand and a protective body suit to keep the mold from coming into contact with your skin.
If you want just the minimum amount of protection from mold, then what you will probably need is an N-95 type respirator. This will cover up your nose and mouth and will effectively keep around 95 percent of mold spores and other particles in the air near you from entering your sinuses. You can find these in most hardware stores and also in some department stores.
If you want something that will help protect you just a tad better, then a full or even just a half-face APR (air purifying respirator) will help you out. These have HEPA filters on them and will filter the air that comes into your respirator so that no mold spores or other particles in the air around you get inside the mask. You will want to make sure that whatever respirator you choose to buy is approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. These will not protect your eyes.
If the mold growth is extensive and you will be exposed to it for a long period of time before the remediation is finished, you will want an APR that is powered by electricity. These are all full-face, HEPA filter equipped respirators and in order to be able to use this kind of respirator, you must be trained. Usage of these in a commercial setting should always be in accordance with OSHA’s regulations.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
flood water damage restoration chicago and other states such as
South Carolina mold remediation companies across the united states.
If you want just the minimum amount of protection from mold, then what you will probably need is an N-95 type respirator. This will cover up your nose and mouth and will effectively keep around 95 percent of mold spores and other particles in the air near you from entering your sinuses. You can find these in most hardware stores and also in some department stores.
If you want something that will help protect you just a tad better, then a full or even just a half-face APR (air purifying respirator) will help you out. These have HEPA filters on them and will filter the air that comes into your respirator so that no mold spores or other particles in the air around you get inside the mask. You will want to make sure that whatever respirator you choose to buy is approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. These will not protect your eyes.
If the mold growth is extensive and you will be exposed to it for a long period of time before the remediation is finished, you will want an APR that is powered by electricity. These are all full-face, HEPA filter equipped respirators and in order to be able to use this kind of respirator, you must be trained. Usage of these in a commercial setting should always be in accordance with OSHA’s regulations.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
flood water damage restoration chicago and other states such as
South Carolina mold remediation companies across the united states.
Respirators for Mold Remediation Jobs
Finding mold in your home is rarely a pleasant experience and what is even less pleasant is having to check your pocketbook to see if you can really afford to have the problem dealt with by a professional. Not everyone has this luxury, but if you know what kind of equipment that you need to take care of the problem on your own and follow a few basic rules, you should be able to take care of most infections on your own. Perhaps the most important piece of equipment that you can buy is a respirator and depending on the size of the infection, you may need one of at least three different kinds.
The first and lowest level of protection from mold spores getting into your respiratory system is an N-95 respirator. Aside from not using a respirator at all, this is the lowest level of protection and it is by far the most affordable. This will cover your nose and mouth and will effectively remove about 95 percent of mold spores and other air particles from the air that you breathe through it. Unfortunately, this type of respirator will not protect your eyes and mold spores can enter the body through the eyes, as well as the respiratory system. Eye infections are not uncommon.
The next step in protection that you might want to look at if you are dealing with a larger infection in your home is an air purifying respirator. These respirators come equipped with HEPA filters and will filter out about 99 percent of the particles in the air that you breathe through it. These kinds of respirators will also not effectively protect your eyes, but they do come in both half-face and full-face types. Fortunately, this type of APR does not require any training in order to use it, however, the next level of protection does require some training. You also need to be certain that both this kind of APR and the next kind are approved by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health before purchasing them.
The best kind of protection (but the most expensive) is a powered APR. These come with HEPA filters, as well, but they also require a power source and training in order to use them properly. There are also guidelines written by OSHA that must be followed. These cannot be used in a commercial business or setting unless OSHA regulations are followed.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
North Carolina Sewage Damage Cleanup and other states such as
South Carolina mold remediation companies across the united states.
The first and lowest level of protection from mold spores getting into your respiratory system is an N-95 respirator. Aside from not using a respirator at all, this is the lowest level of protection and it is by far the most affordable. This will cover your nose and mouth and will effectively remove about 95 percent of mold spores and other air particles from the air that you breathe through it. Unfortunately, this type of respirator will not protect your eyes and mold spores can enter the body through the eyes, as well as the respiratory system. Eye infections are not uncommon.
The next step in protection that you might want to look at if you are dealing with a larger infection in your home is an air purifying respirator. These respirators come equipped with HEPA filters and will filter out about 99 percent of the particles in the air that you breathe through it. These kinds of respirators will also not effectively protect your eyes, but they do come in both half-face and full-face types. Fortunately, this type of APR does not require any training in order to use it, however, the next level of protection does require some training. You also need to be certain that both this kind of APR and the next kind are approved by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health before purchasing them.
The best kind of protection (but the most expensive) is a powered APR. These come with HEPA filters, as well, but they also require a power source and training in order to use them properly. There are also guidelines written by OSHA that must be followed. These cannot be used in a commercial business or setting unless OSHA regulations are followed.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
North Carolina Sewage Damage Cleanup and other states such as
South Carolina mold remediation companies across the united states.
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