It may surprise you but sunny San Diego provides the perfect conditions for growing mold in your home. It is a problem that has been getting a lot of media attention lately and is best detected by a mold inspection San Diego style.
Channel 4s San Diego Insider recently did a story on mold causing a problem in two local schools. Both Sherman Elementary and Kennedy Elementary schools were shut down and demolished due to mold problems.
So what makes San Diego so surprisingly perfect for mold growth? We talked with a local certified Mole Inspector to find out. He told us mold is all around us but needs certain conditions to grow to dangerous levels.
1. The temperature needs to be between 55 and 95 degrees, like in most homes. Freezing temperatures do not kill mold as it only goes dormant till things warm up.
2. The relative humidity needs to be above 50%.
3. There needs to be a consistent source of moisture. This is usually provided by leaks in the roof, around showers and tubs, and under sinks.
4. And a food source. The wood, drywall and plywood in the house are what mold lives on. The mold actually eats the materials.
Doesn’t this sound like the San Diego conditions we all know and love?
Now this doesn’t mean that the potential for excessive mold is as great as in the Northwest or Southeast areas of the country where there is constant rain and fog, but it does mean that you need to take care of little sources of moisture inside the house like that little drip under the kitchen sink, making sure you have a proper seal under the toilets, and all the caulking around showers is doing it’s job.
If you see growth on your walls and are concerned about what it might be, or feel like there might be some negative health effects you are experiencing that might be related to mold then you can easily find out what is really going on by having a professional mold inspection done.
Have your mold inspection San Diego done by someone that holds a certification from NAC2. They are the national certifying body for this type of inspection. Also make sure you do not have the inspection done by a company that also provides clean up services as they have a large incentive to do remediation “just in case”.
