A water damaged building is potentially very dangerous to its inhabitants and can be the cause or exacerbate certain health conditions. The major noticeable effect of water damage is often the explosion of mold.
This is not surprising seeing as mold requires a damp indoor environment to thrive and flourish. Their spores are often carried through the air and will thrive when they find favorable conditions.
While there are some differences between ordinary mold and black mold, the reality is that when both are inhaled for prolonged periods, the occupants of the home are very likely to suffer some serious health problems.
In this article, we’ll be looking at the possible health problems that could arise as a result of prolonged mold exposure. The hope is that with this information, new or current occupants of homes that have suffered some water damages would take the appropriate steps to get healthy and drastically reduce the mold population in their homes.
Fungal Infections in People with Compromised Immune System
Fungal infections are often commonplace in water damaged homes. So, if you’re currently living in one, you may want to look out for frequent fungal infections on the body or even inside the body. Then, there’s the huge risk of worsened health by people who are already immunocompromised.
If you have a family member or a loved one who has had recent surgery or is currently undergoing cancer treatments –in fact, anyone with a compromised immune system- you need to either reduce the mold population in the home to zero or move them out of the house to somewhere else until you can eliminate the mold.
Throat Irritations and Nasal Congestion
As mentioned earlier, mold produces spores which are readily inhaled when you’re in the house. The presence of this mold makes for extremely poor indoor air quality.
As a result of the inhalation of these spores, people with strong immune systems are likely to experience throat irritations and nasal congestions a lot. So, you need to check and compare your health status before moving into the home.
If you had no more than the usual congestions and occasional throat irritations, then you have mold in the home. For folks with weak immune systems, this could be the beginning of serious congestion or lung disease.
Worsens Asthma
What applies above, also applies here. People with asthma and allergies are likely to experience a more exacerbated health situation. There’s also likely to be an increased occasions of coughing and wheezing. All these are often triggered by the presence of these spores in the air.
Jock and Vaginal Fungal Infections
These are particularly terrible as they can be extremely uncomfortable. People who live in severely damaged water homes with a thriving mold colony are likely to experience more jock itch and vaginal fungal infections.
So, if you’ve had to treat yourself for fungal infections more than twice in the last 3-4 months and you haven’t had to share toilet or even had sexual relations with someone infected, chances are your infections are caused by those darned mold spores.
What Can You Do to Restore Your Home to a Mold-Free State?
The smart thing would be to call in the big guns. Hire a mold removal service to come do a complete mold overhaul in your home. If possible, see if you would need some plumbing repiping –particularly pipes as that supply water to the home- in your home.
Companies like A1 Service Plumbing can have your home repiped at an affordable price. Depending on the severity of your mold infestation, cleaning could take anything from 1-5 days.
Avoid harming yourself and compromising your health by staying in water damaged mold-infested homes. Protect yourself and your loved ones and do everything you can to minimize mold growth.
Oscar King is a homeowner and freelance writer who contributes home improvement, family and healthy related articles.