Boston Home Improvement Blog

How's the mold in your basement?

It's springtime, and the snow has melted (supposedly...let's see if we don't get one last snowstorm). Most homes in Boston have basements (or your home may BE a basement if you're in a basement-level condo or apartment), and as winter melting and spring rains set in, it's time to think about mold.

If you have any amount of water in your basement, from cracks in the floor that allow water to seep up, to water that comes in through poorly-sealed windows, then you may have a mold and mildew problem. Indoor mold is a serious health issue:

What are the possible health effects?

* Hypersensitiity reactions: asthma, allergic rhinitis, and hypersensitivity pneumonitis
* Airway and conjunctival irritations
* Acute toxicity syndromes
* Infections: wound infections, thrush, systemic infections, and skin infections
* Nonspecific symptoms, such as eye irritation, coughing (both productive and non-productive), sore throat, headache, and difficulty concentrating

I mispoke in an earlier post, for my partner reminded me that we've had THREE floods in our homes. The two previously mentioned, and a third that was caused by me, when I "fixed" the washing machine by connecting a hose to, well, nothing. It turns out what I thought was a hose connection was just a grommet. I have a humanities degree, so that's my excuse.

The end result was a flooded basement utility room and water that seeped a good 10-12 feet into the carpeted basement family room.

In spite of our quick actions to clean up the water, rent a carpet cleaner, and fix the damage, mold set into the carpet. The mold in the padding was extensive, and we had to have the 2-year-old carpet (the perfect shade! matched to the painted walls!) removed, the floor bleached and sealed, and anti-mold padding placed under the laminate flooring we chose as a replacement.

Keep a close eye on baseboards, touch the floors frequently to feel for dampness, and if you need a mold removal specialist, look here and here. For mold testing services, check out our listings here.

Posted by Melanie Zoltan
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