What’s The Relation Between Mold and Indoor Air Quality?
Posted in Mold, on June 14, 2021
One of the common questions people ask us at SafeAir is if there’s a relationship between poor air quality and mold growth. The answer is straightforward: yes, your indoor air environment can be significantly improved by mold inspection in Toronto. Mold affects the materials it grows on, but it also travels and reproduces by using the airways in your home. Good indoor air quality rests on several interrelated factors that can be picked up during mold testing in Toronto, radon testing, and general air quality tests.
Are Mold Growth and Humidity Levels Related?
One of the first things we look for when inspecting homes is indoor humidity. Humidity is one of the most important factors in indoor mold problems, and we almost always find mold when there is high humidity in a home.
Humidity is vaporized water. As temperatures rise, the air can hold more evaporated moisture — that’s why July feels sticky and January feels dry. This water vapour can then move around your home and condense when it touches cooler surfaces. Mold always needs water to grow and thrive, and high indoor humidity is one of the easiest ways it stays hydrated and happy.
A good rule of thumb is to keep your home’s indoor humidity balanced at around 50%. Anything lower and the air feels dry, and you may experience skin or eye irritation — but anything higher and you’re at risk of mold growth. At SafeAir, we like to recommend our clients buy a small, inexpensive humidity sensor for key rooms in their homes. These sensors can give you real-time readings and alert you to growing humidity.
Discover the Source of Humidity With A Test
Humidity can enter your home in many ways. It can come from the exterior environment but also interior sources like leaks, drips, and floods. Everyday activities like bathing and cooking also introduce a lot of vaporized water into the atmosphere, which explains why bathroom mold growth is so common!
During mold testing in Toronto, a humidity test will be able to detect high humidity levels in any room of your home. These readings can point us towards potential mold problems and alert us to previously invisible issues. Humidity tests are non-invasive and can be done instantly with hand-held devices or, if you have concerns about fluctuations, monitored over time with unobtrusive sensors.
Poor Indoor Air Quality Increases Mold Growth
High humidity is only one factor that contributes to poor indoor air quality. There are many other common indoor air quality issues picked up during mold inspections in Toronto, such as:
Poor ventilation
Restricted airflow in a home means that you’re not getting enough fresh air. Air movement helps dry out moisture and refresh your indoor air environment, flushing mold, toxins, and allergens.
Under-maintained HVAC systemm
Your furnace and air conditioning system need a little maintenance to be at their best. Change filters regularly to capture mold spores, dust, and other small particulate matter, and think about having ducts cleaned or inspected and air leaks sealed.
Attic mold
Mold growth in the attic can affect the home’s entire air environment, and damaged insulation can cause temperature and humidity fluctuations. Condensation causes many of the attic mold problems that we see at SafeAir, but leaks and roof damage can also contribute.
Mold Inspections Improves Indoor Air Quality!
If you have concerns about mold growth in your home, booking a mold inspection in Toronto can help alleviate your concerns and get to the bottom of things. Testing for mold has several cascading effects: it not only identifies areas with mold growth but can also alert you to areas at risk or spots with high humidity or water issues. Solving these issues before mold takes hold can save you a big headache as well as remediation bills, making mold testing in Toronto one of the best preventative tests you can do. To ask the SafeAir team more about mold testing and indoor air quality, use our contact page to reach us!