It might not be that obvious, but even in desert climates such as parts of Arizona, California, Nevada, and etcetera mold can be a real problem. One of the most deadly (and most difficult to pronounce) molds lives in the desert areas of the southwestern United States called Coccidioidomycosis immitis. It is also known by the common name of Valley Fever. This causes a skin disease that can be fatal if left untreated. While this mold is present in the Southwestern United States and Mexico, this mold is not present in the deserts of Asia and Africa.
Another reason that mold can be a big problem in desert areas is that people also tend to use what are called swamp coolers to cool their homes and businesses off during the hottest parts of the year. This drives indoor humidity sky high and along with it comes the mold growth that you really do not want inside your building. Leaks are also common occurrences in the water pipes that flow up to the rooftop coolers, which causes water to leak in the ceilings, attics, and walls.
A third reason is that the high heat of the desert can cause the deterioration of roofs and the siding to occur more quickly than in other environments. Water leaking into the house through holes in the roof or the siding on the side of the house will allow mold to begin growing. Do your best if you live in a desert climate to watch for these leaks, since your property is particularly at risk for this kind of damage.
Since water and air conditioning are so important in these areas, the possibility of plumbing and air conditioning condensation leaks is pretty high. The best thing that you can do to prevent air conditioning condensation is to wrap any pipes in insulation so the water does not collect.
Unfortunately, most people do not think that these climates have enough moisture for mold to be a problem, but as said, this is a fairly large misconception. The same techniques used in other environments to combat mold contamination of the home should also be used in desert climates. The majority of mold claims in desert areas are a result of water damage, but mold can also be caused by defects in the construction of a home and sometimes general maintenance issues of the property.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Miami Residential Water Damage Restoration Contractors and
Orlando water Damage companies.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Techniques For Mold Cleanup That Most Never Heard Of
When you’re talking about removing the mold from a home or a business, there are a number of different techniques that can be used depending on what kind of material you need to remove mold from. There are mold remediation professionals that have developed their own methods for removal, so their particular technique might not be listed here. Even though it may not be listed here, that does not necessarily mean that it does not work.
A wet vacuum cleaner can be used to clean up mold. The area should be wet thoroughly and scrubbed first with the mold killing chemicals, but this should only be done on hard surfaces such as vinyl, concrete, countertops, and etcetera. Porous surfaces should not be treated in this manner. The vacuum should only be used on these areas while they are still wet, because if it is allowed to dry, the mold spores can become airborne. This equipment should be washed and sterilized after use if at all possible in order to remove any remaining mold spores.
If you have a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter in it, this will help make sure that the mold spores are gathered up by the vacuum and are not redistributed back into the air you breathe while you are working. After you are done cleaning up a room after removing mold, both the filter and everything collected by the vacuum cleaner needs to be disposed of in some heavy duty plastic bags. Wearing a respirator and gloves when dealing with these things is necessary to avoid health risks and you should not stir up the contents of the vacuum cleaner if possible.
You can also use a damp cloth to wipe mold off of a countertop or a laminated floor (again, nonporous surfaces), but if you do not use chemicals that have been proven to kill mold, this will only have a cosmetic effect. This will not remove the mold completely and it will just grow back in time. Follow the directions on the fungicide that you choose to use in this cleaning process. If there are any porous materials that are infected with mold, these need to be thrown away. You usually cannot completely remove mold from these kinds of items and keeping them around is just asking for trouble. The best thing that you can do is just throw them away.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Houston Fire Damage Water Restoration Contractor companies and
Los Angeles Water Damage and Restoration Services.
A wet vacuum cleaner can be used to clean up mold. The area should be wet thoroughly and scrubbed first with the mold killing chemicals, but this should only be done on hard surfaces such as vinyl, concrete, countertops, and etcetera. Porous surfaces should not be treated in this manner. The vacuum should only be used on these areas while they are still wet, because if it is allowed to dry, the mold spores can become airborne. This equipment should be washed and sterilized after use if at all possible in order to remove any remaining mold spores.
If you have a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter in it, this will help make sure that the mold spores are gathered up by the vacuum and are not redistributed back into the air you breathe while you are working. After you are done cleaning up a room after removing mold, both the filter and everything collected by the vacuum cleaner needs to be disposed of in some heavy duty plastic bags. Wearing a respirator and gloves when dealing with these things is necessary to avoid health risks and you should not stir up the contents of the vacuum cleaner if possible.
You can also use a damp cloth to wipe mold off of a countertop or a laminated floor (again, nonporous surfaces), but if you do not use chemicals that have been proven to kill mold, this will only have a cosmetic effect. This will not remove the mold completely and it will just grow back in time. Follow the directions on the fungicide that you choose to use in this cleaning process. If there are any porous materials that are infected with mold, these need to be thrown away. You usually cannot completely remove mold from these kinds of items and keeping them around is just asking for trouble. The best thing that you can do is just throw them away.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Houston Fire Damage Water Restoration Contractor companies and
Los Angeles Water Damage and Restoration Services.
Mold Remediation Gives You A Tax Deduction
Did you know that if you are a landlord or a homeowner and you have to have mold removed from your home, it is tax deductible? It qualifies as a repair that has to be done to protect the investment of your home.
The costs that you will incur from removing mold from your home or your business can be quite great, depending on the size of the infection. Sometimes a quarter, half, or even a whole wall or more has to be removed, not to mention the cost of the chemicals and personal protection equipment necessary to do the job safely.
The IRS has concluded that the cost of mold removal and remediation are tax deductible as an ordinary and necessary business expense. This is a requirement that must be met before something can be deducted as a business expense: it must be both ordinary and necessary.
Renovations that increase the value of a home or other building cannot be counted as business expenses, but the removal of mold is necessary because the health of the workers and anyone else in the building will be affected, thus affecting the flow of cash into the business. Mold remediation does not add value to the property, so it is fine to count it as tax deductible at the end of the year, even if it is not a business that is being treated. Unfortunately, if the mold remediation is the part of a renovation plan that includes the entire property, then the cost is required to be capitalized instead of deducted from your taxes at the end of the year.
So, just what is deductible? If you hire a professional service to do it for you, then the total of whatever they billed you after the project was completed is what you would write down as your deduction at the end of the year. Also, any building materials that you have to purchase after the mold removal are tax deductible, as well. These are necessary to complete the repairs.
It is also possible any relocation expenses that you or your family might incur while the mold remediation is taking place may be deductible, as well. Contact whoever prepares your taxes for you and ask them if it may be deductible.
If you play your cards right, you should be able to deduct most of the cost of your mold remediation, as long as it is not part of a larger renovation of the property.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Houston Fire Damage Water Restoration Contractor companies and
Los Angeles Water Damage and Restoration Services.
The costs that you will incur from removing mold from your home or your business can be quite great, depending on the size of the infection. Sometimes a quarter, half, or even a whole wall or more has to be removed, not to mention the cost of the chemicals and personal protection equipment necessary to do the job safely.
The IRS has concluded that the cost of mold removal and remediation are tax deductible as an ordinary and necessary business expense. This is a requirement that must be met before something can be deducted as a business expense: it must be both ordinary and necessary.
Renovations that increase the value of a home or other building cannot be counted as business expenses, but the removal of mold is necessary because the health of the workers and anyone else in the building will be affected, thus affecting the flow of cash into the business. Mold remediation does not add value to the property, so it is fine to count it as tax deductible at the end of the year, even if it is not a business that is being treated. Unfortunately, if the mold remediation is the part of a renovation plan that includes the entire property, then the cost is required to be capitalized instead of deducted from your taxes at the end of the year.
So, just what is deductible? If you hire a professional service to do it for you, then the total of whatever they billed you after the project was completed is what you would write down as your deduction at the end of the year. Also, any building materials that you have to purchase after the mold removal are tax deductible, as well. These are necessary to complete the repairs.
It is also possible any relocation expenses that you or your family might incur while the mold remediation is taking place may be deductible, as well. Contact whoever prepares your taxes for you and ask them if it may be deductible.
If you play your cards right, you should be able to deduct most of the cost of your mold remediation, as long as it is not part of a larger renovation of the property.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Houston Fire Damage Water Restoration Contractor companies and
Los Angeles Water Damage and Restoration Services.
Mold Remediation Equipment
If you are planning on doing a mold remediation project by yourself instead of hiring a professional to do it for you, then odds are you are wondering how to go about doing this safely. It is important to take safety into account when you are dealing with mold, considering all the health effects that can be caused by mold. Respiratory infections, aggravation of asthma and emphysema, skin rashes, eye infections, and etcetera are not the only things that can be caused by the existence of mold in your house. Death can also result.
What exactly are you going to need if you are removing mold from your house? Well, this answer depends on just how much mold you need to remove. If you find mold growing on the walls of your home, then simply washing it off with mold killing chemicals may not do the whole job. Taking out the drywall and replacing it is probably the only thing that you can do to completely remove the infection. If it has not seeped down into the drywall and contaminated the entire depth of the board, you may be alright.
Some heavy duty mold killing chemicals will be needed. Shop around and read some product reviews before committing to buying one particular cleaner.
Heavy duty trash bags should be on hand to put any mold contaminated materials into. Try not to touch these contaminated materials to anything else in the home to avoid cross-contamination.
A respirator of some kind should be used when you are dealing with mold remediation of any level. If you are going to be removing drywall or any other building materials from your home, a half or full face mask respirator with a HEPA filter cartridge may be necessary. A full face mask can be bought for around $130. Disposable protective clothing can also be bought and is fairly inexpensive considering the protection you will be provided. Since the shoes seem to only be sold in bulk, consider buying a pair of rubber boots instead and pull the body suit down over it. Breathable gloves should also be bought. If you cannot find them outside of a bulk quantity, consider a rubber glove alternative. Pull the body suit over them and seal with duct tape.
A vacuum with a HEPA filter on it is something you will want to use if you are planning on removing any drywall. Stirring up mold spores is inevitable when you do this, especially if the infection is larger inside the wall that you could see from the outside. These vacuums will collect all the mold spores that have settled onto the floor and anything else that you vacuum with it and not redistribute them into the air.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
water damage restoration companies and
Dallas Residential Water Damage Restoration Contractors.
What exactly are you going to need if you are removing mold from your house? Well, this answer depends on just how much mold you need to remove. If you find mold growing on the walls of your home, then simply washing it off with mold killing chemicals may not do the whole job. Taking out the drywall and replacing it is probably the only thing that you can do to completely remove the infection. If it has not seeped down into the drywall and contaminated the entire depth of the board, you may be alright.
Some heavy duty mold killing chemicals will be needed. Shop around and read some product reviews before committing to buying one particular cleaner.
Heavy duty trash bags should be on hand to put any mold contaminated materials into. Try not to touch these contaminated materials to anything else in the home to avoid cross-contamination.
A respirator of some kind should be used when you are dealing with mold remediation of any level. If you are going to be removing drywall or any other building materials from your home, a half or full face mask respirator with a HEPA filter cartridge may be necessary. A full face mask can be bought for around $130. Disposable protective clothing can also be bought and is fairly inexpensive considering the protection you will be provided. Since the shoes seem to only be sold in bulk, consider buying a pair of rubber boots instead and pull the body suit down over it. Breathable gloves should also be bought. If you cannot find them outside of a bulk quantity, consider a rubber glove alternative. Pull the body suit over them and seal with duct tape.
A vacuum with a HEPA filter on it is something you will want to use if you are planning on removing any drywall. Stirring up mold spores is inevitable when you do this, especially if the infection is larger inside the wall that you could see from the outside. These vacuums will collect all the mold spores that have settled onto the floor and anything else that you vacuum with it and not redistribute them into the air.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
water damage restoration companies and
Dallas Residential Water Damage Restoration Contractors.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Flooded Vehicle Facts
When you go to buy a used vehicle, the last thing on your mind is whether or not the car has been submerged in water before. This is not as rare as you might think that it is and a used car dealer or an individual defrauding a buyer is not uncommon, either. In order to protect yourself from flooded vehicles that you may not know how to look for correctly, there are a few things that you can do.
The first thing that you need to realize is that not all vehicle history reports are created equal. These reports do not list all of the damage done to a vehicle or all the work that has been done on it simply because these things are only listed if the person who owns the vehicle makes a claim on it with their insurance company. If a vehicle is flooded and the owner does not file an insurance claim, then the damage is not recorded as ever having happened at all. Vehicle history reports are useful, but you should realize that not all damage may be included.
Look around the trunk and glove box of the car and see if you can find any signs of rusting, sand, or silt. These are signs of being exposed to water. Also look for these signs under the seats and in any nooks and crannies that these things may settle into.
While you are in there, inhale deeply and notice what the car smells like. If there is a musty smell, then this is probably due to the presence of mold growing either in the carpeting or the upholstery. If there is an air freshener smell, then you may be dealing with someone who is trying to cover up another odor of some kind. Be wary of air freshened vehicles.
All electronic components need to be checked. Be sure that they are in working order before purchasing. Some electronic items are expendable to some vehicle owners, but if many of them are not working, consider it a possibility that the vehicle has been submerged. Test the turn signals, windshield wipers, and etcetera.
Look around under the dashboard and see if any of the wires appear to be brittle or cracked. If they are or they crack when you try to flex them, then they have probably been exposed to water.
Jim Corkern is a writer and respected contributor to the Water damage restoration and mold remediation Industry. Visit his sites for more information.
http://www.floodchicago.info
http://www.damagewatersc.info
The first thing that you need to realize is that not all vehicle history reports are created equal. These reports do not list all of the damage done to a vehicle or all the work that has been done on it simply because these things are only listed if the person who owns the vehicle makes a claim on it with their insurance company. If a vehicle is flooded and the owner does not file an insurance claim, then the damage is not recorded as ever having happened at all. Vehicle history reports are useful, but you should realize that not all damage may be included.
Look around the trunk and glove box of the car and see if you can find any signs of rusting, sand, or silt. These are signs of being exposed to water. Also look for these signs under the seats and in any nooks and crannies that these things may settle into.
While you are in there, inhale deeply and notice what the car smells like. If there is a musty smell, then this is probably due to the presence of mold growing either in the carpeting or the upholstery. If there is an air freshener smell, then you may be dealing with someone who is trying to cover up another odor of some kind. Be wary of air freshened vehicles.
All electronic components need to be checked. Be sure that they are in working order before purchasing. Some electronic items are expendable to some vehicle owners, but if many of them are not working, consider it a possibility that the vehicle has been submerged. Test the turn signals, windshield wipers, and etcetera.
Look around under the dashboard and see if any of the wires appear to be brittle or cracked. If they are or they crack when you try to flex them, then they have probably been exposed to water.
Jim Corkern is a writer and respected contributor to the Water damage restoration and mold remediation Industry. Visit his sites for more information.
http://www.floodchicago.info
http://www.damagewatersc.info
Drying Your Home After a Flood
Drying out your home after a flood or a hurricane is a time consuming task and while you might think that you can just dry everything as fast as possible and fix all the problems, this is not always the case. There are a few things that you need to be aware of when you go to dry out your home after one of these events and they are important to restoring your home to the way that it used to be.
Most of the time you cannot prepare for a flood to come upon your home, but you can do your best to prepare yourself for it mentally. This is done by equipping yourself with the knowledge necessary to dry out and repair the items in your home after the damage has already been done.
Before re-entering the house, you need to make sure that there is no electricity running to it, since there is probably still some standing water inside. This brings along with it a serious risk of electrocution that you need to be aware of. Do not rely on the condition of your neighbor’s electricity to be an indicator of yours. Switch the power off to the entire house before going back in.
Take a video camera and record all the damage. You can also do this with a digital camera or one that takes traditional film, but a video camera is the most recommended method. Make sure you record all the belongings in the house that were damaged and their approximate value, if possible. This will help you out when your insurance claims adjuster comes to assess the damage to your home and decide how much compensation you will receive.
The entire home needs to be dried out as soon as possible, but do not use artificial heat sources such as space heaters or blowers to accomplish this. This will promote buckling or cupping of hardwood floors, if you have them, and may do more harm than good. Open the doors and windows throughout the house. Odds are good that until your home dries out completely, you will not be sleeping there, unless you have second floor that was not affected by the flood.
Look in the attic and see if your insulation has gotten wet. If it is fiberglass and has gotten wet, you will need to replace it. Wet fiberglass insulation is no longer any good.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
South Carolina Water Damage Restoration and and other states such as
Chicago Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states. (2)
Most of the time you cannot prepare for a flood to come upon your home, but you can do your best to prepare yourself for it mentally. This is done by equipping yourself with the knowledge necessary to dry out and repair the items in your home after the damage has already been done.
Before re-entering the house, you need to make sure that there is no electricity running to it, since there is probably still some standing water inside. This brings along with it a serious risk of electrocution that you need to be aware of. Do not rely on the condition of your neighbor’s electricity to be an indicator of yours. Switch the power off to the entire house before going back in.
Take a video camera and record all the damage. You can also do this with a digital camera or one that takes traditional film, but a video camera is the most recommended method. Make sure you record all the belongings in the house that were damaged and their approximate value, if possible. This will help you out when your insurance claims adjuster comes to assess the damage to your home and decide how much compensation you will receive.
The entire home needs to be dried out as soon as possible, but do not use artificial heat sources such as space heaters or blowers to accomplish this. This will promote buckling or cupping of hardwood floors, if you have them, and may do more harm than good. Open the doors and windows throughout the house. Odds are good that until your home dries out completely, you will not be sleeping there, unless you have second floor that was not affected by the flood.
Look in the attic and see if your insulation has gotten wet. If it is fiberglass and has gotten wet, you will need to replace it. Wet fiberglass insulation is no longer any good.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
South Carolina Water Damage Restoration and and other states such as
Chicago Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states. (2)
Drying Out A Home to Minimize Water Damage
If your home has been submerged in water, you are going to want to get it dried out as soon as possible, but there are a few things that you need to be made aware of before you attempt to do this. Floods are often unexpected events and preparing for them physically is usually not possible unless the flood comes as a result of a hurricane and even then, protecting the belongings that you have to leave in the house after you evacuate isn’t very easy to do. You can stop most rain from getting into the house, but not flood waters.
Before you go back into the house after the majority of the water has receded, you need to make sure that going into the house will not expose you to the risk of being electrocuted. You should not rely on the condition of your neighborhood’s electricity and assume that just because the rest of the neighborhood is without power, you are, too. Cut the electricity to the house completely off so that you can go back inside safely.
Get a video, digital, or traditional film camera and begin making a record of just how much damage was done to the home. Include just how long the house was under water, what was damaged, and approximately how much it will cost to repair or replace it. This will help a lot when you have to file a claim with your insurance company.
Help ventilate the house and start drying it out by opening all windows and doors, as long as it is not raining outside. The breeze blowing through the house should help dry things out a little faster, but do not use an artificial heat source to do this task. Drying out hardwood floors and some other items too quickly this way can do more damage to them than good, so using a space heater or a hot air blower is not advised.
Any electronic devices in the house should be let to dry out completely before you attempt to use them again. It is the electricity flowing through an electronic device that damages it to the point of being irreparable, not the water itself. The combination of the two is what does the damage.
Take wet furniture outside and allow them to dry out; put them in the shade, if possible. This is because direct sunlight can bleach fabrics and you do not want to do more damage to your furniture than has already been done.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
South Carolina Water Damage Restoration and and other states such as
Chicago Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states. (2)
Before you go back into the house after the majority of the water has receded, you need to make sure that going into the house will not expose you to the risk of being electrocuted. You should not rely on the condition of your neighborhood’s electricity and assume that just because the rest of the neighborhood is without power, you are, too. Cut the electricity to the house completely off so that you can go back inside safely.
Get a video, digital, or traditional film camera and begin making a record of just how much damage was done to the home. Include just how long the house was under water, what was damaged, and approximately how much it will cost to repair or replace it. This will help a lot when you have to file a claim with your insurance company.
Help ventilate the house and start drying it out by opening all windows and doors, as long as it is not raining outside. The breeze blowing through the house should help dry things out a little faster, but do not use an artificial heat source to do this task. Drying out hardwood floors and some other items too quickly this way can do more damage to them than good, so using a space heater or a hot air blower is not advised.
Any electronic devices in the house should be let to dry out completely before you attempt to use them again. It is the electricity flowing through an electronic device that damages it to the point of being irreparable, not the water itself. The combination of the two is what does the damage.
Take wet furniture outside and allow them to dry out; put them in the shade, if possible. This is because direct sunlight can bleach fabrics and you do not want to do more damage to your furniture than has already been done.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
South Carolina Water Damage Restoration and and other states such as
Chicago Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states. (2)
Bursting Water Pipe Prevention
If you have just moved into a home for the first time on your own or perhaps into a climate that gets very cold during the winter, you might not think about this water damage prevention technique, but in the winter time it is a very important thing to remember. This is the fact that water pipes can freeze, burst, and spill gallons upon gallons of water into or underneath your house. This typically happens when the temperature gets under about 20 degrees.
The water pipes that you can get access to fairly easily should be insulated with something to keep them warm and you need to realize that your pipes need to be exposed to as much warm air as possible during the winter to keep them from freezing up and bursting. If the area of concern is the kitchen or the bathroom, then you can open the cabinets so that the pipes underneath are exposed to the warm air of the household. Leave them this way as long as the temperature is under freezing outside and the pipes should have quite a bit of protection from bursting.
Make sure you know where your stop tap is in case the pipes do happen to burst. Knowing where this is located will make sure that you can turn the water off as quickly as possible should there be an incident. Labeling it is also a good idea.
If you are spending the winter in a warmer climate, you should have a relative or a friend check on your house and make sure that the pipes have not burst or frozen up.
Sometimes leaving a little bit of water running during the coldest parts of the winter is something that you can do to help prevent the pipes from freezing. Flowing water through the pipes is more difficult to freeze than standing water. They are less likely to freeze as quickly as pipes that have standing water inside them.
Your insurance policy will probably cover a burst pipe, since water damage is generally covered under these conditions. The only time that water damage is not covered is when it is caused by a hurricane or a flood and you do not have insurance for these events. Taking care of water spills like a burst pipe quickly is also very important to prevent the growth of mold in your home. This can be a serious health risk to your family and pets if it is allowed to start growing and it usually does after about 48 hours.
Jim Corkern is a writer and respected contributor to the Water damage restoration and mold remediation Industry. Visit his sites for more information.
http://www.localrestoration.com and
http://www.moldrestorationusa.com
The water pipes that you can get access to fairly easily should be insulated with something to keep them warm and you need to realize that your pipes need to be exposed to as much warm air as possible during the winter to keep them from freezing up and bursting. If the area of concern is the kitchen or the bathroom, then you can open the cabinets so that the pipes underneath are exposed to the warm air of the household. Leave them this way as long as the temperature is under freezing outside and the pipes should have quite a bit of protection from bursting.
Make sure you know where your stop tap is in case the pipes do happen to burst. Knowing where this is located will make sure that you can turn the water off as quickly as possible should there be an incident. Labeling it is also a good idea.
If you are spending the winter in a warmer climate, you should have a relative or a friend check on your house and make sure that the pipes have not burst or frozen up.
Sometimes leaving a little bit of water running during the coldest parts of the winter is something that you can do to help prevent the pipes from freezing. Flowing water through the pipes is more difficult to freeze than standing water. They are less likely to freeze as quickly as pipes that have standing water inside them.
Your insurance policy will probably cover a burst pipe, since water damage is generally covered under these conditions. The only time that water damage is not covered is when it is caused by a hurricane or a flood and you do not have insurance for these events. Taking care of water spills like a burst pipe quickly is also very important to prevent the growth of mold in your home. This can be a serious health risk to your family and pets if it is allowed to start growing and it usually does after about 48 hours.
Jim Corkern is a writer and respected contributor to the Water damage restoration and mold remediation Industry. Visit his sites for more information.
http://www.localrestoration.com and
http://www.moldrestorationusa.com
Biblical Mold Inspections
Most people realize that mold is a health hazard if it is let to grow inside our homes in almost any quantity, but trying to file an insurance claim on it is a pretty hard thing to do, since most homeowner’s insurance policies do not allow for mold claims. Unless the mold was caused by something that was covered by the policy and it occurred as a direct result of that event, it is not covered under most policies. A separate insurance policy covering only mold damage needs to be purchased.
Many insurance claims adjusters inspecting your home after water damage that your home was covered for will tell you that mold is not the big issue that everyone says that it is and it will not cause you any harm if you leave it there, but this is completely untrue. They will possibly attempt to get you to agree with them or concede that you may not actually need the remediation done, but unfortunately, this is a trick. If they need proof that mold has been a problem since ancient times, something that you can do is quote the Bible to them.
The texts in Leviticus chapter 14 are the oldest written accounts of mold affecting a home or business building. The book actually calls the infestation a “leprous plague” and it states it as a growth that appears on the walls. Families went to priests for this problem just as they would for any other problem occurring that concerned their homes or their lives and as with any other problem, the advice was always followed. That advice was to take everything out of the home contaminated with the growth and to throw it away far from town in what the scripture called an “unclean place”. After this was done, the house was closed off for a week and when the priest came back to do another inspection, if the growth had returned, then the house was torn down. All the building materials were taken to that unclean place also.
It is thought that even the last plague of Moses could be attributed to mold growth on the grains that the Egyptians stored underground to protect them from the locusts. Stachybotrys atra is thought to have contaminated these stored grains and those who ate them would have likely become sick. In ancient times, the first born Egyptian male was given special privileges that other children were not, such as a second portion of dinner. These children were given special privileges because they were the heirs to whatever property their fathers owned. Since they received more food than the rest of their family members, it is likely it would have been enough to make them deathly sick.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
water damage restoration companies and
mold remediation companies across the united states.
Many insurance claims adjusters inspecting your home after water damage that your home was covered for will tell you that mold is not the big issue that everyone says that it is and it will not cause you any harm if you leave it there, but this is completely untrue. They will possibly attempt to get you to agree with them or concede that you may not actually need the remediation done, but unfortunately, this is a trick. If they need proof that mold has been a problem since ancient times, something that you can do is quote the Bible to them.
The texts in Leviticus chapter 14 are the oldest written accounts of mold affecting a home or business building. The book actually calls the infestation a “leprous plague” and it states it as a growth that appears on the walls. Families went to priests for this problem just as they would for any other problem occurring that concerned their homes or their lives and as with any other problem, the advice was always followed. That advice was to take everything out of the home contaminated with the growth and to throw it away far from town in what the scripture called an “unclean place”. After this was done, the house was closed off for a week and when the priest came back to do another inspection, if the growth had returned, then the house was torn down. All the building materials were taken to that unclean place also.
It is thought that even the last plague of Moses could be attributed to mold growth on the grains that the Egyptians stored underground to protect them from the locusts. Stachybotrys atra is thought to have contaminated these stored grains and those who ate them would have likely become sick. In ancient times, the first born Egyptian male was given special privileges that other children were not, such as a second portion of dinner. These children were given special privileges because they were the heirs to whatever property their fathers owned. Since they received more food than the rest of their family members, it is likely it would have been enough to make them deathly sick.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
water damage restoration companies and
mold remediation companies across the united states.
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