Have you ever seen bread turn all the colors of the rainbow and become stiff as a board? That’s because a black bread mold species has taken control! You know it’s time to toss that hunk of mold in the trash, but do you know what really causes it?

What Is Black Bread Mold Species?

The usual black bread mold is rhizopus stolonifer. Mold feeds on dead matter. That’s why it likes your old bread that’s been sitting in the cabinet for a couple of months. This black bread mold species digests food on the outside of its body, rather than on the inside like most large organisms do.

The reason why this black bread mold species turns so many colors is that it changes once it starts to feed on the mold. At first, it is usually green or black. It changes colors as it goes through different stages of growth. The green or black mold grows only on the outside of the bread, and as it works its way inside, it begins to germinate more mold and grow.

If you actually looked at this mold under a microscope, you would see that it is actually a bunch of long stringy things. These are called “mycellum.” Different mold species have different types of mycellum which make it unique.

Mold Can Be A Good Thing!

When you find a neglected loaf of bread that is hard as a brick and covered in wispy multi-colored moldy goo, it’s easy to see how molds are undesirable to humans. However, some types of cheese owe much of their flavor to the presence of molds in them. These cheeses would not be the same without the mold.

Also, mold has been known to save lives. Penicillin, which is still one of the most widely-used antibiotics in the world, is the bi-product of a type of mold. After 50 years of searching for new and better medicine, Penicillin is still the most effective.

Get Rid Of The Mold!

In spite of the tasty cheese and life-saving antibiotics, you still don’t want any black bread mold species showing up in your kitchen. You should get rid of the moldy bread immediately, and make sure it doesn’t touch anything else.

The best thing to do is to put the bread in a sealed container before throwing it out. Black bread mold is dangerous to eat, of course, but it can also cause trouble if you breathe it in. Mold causes the most trouble when its spores become airborne, so make sure you have it contained.

Molds like warm, wet and dark places. Keep this in mind when storing bread. Try to keep your bread out of these conditions. If you leave the house for an extended period of time, make sure you don’t leave bread to mold anywhere, or you’ll have uninvited guests when you get back!

Can A Black Mold Health Problem Be Serious?

If you have black mold growing in your home, there is a good chance you will experience some black mold health problem. These can vary from a slight allergy, to very serious nerve and cell damage, depending on whether the mold is toxic or not.

The Effects Of Non-Toxic Mold

People react to black mold in various ways. Some are more sensitive than others. If there are large quantities of mold growing in your home, you will suffer worse symptoms.

Most commonly, people exposed to black mold will experience symptoms like a cold or sinus infection. These include nasal congestion, sore throat, eye and skin irritation, headache, sneezing, dry cough and shortness of breath.

Even common, non-toxic mold can cause serious health problems for kids, the elderly and those with asthma. In this case, a black mold health problem can be easily avoided by cleaning the mold and preventing it from growing again.

What About Toxic Black Mold?

Toxic black mold is a whole other story. Toxic black mold health problem can be very serious and even fatal. Toxic mold must be taken care of immediately.

These species of mold have toxic spores which can become airborne and infiltrate your body. They can cause damage to practically any part of your body, including lungs, skin, digestive organs and your brain. Toxic mold spores can cause irreparable harm your nervous system and immune system.

Symptoms of exposure to toxic spores include fatigue, memory loss, trouble breathing, mood disorders such as anxiety and depression, hair loss, kidney failure and more. Toxic spores destroy your body’s cells and can interfere with any type of bodily function.

A toxic black mold health problem could be quite serious. People who work in old buildings often suffer black mold health problems. Buildings that were built before mold testing standards were as rigorous today run the biggest risk.

How Common Is Toxic Black Mold?

There are no accurate statistics regarding the rate of toxic versus non-toxic mold. However, due to increased technology and awareness of the problem, there have been more reported cases recently. In any case, toxic mold is definitely not too rare to be considered a real threat.

Toxic black mold is most common in old buildings that have not been well maintained, but it can grow anywhere.

How Do I Know If My Mold Is Toxic?

Mold testing and inspection is expensive and not always reliable. Your best bet for the safety of yourself and your family, is to keep your home as mold free as possible.

If you see or smell mold, clean it as soon as possible. If there are leaky pipes or any other sources of water in your house, take care of them. These are perfect places for mold to grow.

Keep in mind that mold thrives in humid places. If any part of a house or building has been waterlogged, there will most definitely be mold. Dry things properly and make sure your home gets enough ventilation and sunlight.

Should I Get Black Mold Testing And Inspection?

Black mold growing in the home can be a serious health hazard, but testing and inspection for mold spores can be an expensive deal. So, how do you know that you should get black mold testing and inspection?

Black mold often grows in hidden places. You may experience an allergic reaction to mold before you see or smell it. If you have toxic mold growing in your house, you might experience irreversible damage to your health before you know what’s happening to you.

Before you call the inspector and bust out your cash, here are a few things to consider:

-If you can see or smell mold in your home, you know you have a mold problem without having to pay the inspector. No matter what kind of mold it is, it should be cleaned up as soon as possible and you should take measures to prevent further mold growth. In most cases, your eyes and nose will tell you if you have a problem.

-There is no standard for measuring mold levels. It is hard to analyze the results of black mold testing and inspection because there are no numbers to compare these results with.

-Spore levels vary according to the day and time, so a sample taken one day may not be reliable to measure overall mold levels. To get an accurate reading of mold levels, samples would have to be taken over a long period of time. The results of the tests will still tell you nothing about the affects on your health, because they cannot measure when and where you have been exposed in the past.

-Paying a black mold testing and inspection specialist will not go towards cleaning it up. If you are going to shell out the cash and take control of the mold, you may be better off paying to have it professionally cleaned up. In addition, insurance will usually not cover mold cleanup, so the costs can be quite high.

-There are mold remediation and removal scams! You may be surprised to hear this, but mold testing is big business. If you need to have tests done, make sure you find a reputable professional to do it. Make sure that the company is a Certified Mold Inspector. Make sure that they have the experience and knowledge that you need. Like all professionals who do work on your house, make sure that they can explain clearly what they are doing and why. Ask tough questions!

In specific instances you may need to have black mold testing and inspection. If you are filing an insurance claim, or if you are a landlord, you may need to take care of it. You also may need to have testing done if you are selling a house. Look for “mold testing and inspection” in your local yellow pages.

For most people, the best thing you can do is to educate yourself about mold. Then, take control of the situation. Clean up the mold when possible, or hire a professional. Finally, take measures to prevent mold from growing again.

Tips On Removing Black Spots From Mold On Shirts

Have you ever seen black spots on old shirts you haven’t worn in a while? It’s just what you think it is: black mold strikes again!

Often, you will see these black spots on old shirts and it is another instance of how this nasty stuff can get into everything. These black spots will also appear on clothes that have been waterlogged and left somewhere where they could not dry properly.

First off, don’t wear them. Wearing moldy clothes can irritate your skin and cause your natural mold allergies to kick in. And, it’s too late to hang the clothes up to dry. Once you see black spots from mold on shirts, you have to resort to stronger measures.

Cleanup

Here are some tips on removing black spots from mold on shirts:

-Crank up the washing machine. Get it full of water and ready to go.

-This stuff will take some deep cleaning. The best thing to get black spots from mold on shirts is borax. Use borax (about 20 multeam) and some hydrogen peroxide.

-Put the shirts in and put them on “spin.”

-After two minutes, stop the machine and let them just soak. Leave them in there for 4 hours.

-Start up the machine and let it run through a regular washing cycle.

-You may have to do this again if the black spots are not totally removed. It often takes two times. If the spots are still there, run through all these steps again.

It’s a lot of work! But, especially if you live in a warm, humid environment, it happens. If it happens once and you have to go through all of the above, I guarantee you’ll want to hang those clothes up properly next time.

Desperate Measures

One thing that has been found to be quite effective for taking mold off shirts and old clothes is regular mold remover. This is the stuff that you spray on moldy tiles in the bathroom.

However, this is strong stuff and it may cause the clothes to fade. Try this as a last ditch attempt, before you throw the clothes out. It is not recommended that you put ordinary household mold cleaners on your precious shirts!

Storing Your Clothes

The key to making sure this doesn’t happen again is to properly dry and store your clothes. Keep your clothes in a dry place. Also, make sure the clothes are clean when you store them.

If you store your winter clothes, and you live somewhere the summers are sticky and hot, be careful about where you store them. Ventilation helps keep mold away, so pack them away in a place where they’ll get some air. Make sure that, even when it’s cold or hot outside, you’re house gets plenty of air from outside. Fans also help to prevent mold buildup.

If it’s a big problem, you might consider getting a dehumidifier. This will help reduce mold levels all over your home, not just on your shirts.

Make sure that your home, and especially the place where you store your old shirts, is properly insulated. If water is allowed to condense within the walls, this will cause mold to grow everywhere.

Tips On Cleaning Up Mold In Construction

The best way to deal with mold clean up in construction is to not have any mold in the first place. It’s an old cliché, but prevention is the cure. If you keep in mind that water leads to mold, and use common sense, you can build a home that is not conducive to mold.

But, when there’s already a mold problem, we have to deal with it and it is not a fun situation. During construction, the clean up of mold is important and there are a few guidelines that should be followed.

Before you start your mold clean up, make sure you are not running an air conditioner or heater. You want to contain the mold as much as possible. While you are cleaning or moving moldy materials around, you must be careful that the mold spores don’t fly all over the house and end up starting a mold infestation somewhere else.

The best way to clean up mold is simple soap and water. This means lots and lots of scrubbing, but it’s the best way to get rid of the mold. A little bleach will help as well, but you should be careful with it. It can irritate any part of your body that comes into contact with it. For this reason, many people warn against using bleach.

If the soap and water does not remove the mold from the material, such as certain types of wood, the area will have to be removed. If it is this bad, you actually will have to cut out the part of the wall or wood that is moldy.

If you have to remove the moldy area, first tape it up with plastic tape. This will keep the mold from spreading. During removal, mold spores can become airborne and find a new home on a nearby surface. Cover the area as thoroughly as possible with plastic tape and then do your cutting.

If the wood is rotten, remove it. It is easy for mold to grown on rotted wood or wood that is water damaged, so it is best to remove the entire rotted area.

After you have cut out the moldy area, it is important to put all the pieces into a plastic bag. You don’t want to be carrying moldy material through the rest of the house where, again, the mold spores can be airborne and end up all over the place.

Sometimes, after you have cleaned up the mold with soap and water, the area of the wood will still be dark or discolored. This is a natural after-effect of the mold and there is nothing that can be done about it. If it really bothers you, you can repaint the wood, but this may be the beginning of a whole new project, as you will have to repaint everything!

If the room where you have mold is large (more than 10 square feet), you should cover the moldy area with plastic. This is just another precaution against letting the mold get everywhere. In the same way that you would be careful to contain dust, you want to make sure that mold stays under plastic as much as possible.

And, of course, wear a good mask and gloves. Cover your body as much as possible, since most people suffer slightly from mold allergies. The actual health risk is pretty low, but you don’t want to spend the next few days sneezing, wheezing, coughing and blowing your nose.

How You Can Tell You Have A Health Problem From Mold

Is your health problem from mold or from something else? It can be hard to tell if persistent health problems are mold related or not. Mold can grow just about anywhere, and the symptoms often resemble those of the common cold or other allergies.

My Mold Story

A few years ago, my wife suffered from what seemed to be persistent sinusitis. She had never had sinus trouble before, but suddenly, she constantly had a stuffy nose, sneezing and bad headaches.

I didn’t know much about mold at that time, or I would have recognized the warning signs. Her sinus trouble seemed to clear up when she left the house. It only bothered her at home and sometimes in certain other buildings.

We went to the doctor, who misdiagnosed it as sinusitis and prescribed a bunch of medicine that didn’t work. The symptoms got worse, until she started sometimes having trouble breathing.

We started to notice that her cold symptoms intensified in the bathroom. This tipped me off that it was something environmental. It turns out, we had mold growing on some of the ceiling tiles in the bathroom of our old house.

If you suffer a health problem from mold, a doctor may not be able to recognize the symptoms as mold allergy. About 1 in 5 people suffer from some form of allergy to common household mold.

If the mold growing in your home is toxic, it could cause permanent damage to your body. Toxic mold spores kill cells, and can damage not only your respiratory system, but your digestive system, skin and brain.

Do You Have A Health Problem From Mold?

Here are a few ways to tell you if you suffer a health problem from mold:

-In the same way as my wife and I, if certain parts of your house seem to trigger allergic reactions, that’s a sign that there’s an environmental cause.

-You live in a warm, humid environment and there are parts of your house which are humid or have water damage.

-Your allergic reactions seem to intensify instead of get better with the doctor’s antibiotics. Not all doctors have experience with mold, so it may be hard for them to recognize the symptoms.

What To Do About It

Many people have health problems from mold, so it is important to take care of it. Try to keep your home mold free by getting plenty of air circulation. Be careful of things that have not been properly dried.

Mold likes to grow in hard to reach places, like under carpets and behind things. Regularly check these places for mold.

If you have a mold problem, take care of it right away. Scrub those areas hard with borax or a store bought mold cleaner. If the problem is very severe, or if you can not handle the job by yourself, you might want to consider hiring a professional.

Get rid of the mold before it becomes a problem for you and your family.

Toxic Mold: A Growing Health Problem

Toxic mold in your home can cause a major health problem. While every home or building has its fair share of mold growing there, some houses contain mold that is toxic. Toxic mold is rare, but exposure over a period of time can be much more serious.

Which Molds Are Toxic?

Most people experience some kind of allergic reaction in the presence of mold. This usually includes runny nose, sneezing, coughing and headaches. Mold allergy is much like dust allergy, or common environmental allergies. Its symptoms resemble a cold, and it is not a major health problem.

But, lately there have been major lawsuits over mold, costing large amounts of money. The mold problem has led to buildings being destroyed and victims claiming thousands in damages. This is due to toxic mold and the health problems associated with it.

The culprits are just a few species of related toxic molds. The most common are stachybotrys mold (also referred to simply as “black mold”), aspergillus and penicillium, the mold from which Penicillin is made.

These deadly toxic molds produce spores which have mycotoxins in them. These mycotoxins are the root of these health problems.

How Does Toxic Mold Cause A Health Problem?

The mold takes root in your home, and the spores are released to the air. The spores can get into your body a number of ways, but most commonly through breathing. They can also get into your skin, eyes or stomach if eaten.

Once inside your lungs, the mycotoxins can spread throughout your damage. They kill cell tissue and can damage internal organs, skin and even your brain. They also destroy an important chemical in your nerves, which causes damage to your central nervous system.

At the present there is little medical evidence to back up for certain which illnesses are caused by toxic black mold. However, research has shown a link between toxic mold and diseases such as leukemia, kidney and liver cancer and respiratory illnesses. Evidence suggests that these mycotoxins may interfere with a person’s DNA.

The effects on the brain can be most serious. Those who are exposed to toxic mold often experience fatigue, memory loss and mood disorders such as anxiety and depression. This is because of the way the mycotoxins destroy cell tissue in the brain.

Sick Buildings And Toxic Mold

Lately, there have been many reported cases of “Sick Building Syndrome.” Some old buildings have terrible mold problems, and those who work or spend lots of time in them experience a wide range of health problems. Now, companies and organizations are trying to clean up all these old buildings and remove the mold and other dangerous substances. There are also quite a few lawsuits claiming that companies have been negligent in meeting environmental safety standards.

About 1 in 4 American homes have mold problems. Although the incidence of toxic mold infestation is relatively low, it is a concern that should be taken seriously. You should always work to rid your house of mold and try to prevent its re-growth. You and your family’s health are at stake.

The Toxic Mold Exposure Cure : Prevention!

The toxic mold exposure treatment cure is identification and prevention. First, you must find the mold and then eliminate it. As a follow up, you must keep the mold from coming back.

Toxic mold grows nearly everywhere. Unfortunately, it is commonly found in our houses, right under our noses! Lots of old buildings also have chronic mold problems. This is called “Sick Building Syndrome.”

About 1 in 5 people experience an adverse reaction to black mold, and for those who are exposed to toxic mold, the health consequences can be very serious.

Symptoms

Do you feel like you have a constant cold or sinus problem, even when you are otherwise healthy? Do you have eye or skin irritation, and you can’t figure out what’s causing it? Do you have trouble breathing but no long-term respiratory problems such as asthma?

Toxic mold allergy symptoms often resemble those of a cold or sinusitis. You might also experience itchiness around the eyes, headaches, fatigue and mood disorders.

How Do I Know It’s Mold?

It is often hard to determine whether your lingering cold or mood swings are related to mold or something else. If you are not sure, you could get a mold inspection done on your home, but this is expensive.

One hint that you may have a mold problem is that you get congested or have trouble breathing in certain parts of the house or building. This means that you are reacting to the mold that might be hidden behind a wall or under a carpet.

Step 1 – Find The Mold

The first thing to do is find the mold. One idea that works well is to keep a diary of your allergic symptoms. Write down when and where you experience a reaction. This will help you determine if certain rooms in the house may have mold.

The most common culprits are kitchens and bathrooms. Basically, any humid place is a breeding ground for mold. Also, look for places that are shut up and have poor ventilation.

Step 2 – Get Rid Of The Mold

Now that you’ve found the black stuff growing on your tiles or in your walls, you must eliminate it. The best cure is simply scrubbing with soap and water. This can be arduous, but it is the best way to go.

If there is a large area covered with mold, you may have to remove tiles and boards. This may be a major construction job, so you might want to pay a professional to take care of it for you.

If you are cleaning mold, be sure to protect your lungs. Wear a protective mask and, in general, keep the mold off anything else (including your body!). If you have a serious reaction to mold, don’t do the cleaning yourself. Make somebody else do it. And make sure there is good ventilation.

Step 3 – Keep The Mold From Coming Back

This is the hardest part. Mold likes to grow in humid, warm environments. If you keep your eye out for mold on a regular basis, and clean it in little bits as it grows here and there, you won’t have to do another major clean up job in the future.

The cure for mold problems is prevention. If you have a serious allergic reaction, you should see a doctor. You will probably always have an allergic reaction to mold, but prescription medicines can help you control your allergies.