Found Mold While Prepping For The Holidays?

Finding Mold During Holiday Prep

Regardless of what holidays you celebrate, the 2020 holiday season will be looking a little different this year. The holidays are right around the corner with just a few weeks to spare! With everything that has happened this year, we know everyone is looking forward to a little holiday cheer. Maybe you’re planning on having a small gathering with loved ones, so you’re doing some cleaning and decorating while prepping for the holidays. While prepping for the holidays and getting your home nice and clean, you may have found mold hidden in spaces that haven’t been checked for a while. Whether it be behind seasonal decorations, or hidden in an area that doesn’t get much attention, you may be faced with moisture issues that need to be addressed. 

Prepping for the holidays looks different for everyone. For the most part, people will be cleaning, reorganizing, and decorating their homes to be as welcoming as possible. The good news is, the house looks great! The bad news is that any one of these prep rituals has the potential to uncover mold or water damage within your home. When prepping for the holidays in your home, there are quite a few signs of mold to be aware of.

Signs Of A Potential Mold Problem In Your Home 

• Odor: Mold gives off a very distinct odor unlike most other things in your home. It has a musty, organic smelling odor that can be relatively easy to identify. If you should detect an odor in your home that is out of the ordinary while prepping for the holidays, you should prioritize identifying the source of that odor. While it can be more difficult to identify than some other visual signs of moisture damage, odor is a huge indicator that there is mold or water damage in your home.
• Excess Moisture: Holiday decor and other seasonal items are often stored in attics, crawl spaces, and basements. These areas are generally prone to experiencing more humidity, excess moisture buildup and improper ventilation than other areas of the home. These conditions allow mold the opportunity to rapidly develop. If you are aware that your basement, attic or crawl space is experiencing excess moisture, do what you can to eliminate as much moisture as possible. You can install proper ventilation and even employ the use of a dehumidifier to minimize moisture in these potentially problematic areas.
• Staining: While getting all your decorations and seasonal home decor items out, you may uncover some staining beneath those items that was previously unable to be seen. Dark staining on wood or other porous building materials is indicative of prolonged water damage of some variety. Mold develops very quickly – within 24-48 hours in the right conditions. However long the staining has been there does not matter, as long as it is taken care of as soon as possible. 
• Visible Growth: In some circumstances you will be able to plainly see mold growth while prepping for the holidays. Mold can be seen in a variety of forms, including black, gray, brown, white, green, and any color you can imagine. Other visual indicators include chalky or fuzzy looking substances on the surfaces of your home, or even patches of discoloration can indicate an issue. You may also notice large clusters of actual mold spores on the surfaces of your home. All of these signs are obvious identifiers for mold and moisture problems within your home.

Prepping for the holidays only comes around for a short time every year. It is highly possible that issues had been developing in secret before this time. If you have noticed any of the signs that have been mentioned, we encourage you to contact a professional mold inspection and remediation company in your area to handle the problem. Your professional mold inspector should assess the damage and create a scope of work for the cleanup process.

Don’t Let Mold Put The Holidays On Hold 

Should you uncover mold or moisture damage while prepping for the holidays, the best course of action will be to contact a professional as soon as possible. Professionals will be able to identify the extent of the damage and come up with a plan for remediation in the areas of contamination. A properly trained technician will know how to handle any and all mold issues so that you can get back to your holiday festivities.