While there is no real way to completely get rid of the mold that exists in both our outdoor and indoor environments, there are some things that we can do to keep mold from growing on our food and our belongings. This typically happens when items like clothing are improperly stored or when foods are improperly preserved in our refrigerators. Whatever the cause may be, it is very likely that we can prevent these instances of mold from occurring if we just exercise a little diligence in the maintenance of our homes.
Mold likes to grow in the refrigerator, especially in jars of jellies and jams, but as long as we keep our refrigerators clean and free of contaminated items, mold will not grow as quickly. Take an inventory of the items in your refrigerator and make sure nothing is sorely outdated. Outdated items can be used for a short period after they expire, but if they start to show discoloration or mold growth, they should be thrown away immediately. Fruits and vegetables that show signs of mold growth should also be thrown away and anything else they were touching, especially other fruits and vegetables, should be washed.
Mold also likes to grow on clothing that has been packed too tightly into a closet space or other container. Air needs to be able to circulate through the entirety of the closet and some closets have air vents located in them to help with this, but if you pack clothes too tightly, then the vent cannot do its job.
If you have baby bottles in your kitchen, then you might have a problem with getting them completely dry if you do not have a dishwasher. If you have to wash your dishes by hand, then the best thing to do in order to keep mold from beginning to grow inside these and other oddly shaped bottles is to dry them the best that you can and put them in your freezer immediately after. Leave them in there until you need the bottles again.
Wet clothes or towels should never be tossed on the bathroom floor or into a hamper and left there. Any clothes that you throw on top of them will become contaminated with mold after they have been left there after anywhere from 24 to 48 hours. Some molds will grow after 24 hours, but many require up to 48 hours to begin to multiply. Wet clothes should be washed immediately.
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
Friday, September 28, 2007
Mold and Your Lawn
Did you know that mold can grow on your lawn and kill all the grass that you worked so hard on during the spring, summer, and fall? Well, you might have known that mold spores and fungi like mushrooms can grow in your front and backyard, but maybe you were not aware of the mold that can grow underneath the blankets of snow that fall during the winter. It is true: if snow falls on your lawn and does not melt for a long period of time, mold can start growing and kill the grass underneath. This is especially true if the grass has not stopped growing before the snow falls and if the snow is thick and wet. Another significant factor is that the ground the snow falls on top of is not frozen.
The only real symptom that you should be able to see besides the mold growth itself is the appearance of large circular patches of dead grass. These circles can be from 3 up to 12 inches wide, but in the most extreme cases of snow mold, you may not be able to distinguish one patch from the next because the mold has killed so much of your lawn.
Pink snow mold appears to be the most dangerous to your grass and it is caused by a mold called Microdochium nivale. This mold, when it matures, can be a light to a dark pink color. This is the most dangerous kind of mold to your lawn because it kills not only the blades of grass, but also the roots. This needs to be treated as soon as possible before it kills your entire lawn, if it has not already.
Gray snow mold can be caused by a few different species in a genus called Typhula and it can be anywhere from gray to white in color. These molds typically do not do more damage to the grass than affecting the blades; the roots are not typically affected.
Snow molds like to grow in temperatures that are just above freezing and in moist conditions. Even though it is called “snow” mold, it can also be caused when leaves are left covering a patch of grass for too long.
Preventing snow mold is not too difficult, but sometimes it will occur, anyway. Do not fertilize your lawn less than six weeks before cold weather starts to come in and causes the grass to stop growing. This can cause a spurt of green growth that the mold will feed on after it starts to grow underneath the snowfall.
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.
The only real symptom that you should be able to see besides the mold growth itself is the appearance of large circular patches of dead grass. These circles can be from 3 up to 12 inches wide, but in the most extreme cases of snow mold, you may not be able to distinguish one patch from the next because the mold has killed so much of your lawn.
Pink snow mold appears to be the most dangerous to your grass and it is caused by a mold called Microdochium nivale. This mold, when it matures, can be a light to a dark pink color. This is the most dangerous kind of mold to your lawn because it kills not only the blades of grass, but also the roots. This needs to be treated as soon as possible before it kills your entire lawn, if it has not already.
Gray snow mold can be caused by a few different species in a genus called Typhula and it can be anywhere from gray to white in color. These molds typically do not do more damage to the grass than affecting the blades; the roots are not typically affected.
Snow molds like to grow in temperatures that are just above freezing and in moist conditions. Even though it is called “snow” mold, it can also be caused when leaves are left covering a patch of grass for too long.
Preventing snow mold is not too difficult, but sometimes it will occur, anyway. Do not fertilize your lawn less than six weeks before cold weather starts to come in and causes the grass to stop growing. This can cause a spurt of green growth that the mold will feed on after it starts to grow underneath the snowfall.
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.
Protect Your Infant From Mold And Possibly Eliminate Crib Death
Something that a lot parents hate and cannot understand these days are diseases and disorders that the medical community claim that they cannot do anything about at this point in time. Parents become outraged when it happens to their child and the medical community says that there was nothing that they could have done to help or to prevent it from happening and this is the case with the occurrence we have come to call SIDS -- Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
The term itself is a misnomer: it is not a “syndrome”. It is the act of dying suddenly and inexplicably. In European countries, it is also called “cot death”, since it is most commonly associated with babies that die in their cribs. The health care system of the United States has said that there is no true explanation of why crib death occurs, but a man in New Zealand may have come up with an answer… over a decade ago.
A man in New Zealand has begun a crusade against crib death and has pointed to a very likely explanation for it.
Most flame retardant mattresses contain one of three chemicals: antimony, arsenic, or phosphorus. These chemicals are poisonous to us as human beings and you have to wonder why they are being put in our mattresses in the first place, much less in the mattress of an infant.
We all know that babies will get their mattresses and bedding wet from spilling milk, juice, urinating through their diapers, and etcetera, but what happens when these spills do not get cleaned up properly? Mold can grow in mattresses just as easily as carpet or on wet clothing, but the difference is that when mold begins to grow in a mattress made with these poisonous chemicals, they (like anything else on the planet that digests things) secrete gases. Since mold is consuming poisonous chemicals, is it not safe to say that these gases are also poisonous? An infant sleeping on its stomach and breathing in these gases would probably die, right? It is a fact that less babies have died since the advice was given to sleep a child on his or her back instead of on their stomach.
His advice says to not re-use an old baby mattress, but to buy a new one when you have another child because the instances of crib death have shown to increase with the more children you have. It is more common in children that are the 2nd, 3rd, and so on in their family.
Special mattress wraps can also be purchased out of New Zealand for less than $50.
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.
The term itself is a misnomer: it is not a “syndrome”. It is the act of dying suddenly and inexplicably. In European countries, it is also called “cot death”, since it is most commonly associated with babies that die in their cribs. The health care system of the United States has said that there is no true explanation of why crib death occurs, but a man in New Zealand may have come up with an answer… over a decade ago.
A man in New Zealand has begun a crusade against crib death and has pointed to a very likely explanation for it.
Most flame retardant mattresses contain one of three chemicals: antimony, arsenic, or phosphorus. These chemicals are poisonous to us as human beings and you have to wonder why they are being put in our mattresses in the first place, much less in the mattress of an infant.
We all know that babies will get their mattresses and bedding wet from spilling milk, juice, urinating through their diapers, and etcetera, but what happens when these spills do not get cleaned up properly? Mold can grow in mattresses just as easily as carpet or on wet clothing, but the difference is that when mold begins to grow in a mattress made with these poisonous chemicals, they (like anything else on the planet that digests things) secrete gases. Since mold is consuming poisonous chemicals, is it not safe to say that these gases are also poisonous? An infant sleeping on its stomach and breathing in these gases would probably die, right? It is a fact that less babies have died since the advice was given to sleep a child on his or her back instead of on their stomach.
His advice says to not re-use an old baby mattress, but to buy a new one when you have another child because the instances of crib death have shown to increase with the more children you have. It is more common in children that are the 2nd, 3rd, and so on in their family.
Special mattress wraps can also be purchased out of New Zealand for less than $50.
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.
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