House flipping is an alluring business venture for almost anyone interested in making a lot of money in a short period of time, but it is not typically as easy as the home decorating shows make it out to be. While they do tend to show most of the problems that can arise while you are renovating a home for sale, what they do not do is put you and your money in the situation. It takes a lot of patience and resourcefulness and if you do not have at least both of these things, you will not succeed in this endeavor.
One of the biggest problems that can surface when you are renovating a home for resale is the presence of mold. Mold growing inside a home can be a huge problem to deal with financially and can completely ruin your budget and possibly the entire project. Before you purchase a property for any reason, you should have it tested for mold growth. As long as you do this and the house comes up clean, you should have no problem with mold growth.
Even if you have already purchased the home and find mold in it, all is not lost. Most of the time removing the affected building materials that have mold on them will fix the problem, but you need to make sure that the mold is dead to be certain. If the mold is dead and there is not a moisture problem in the home, you should be fine. You will run into more problems, however, if you discover that there is a water leakage problem in the home. Any water leaks in the house can lead to mold growth and water damaged materials need to be removed as soon as possible. Look for signs of water damage wherever the mold growth appeared to see if anything needs to be replaced. This is especially true in bathrooms, even if no mold was found there. Floors that have cracked tile in them need to be checked for signs of rotting, so you are certain that you are not installing a new tile floor only to have it collapse later on. The structural integrity of the floors is extremely important for a good flip, because if the brand new toilet, tub, sink, and vanity all fall through the floor later on, you will definitely have some explaining to do to your buyer.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
water damage restoration companies and
mold remediation companies across the united states.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
HEPA Filter Items Reduce Mold in Your Air
Whether you are attempting a large scale mold remediation in your home or you just want to keep the mold spore level in the air of your home down on a daily basis, items that have HEPA filters in them will go a long way to assisting you in this.
“HEPA” is an acronym standing for “High Efficiency Particulate Air” and it does exactly what the name suggests: it removes 99.9% of particles out of the air in your home, including mold spores, dust, gas, smoke, allergens, and etcetera. You may not realize it, but the air inside your house may be what is making you sick, since breathing air of poor quality can cause all kinds of health problems such as headaches, dizziness, red eye, congestion, fatigue, and can aggravate asthma and other respiratory conditions.
The HEPA filter technology was first developed by the United States Atomic Energy Commission to get rid of radioactive particles in the air. To quality as a real HEPA filter, it must be able to remove 99.97% of any particles that are as small as 0.3 microns. This is equal to about 1/300 of the diameter of one of the hairs on your head. These are usually used in hospitals and in clean rooms of laboratories or anywhere that clean air is important.
There are a few different products that you can purchase to help you breathe better air in your home. These are a HEPA filtered vacuum cleaner and an air purifying system equipped with a HEPA filter. Dyson is one of the most popular brands, but it is also one of the most expensive.
HEPA filtered air purifiers are also quite expensive and most of them cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars. They can also be purchased by how large of an air space that you need to have cleaned. Ionic air purifiers have been competing with these, however, because the ionic purifiers make no noise.
Almost anything with a HEPA filter in it is going to be expensive, but in the end it will probably be worth it, especially if you have small children or elderly people in the house. It will be even more beneficial if you or a member of your house has a respiratory condition like emphysema or asthma. If you are about to take on a large mold remediation project, purchasing a respirator equipped with a HEPA filter may be something that you want to consider, since opening up walls and removing contaminated material will stir up all kinds of particles.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
water damage restoration and
mold remediation companies across the united states.
“HEPA” is an acronym standing for “High Efficiency Particulate Air” and it does exactly what the name suggests: it removes 99.9% of particles out of the air in your home, including mold spores, dust, gas, smoke, allergens, and etcetera. You may not realize it, but the air inside your house may be what is making you sick, since breathing air of poor quality can cause all kinds of health problems such as headaches, dizziness, red eye, congestion, fatigue, and can aggravate asthma and other respiratory conditions.
The HEPA filter technology was first developed by the United States Atomic Energy Commission to get rid of radioactive particles in the air. To quality as a real HEPA filter, it must be able to remove 99.97% of any particles that are as small as 0.3 microns. This is equal to about 1/300 of the diameter of one of the hairs on your head. These are usually used in hospitals and in clean rooms of laboratories or anywhere that clean air is important.
There are a few different products that you can purchase to help you breathe better air in your home. These are a HEPA filtered vacuum cleaner and an air purifying system equipped with a HEPA filter. Dyson is one of the most popular brands, but it is also one of the most expensive.
HEPA filtered air purifiers are also quite expensive and most of them cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars. They can also be purchased by how large of an air space that you need to have cleaned. Ionic air purifiers have been competing with these, however, because the ionic purifiers make no noise.
Almost anything with a HEPA filter in it is going to be expensive, but in the end it will probably be worth it, especially if you have small children or elderly people in the house. It will be even more beneficial if you or a member of your house has a respiratory condition like emphysema or asthma. If you are about to take on a large mold remediation project, purchasing a respirator equipped with a HEPA filter may be something that you want to consider, since opening up walls and removing contaminated material will stir up all kinds of particles.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
water damage restoration and
mold remediation companies across the united states.
Controlling Humidity to Prevent Mold
There are a number of ways to keep the humidity in your home from building up to a level that it allows mold to grow inside the house. The air in your home should not be made completely dry, however, because both airs that are too dry or too wet can cause you and the other members of your household significant discomfort. Having air that is too dry in your home can cause nosebleeds, but having air that is too wet will allow mold to grow, which in turn can cause some serious health problems.
One thing that you should seriously consider is installing a dehumidifier in your basement, if you have one. This is one of the most difficult areas of your home to keep the humidity down in, so sometimes purchasing a piece of equipment to help is necessary. Other ways to keep the humidity in your basement down are pretty cheap, though, in comparison. If the concrete walls in your basement are leaking, you can usually fix this with an injection of concrete using a caulking gun. Something else that you can do is to install an exhaust fan in the basement to alleviate some of the moisture. If you use the basement to do laundry, one of the worst things that you can do is hang clothes up to dry there, since as the clothes dry out, the moisture evaporates and saturates the air around them.
To keep your house as dry as possible, you need to clean up spills of water as soon as they happen and these spills are most likely to happen in the kitchen or the bathroom. Both of these rooms should have tile installed on the floor that is water tight, so any spills that do occur do not leak water into the sub-flooring. Sub-flooring that keeps getting wet will eventually crumble, leaving your toilet, bathtub, or sink on the ground under the house. Most people have not had to deal with a floor collapse in their home, but water damage or termites are the usual culprits.
Replacing the plumbing in your home can also help with preventing water damage (and thus, excess humidity) in the house. Older homes may have plumbing that needs to be replaced, since these can not only become inefficient due to mineral buildup inside them, but are also more likely to leak. If you notice any discoloration of the drywall in your house near the bathroom, kitchen, or laundry room, you might have a leak behind the wall that needs to be dealt with.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
water damage restoration and
mold remediation companies across the united states.
One thing that you should seriously consider is installing a dehumidifier in your basement, if you have one. This is one of the most difficult areas of your home to keep the humidity down in, so sometimes purchasing a piece of equipment to help is necessary. Other ways to keep the humidity in your basement down are pretty cheap, though, in comparison. If the concrete walls in your basement are leaking, you can usually fix this with an injection of concrete using a caulking gun. Something else that you can do is to install an exhaust fan in the basement to alleviate some of the moisture. If you use the basement to do laundry, one of the worst things that you can do is hang clothes up to dry there, since as the clothes dry out, the moisture evaporates and saturates the air around them.
To keep your house as dry as possible, you need to clean up spills of water as soon as they happen and these spills are most likely to happen in the kitchen or the bathroom. Both of these rooms should have tile installed on the floor that is water tight, so any spills that do occur do not leak water into the sub-flooring. Sub-flooring that keeps getting wet will eventually crumble, leaving your toilet, bathtub, or sink on the ground under the house. Most people have not had to deal with a floor collapse in their home, but water damage or termites are the usual culprits.
Replacing the plumbing in your home can also help with preventing water damage (and thus, excess humidity) in the house. Older homes may have plumbing that needs to be replaced, since these can not only become inefficient due to mineral buildup inside them, but are also more likely to leak. If you notice any discoloration of the drywall in your house near the bathroom, kitchen, or laundry room, you might have a leak behind the wall that needs to be dealt with.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
water damage restoration and
mold remediation companies across the united states.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
