Mold Removal Is Ineffective Without Basement Waterproofing

Mold and mildew are omnipresent threats that can inflict themselves upon your home at any time -- but if you have water leaking into your basement, you're at much greater risk. Mold spores are kind of like plant seeds; all they need to grow are the right conditions. It just so happens that the conditions that exist if you're in need of basement waterproofing -- the dark, damp areas behind the furniture where no one treads -- are exactly the right ones for growing mold and mildew. Mold Spores: The Invisible Killer OK, maybe 'killer' is a bit of hyperbole, but mold spores can be very bad for your health. Mold patches growing in your basement can throw off spores that will filter through your entire house. If those spores should happen to make their way into your lungs -- which they can easily do -- you won't know it until you get sick and have trouble breathing. Many people think that they don't have to worry about mold spores because they can't smell them. They don't realize that by the time you can smell them, the mold spores are thick enough in the air that you've probably already got something growing in your lungs. That's why mold removal is such an important service -- but mold removal will also come back in weeks or even days if you don't also get a basement waterproofing crew out to seal up your cellar. Why Basement Waterproofing? In short, your basement is the wettest place in the house. Water vapor travels downward as it cools -- often ending up in the basement, particularly if the stairs down are anywhere near the kitchen. That often condenses on basement windows and then drips onto the walls and floor. You've also got water coming in through any connections the basement has to the outdoors (including the heat pump's tubes, the firewood trapdoor, the basement bathroom fan's exhaust, and so on). More water can get in through tiny cracks in the walls or floor, especially if you don't have an effective gutter system in place. All those different sources of water leakage serve to make the basement humid, which in turn means that any tiny pools of dampness that form don't dry up because the air is already thick with water. When those mold spores happen across the damp spot, they land and blossom. Overnight, they can form a small patch of mold that will serve to collect more water and thus allow more mold to grow. That's why basement waterproofing is so vital in the mold removal process. Mold spores are everywhere -- you bring them home with you when you go outside, they blow in through open windows, and so on. Normally there aren't enough of them to cause problems, but without effective basement waterproofing, you're just asking them to settle in and reproduce -- just asking for hacking coughs and burbling breaths. Get your basement waterproofed and your mold removed; your lungs will thank you.