How To Get Rid Of Mold On Your Marble Surfaces Permanently
Indoor exposure to mold spores can lead to various short term and long term symptoms, including nasal and sinus congestion, blurred vision, eye irritation, and chronic cough, according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. While mold is a naturally occurring fungus with a key role in the natural environment, allowing any traces of it to grow in your home could have serious health implications for you and your family, which is why you must always take measures to get rid of it the moment you even suspect that it exists in your home. However, getting rid of mold permanently can be a daunting task, and can be particularly problematic if you have marble surfaces in wet areas like the kitchen or bathroom. Natural stones has a high potential for developing mold, but it can be managed easily if you take steps to ensure that you get rid of all the mold on your marble walls, floors and countertops, and prevent it from ever growing back.
Start with a thorough inspection
In many cases, it’s almost impossible to detect a mold infestation, especially when it is in a hidden area like between the grout lines of your marble tiles. When the conditions are ideal, mold takes just a few days to grow and spread on marble tiles, which means that you need to be constantly on the lookout for any signs of an infestation. As such, you need to perform a visual inspection of your marble surfaces at least once a month. To be on the safe side, you can also hire a professional mold inspector once every six months or right after the wet seasons. Using specialized equipment, they can take surface and air samples of your home to a laboratory to get a better understanding of the extent of your mold problem.
Conduct a proper mold remediation exercise
Once you know the extent of your mold problem after the inspection, you’ll know the best way to deal with it. If the problem is not too severe, you clean the mold off your marble surfaces yourself by spraying the area with a mixture of bleach and water, leaving it to sit for about an hour, wiping the area with clean water, and finally, allowing the area to dry completely. Do not use vinegar on marble, as it can weaken, dissolve or discolor the natural stone. In more severe cases, it’s best to hire a professional mold remediation expert to come in with special tools and techniques that ensure that your mold problem is a thing of the past.
Prevent the return of mold
All your mold detection and remediation efforts will be futile if you don’t take the necessary measures to prevent it from growing back. First of all, keep your marble surfaces clean and dry at all times to avoid creating damp areas where mold can thrive. Any water-related problems, such as plumbing leaks, roof leaks, and wet basements also need to be dealt with the minute they arise. If possible, try to keep the humidity level in your home below 50 percent; you can use a dehumidifier for that, or proper ventilation systems throughout your home. If the mold had damaged the grouting between your marble tiles, make sure that you re-grout the tiles and seal the grout to prevent moisture from building up in there.
A mold infestation on your beautiful marble surfaces is not only a threat to your health, but also a threat to the structural integrity of your home. To be on the safe side, inspect your home for mold regularly, and if you find any signs of an infestation, take the necessary action to deal with it once and for all.
Member Guest post by: Jane Sandwood
Leave a comment
Comments will be approved before showing up.
