Residents and visitors alike love The Sunshine State. However, the state’s consistently warm subtropical climate creates the ideal conditions for mold spore growth. Mold growth in your Florida home can trigger allergies, worsen asthma, and cause respiratory issues. It can also damage your property. iMold in Fort Myers, FL is a cleaning and restoration company that provides solutions for mold. These simple steps can help you reduce the humidity that leads to mold growing in your home.
1. Control Indoor Humidity With Proper Ventilation
Proper ventilation improves airflow, reducing and controlling the indoor humidity that mold needs for growth. Good airflow helps reduce moist indoor air and replaces it with fresh, drier air from the outdoors. It helps prevent moisture from increasing in stagnant areas like bathrooms and kitchens.
Check your exhaust fans in the kitchen, bathrooms, and laundry room. Ensure each fan vents outside and not into your attic or crawlspace. You need to check and clean your exhaust fans every six months to keep them operating effectively. Make sure to check the exterior of the vent to ensure leaves, debris, or bird nests don’t block it.
2. Dehumidifiers and Well-Maintained HVAC Systems
Another way to decrease humidity in your home is a whole-home or portable dehumidifier. They can help keep your relative humidity around 50%. When it goes above 60%, mold growth becomes a greater risk.
You also need to maintain your HVAC system. Keep your filters changed and schedule professional maintenance. An appropriately sized HVAC system also helps reduce humidity inside your home. Oversized systems tend to short-cycle, causing them to shut off too quickly to handle the moisture. Undersized units will also struggle to remove humidity, even through long run times.
Homes with neglected HVAC systems are more likely to experience mold growth. Working with an HVAC professional can help ensure you have access to the systems that will control humidity in your home.
3. Take Care of Leaks Quickly to Prevent Moisture Issues
Your plumbing can also cause mold to grow in your home, especially if you have hidden leaks. They help create damp environments where mold thrives.
Even small drips can lead to hidden mold behind walls or under your flooring. Our mold remediation team in Fort Myers often finds long-term leaks associated with mold growth in homes.
4. Seal Windows, Doors, and Crawl Spaces
Florida’s humid outdoor air can easily seep in through cracks and crevices around doors, windows, and crawl spaces. These areas can create moisture problems that lead to mold and mildew.
We recommend sealing all cracks and gaps with weatherstripping or caulk to prevent humid outdoor air from affecting your home environment. Sealing these areas will also help your HVAC system work more efficiently, saving you money.
An unsealed crawl space can trap excess moisture from the ground and air. The darkness and moist environment create the perfect environment for mold growth. It begins to thrive on wood and other organic materials.
Once mold growth invades your crawl space, it can begin to enter your home through cracks and gaps in the subfloor. Additionally, the temperature difference between the crawl space and the indoor environment can create condensation on surfaces, helping encourage mold growth.
Having a professional seal your crawl space helps prevent excess moisture and keep the area clean. It can make a big difference in the indoor air quality of your home.
5. Clean and Dry Wet Areas
Many items can trap moisture inside your home, leading to the danger of mold growth. Wet towels, shower walls, and damp rugs can all cause excess moisture to build up. That is why the bathroom is one of the prime locations for mold growth.
It only takes a few minutes to protect your home from moisture. Dry your towels immediately, and wipe down your shower walls with a squeegee or towel. Eliminating the excess moisture will help you protect every room in your home.
Additionally, keep surfaces clean and dry. In our experience, mold tends to grow in overlooked areas, such as behind the toilet or under sinks. Maintaining these areas can go a long way toward keeping your home free of mold.
6. Improve Attic Insulation
Attics trap heat and moisture, making them one of the most common areas for mold growth in Florida homes. Without proper insulation, mold growth can spread throughout your home.
Adequate insulation in your attic space can help prevent heat transfer that leads to moisture buildup. There are multiple types of insulation, including fiberglass, spray foam, and cellulose. Spray foam is the most effective because it doesn’t absorb moisture or harbor mold growth.
7. Manage Your Household Habits
Your household habits can contribute to humidity problems in your home. For instance, long, hot showers feel amazing, but they create a significant amount of steam buildup. A long, steamy shower may overwhelm your exhaust fan and prevent it from reducing moisture in the air.
Try taking shorter, cooler showers to help prevent steam accumulation. If your bathroom mirror becomes foggy, it’s likely because your shower was too hot and too long.
Evaluate your dryer vent, too. An improperly vented dryer can allow moisture to move throughout your laundry room and into other rooms of your home.
To further improve moisture issues, try drying your clothes outdoors on warm, sunny days. Your clothes will feel fresher, you will save power, and you will reduce moisture buildup.
If you have a lot of plants in your home, they can also contribute to high humidity levels. Some Floridians move their plants outdoors on sunny days and water them outside to help prevent moisture issues.
Making small changes to your household habits can benefit your entire home. You will notice fewer moisture issues and improve your indoor air quality.
8. Schedule Professional Inspections and Remediation
Do not ignore the signs of mold growth in your home. Musty odors, discoloration, and recurring moisture issues all signal problems. According to the EPA, mold can begin to grow in 24 to 48 hours. It can become visible to the naked eye within a few days to a couple of weeks. That is why it is so essential to take immediate action.
Professional inspections reveal hidden mold that can become a danger to your family. Early intervention helps protect your home and family against moisture problems and the risks of uncontrolled mold growth.
Start Protecting Your Home Today
The above strategies are easy, but they do require some professional intervention. These simple steps can help reduce humidity in your home and naturally protect against mold growth. Although habits and maintenance can go far, Florida’s subtropical climate makes professional support invaluable.
iMold is a mold remediation specialist in Fort Myers. We have proudly served Southwest Florida for over 30 years. We strive to be heroes for our neighbors by restoring their homes and lives after a mold infestation. Choosing us means partnering with a team that values your home and family.
Contact iMold today to schedule mold remediation in Fort Myers and the surrounding areas. Let us help you resolve your mold problem!
