It is very important for homes to be clean, as we know now better than ever because of COVID-19. Sometimes, a home can appear clean, but have deeper health concerns that you might not notice at first, like mold. Mold in a rental property can be a serious issue. It can cause health issues for the tenants and is difficult to detect and remove. As the landlord, scheduling regular inspections of your rental property will help you to detect problems like mold or other potential health hazards early on, making them much easier to remediate.
The presence of mold is not easy to detect. Mold spores are microscopic and can be distributed throughout a home quickly and quietly; they only become obvious when they settle and start to grow. Mold requires moisture to grow and wherever damp conditions prevail, that place can quickly become a breeding ground.
Signs of Mold
Look out for any of the following signs of a mold infestation so that you can identify the problem quickly and control it before it becomes a more serious problem:
• Dark colored spots visible on porous surfaces exposed to moisture such as floors, carpets, ceilings, walls or fabrics.
• A musty smell in a room: mold has a pungent smell of mildew, so if you detect a constant strong smell in the property, it could be mold. Keep in mind that it may not be easy to find the source.
• Residents complain of allergic reactions with symptoms similar to hay fever: sneezing, runny nose and eyes, red eyes, rashes, shortness of breath and so on.
Eliminating Mold
When you identify a mold colony it means that its spores have started to grow in a moist environment present in the home. While you can’t ever get rid of mold spores entirely, you can take the following actions to remediate an infestation:
• Fix the source of water or moisture that is allowing the mold to grow. If you don’t do this, the mold will always return no matter what you do.
• Use protective equipment. Wear a mask and goggles when treating an infected area and preferably wear clothes you can discard afterwards.
• Stop the spread of additional spores by closing off the room where you are treating the mold and spray fine water droplets on the area of infestation while you are working on it.
• Remove all mold affected materials such as drywall, carpets or fabrics and carefully clean up any debris that remains.
• Place any affected materials in a plastic trash bag that is at least 6mm thick and tie it closed. Before removing bags from the contaminated area wipe them clean with a bleach solution.
• Scrub all non-porous surfaces with a wire brush and wipe them clean with a cloth. Next, scrub them with a bleach solution and wipe when done. Do not rinse the area otherwise the bleach will not be able to kill any remaining fungus or bacteria.
• At the end of the process make sure you throw out all supplies that you used and bag them up in the heavy-duty garbage bags mentioned earlier. Also, make sure that you throw out all affected materials that you removed from the property and take steps to repair or replace them.
• Finally, to be sure the mold does not have a chance to re-establish itself, it’s a good idea to have the entire dwelling disinfected by a professional cleaning service.
At Specialized Property Management Houston, we provide proven and professional property management services and have a 98% customer satisfaction rate. We can help you with any rental property ownership task. We’re confident that we can help you decrease the stress in your life, save time and money, and increase your passive income!
Contact us online or call for a free quote! 817.886.9220
