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Some people don’t even know when they have a mold problem in their home. But, over time they may begin to be habitually ill with problems ranging from coughing to rashes to upset stomach and even mental difficulties. Others may see mold in the house, yet suffer different effects. Each person’s reaction to mold will be different. I know this firsthand.
A few years ago I was living in my brother’s garage apartment to save money. When I moved in there was a slow toilette leak that we fixed. I never thought much about that leak even when after I had lived there awhile I developed a reoccurring Bronchial chest cold that went on for years. I would get what seemed to be sinus infections and bronchitis no less than twice a year for a couple years. I could hear noises from my lungs when I lay down at night a wheezing and whistling noise. After frequent reoccurring colds I would have a lingering deep cough that often lasted 4 and 5 months at a time. I was very worried. The doctor couldn’t find anything wrong with me. I even asked for chest x-rays. The sickness lasted for several years until I moved out from that apartment and it went away.
I always wondered what was wrong with me back then until last year when my brother told me that he noticed a big black mold spot that begin to develop on his garage ceiling (under the apartment I had lived in.) The mold was so bad that he had to hire a Certified Mold company to remove it. That mold had developed from a very small toilette leak. It was growing inside the walls and under the apartment floor with no visible signs. Such a little thing as a small toilette leak that didn’t get dry properly was the culprit for my illness. Had we only known? The Mold clean up coasted my brother’s insurance company many thousands of dollars. They even had to replace structural beams that had gotten ruined.
The longer water sits and soaks up into the wood, carpet, and walls and floors the worse the damage becomes. Unfortunately with water damage you can’t see and feel how wet it is. It takes specialized equipment to locate the water that has seeped deep into the structure. If you ever have any size leak or flood in your home you should only call an IICRC certified water restoration company to evaluate the damage. If the company that you are dealing with isn’t certified and using commercial state of the art equipment they will not be able to dry it properly and can actually cause a worse problem for you. If the structure doesn’t dry out properly the mold will begin to grow inside the walls and under the floor and like myself you will begin to get sick but you won’t see anything on the surface.
A couple months age when visiting a friend I heard her say her 5 year old son had a chronic chough. The doctor couldn’t find anything wrong with the child. I told her my story. The next day they had the child’s bedroom checked for mold and water damage and sure enough his bedroom was contaminated with mold that developed because they did not dry a roof leak properly. Like many people they didn't realize that they needed an expert to dry the area.
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