Imagine you’re seeing the dark spots in the ceilings, walls, and floors in your dream home that not only make your home look aesthetically unappealing. These dark spots indicate that your home is affected by the mold.
Mold is a common issue that thrives in damp or humid environments. It has various types, some of them are harmless, while others, like black mold, can pose significant health issues as well as potential property damages. Therefore, it is necessary for you to get to know the mold types that are lurking in your home so that you can adopt an effective method to maintain your home’s health.
In this blog, we will discuss the key difference between black mold and regular mold. By the end, you will have a clear understanding of how to identify the mold type, the risk they carry, and why it matters. Let’s dive into this blog and explore the difference between black mold and regular mold so that you can improve your home’s health better.
Key Difference Between Black Mold and Regular Mold
Understanding the key difference between black mold and regular mold begins with the unique traits. While all mold thrives in damp and humid environments, black mold and regular mold differ significantly in smell, appearance, and the health risks they pose.
Appearance
The scientific name of black mold is Stachybotrys chartarum which is typically dark green or black color. The surface of the black mold is slimy or slightly glossy, especially in humid conditions. You can see these spots in ceilings, walls, and floors.
On the other hand, the regular mold comes in different varieties of colors like gray, white, yellow, or even orange. These molds often have a powdery or fuzzy texture.
Smell
The smell is also a sign of mold, which indicates that your home is affected by mold. The black mold emits a strong, musty smell, which is often described as earthy. You can feel their odor in spaces like the basement and attics that have poor ventilation.
While the regular mold may not have an intense smell or not at all, depending on the type of mold.
Health Risk
The black mold may cause significant health issues such as shortness of breath, irritation in the eyes and throat, continuous headaches, and skin allergies. If you can’t see any visible sign of mold, coughing, continuous headaches, and irritation in the throat and eyes are the symptoms that may indicate that your home is affected by mold. While, the regular mold is less severe as compared to black mold.
Therefore, understanding the mold type is beneficial for the homeowners to adopt an effective method for protecting the home’s structure and belongings from their effects. Because mold not only damages the home’s structure, it may cause health issues that can be controlled by early knowledge.
How Do You Know if Mold is Black?
Identifying the black mold is crucial in maintaining the home’s structure and the health of family members. Because it may cause significant health issues if left untreated. Here, we will discuss how you will get to know the presence of mold in your home.
Signs that Indicate the Black Mold
Following are the signs that indicate the black mold is present in your home.
Colors
Black mold typically appears in dark green or black color. Mostly, it appears on ceilings, floors, and walls. Sometimes, you cannot see it with the naked eye because they hide themselves behind the drywall.
Texture
It often has a slimy or slightly shiny surface, especially in a damp environment. Identifying them at an early stage will protect you from facing costly issues in the future.
Location
Black mold can be grown in the humid environment such as in the basement, kitchen, and washroom. If you or your family may face coughing, itching in the throat or eye, continuous headaches, and shortness of breath, and you may not notice any visible sign, then there isa maximum chance they hide themselves behind the drywall.
Professional Testing Method
A professional assessment is crucial to getting to know the presence of mold in the home. In this strategy, certified mold inspectors use different equipment and provide accurate results of mold in your home. For this, they perform different tests like air testing, sample testing, and bulk testing. With this strategy, they will get to know the mold type that is present in the home.
Why Identifying the Type of Mold?
Identifying the mold type in a home is not just an aesthetic or minor inconvenience, it may have a significant impact on health, property, and indoor air quality. Understanding the mold type is necessary for homeowners to make an effective decision to make the home’s structure and indoor air quality better.
Health Risk of Untreated Mold
The untreated mold, especially the black mold, may cause significant health issues such as coughing, shortness of breath, itching in the throat and eyes, and skin allergies. Ignoring the mold growth may cause it to spread and increase the health risk over time.
Impact on the Property and Indoor Air Quality
The mold plays an effective role in the home’s structure and indoor air quality. If left untreated, they may penetrate into the material, such as wood, drywalls, and insulation. Removing them from these surfaces is such a challenging task.
Further, the mold spores may float with the air and can grow after landing on the surface. Due to the lightweight, the mold spores are suspended in the air, which not only damages the home’s structure but it may cause significant health issues. Therefore, understanding mold is crucial for the homeowners to adopt a sufficient treatment to minimize the mold effect on homes.
Benefits of Early Detection of Mold
Various benefits you may get by getting to know the mold presence in your home at an early stage.
Prevent the home by spreading the mold
Mitigate the health risks by removing the mold-affected things quickly.
Protect yourself from facing costly issues in the future.
Is the Black Mold the Same as a Regular Mold?
The black mold and the regular mold are not the same. The black mold produces a musty smell, and typically, it appears in a dark greenish or black color. While the regular mold looks dry or powdery.
Final Words
Understanding the difference between black mold and regular mold is necessary for homeowners to maintain a healthy indoor environment. For this, we strongly recommend hiring one of the best inspection companies that has certified mold inspectors.
The certified inspectors pay close attention and address all the mold signs that need immediate attention from the homeowners. So, if you want to make your home healthy and want to hire professionals for mold inspection choose Bryan & Bryan Inspections.
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