There is mold everywhere – in your home, at your workplace environment, a trace on your clothing – they’re literally everywhere; as long as there are moisture and oxygen in an area, you’d be sure to find mold.
The presence of mold in your home can be unsightly and smelly; ruining your furniture, clothing, wall drapers, and paint. It affects the structural integrity of buildings and the health of those inside adversely.
So, the question right now is not whether it has adverse effects, but rather how to prevent, manage, and or eliminate them.
Is UV light effective in killing mold?
There’re several effective methods to eradicate colonies of mold from your home; one of such proven trick is the use of Ultraviolet light. When its exposed to the UV light for a considerable length of time; it breaks up the DNA, making them sterile and eventually die off. However, unless the mold is isolated or concentrated in a small area, like on bathroom grout on which you can come with a UV sanitizing wand, you’ll have bigger chances killing mold with a Jedi lightsaber rather than UV light.
Anyway, before going into details on how to use the UV light, let’s first examine the health risks associated with exposure to and breathing in mold spores.
Different individuals react differently when exposed to spores; some of the reasons for these reactions are due to; their sensitivity to the spores, whether they are allergic to molds, and also depending on how strong their immune system is; however, long-term exposure to these molds are definitely unhealthy to anyone.
Some of the symptoms often associated with exposure to it include:
- Nasal and sinus congestion
- Sore throat/cough
- Breathing difficulty
- Asthma / increased bouts of the crisis
- Chest tightness
- Nose bleeding
- Respiratory tract infection
- Bouts of Headache
- Eye and skin irritation
The groups of individuals most susceptible to the assault of this menace include:
- Infants and young children
- Elderly people
- Individuals with allergies such as asthma
- Weaken immune patients.
So, how do you prevent mold growth in your home?
It is found everywhere, both indoors and outdoors. However, there are several ways through which the spores can be introduced into your home such as; through open windows and doorways; through the vents of your heating and air conditioning systems; or even by attaching themselves to your shoes, clothes, pets, bags, and so on.
It’s important to note that they can grow on virtually any organic surface as long as there’s the presence of water and oxygen. Hence you may discover them growing behind the wallpaper, under the carpet, on the paint, your upholstery or even on your curtains.
Thankfully, indoor mold is easier to manage since it’s a lot more feasible to control the moisture level and temperature in the room than outside. So, the key basically is to keep the humidity level down.
However, there are other preventive measures to control the spread of molds in your home:
- Keep the moisture level as low as you can – They thrive in an environment with an elevated humidity level. Hence, a precautionary measure to ensure that your home or workplace is unsuitable for molds is by making sure the humidity level is below 50 percent.
Fortunately, it’s easier to keep track of the humidity level in an environment using air conditioners, air purifiers and/or dehumidifier. However, bear in mind that the air-water content varies during the day, due to changes in temperature, so be sure to monitor the humidity level.
- Keep the area well-ventilated – Ensure that your home has enough ventilation. Make sure your circulating fan, air conditioner, and clothe dryer vent outside.
- Promptly fix a leaky roof, plumbing or walls, to avoid colonizing to those surfaces.
- In case your home gets flooded, clean out and dry your home within 24 to 48 hours.
- Use mold repellant paints for your paintwork.
- Always clean your bathroom and kitchen with molds-killing products.
- As much as you can, don’t use carpets in rooms where there may be lots of moisture like the bathrooms and basement.
- Remove or replace furniture or rugs that have been wet and can’t dry out immediately to prevent infesting them.
But, what if after taking these entire preventive measures you still notice molds growing in your home?
In the off case that after doing everything you can to prevent the growth of mold colonies in your home, you still see them; here are steps you can take to eliminate them;
Use Ultraviolet Light to Kill Mold
Ultraviolet light is an effective method to eradicate the plaque from homes.
What is UV Light? The Ultraviolet light is the part of the electromagnetic spectrum that can’t be seen with the naked eye. Just like the X-ray and infra-red light, it falls within the high energy band.
The UV-C is the active part of the light; it has been shown to kill 99.9 percent of the molds over a one to two hours period.
UV-C Powered Products Which Might Help with Mold Removal
How does it work?
To eliminate it in your home using UV-C light, here are the steps to take:
- Identify the surfaces infested with the fungus; keep the UV light source two inches from the molds.
- Switch off every other light source, close the windows and doors.
- Leave for about one to two hour.
- Repeat the procedure on other surfaces until all the fungi have been eliminated.
Safety tips for using the UV-C light
- Avoid looking directly at the light without wearing protective glasses since the UV light is powerful enough to damage your eyes. There’re specially designed goggles you can wear which reflects the ray without harming your eyes. Bear in mind that the regular glasses are ineffective when it comes to shielding the eyes from these powerful rays.
- Wear hand gloves when handling the bulbs – just as with other light bulbs, the UV light lamp also gets pretty hot, so wearing a glove protects you from burning yourself.
- Unplug the lamp before working on them.
The key to keeping your home or workplace environment mold free is by maintaining a low humidity level; however, in case of infestation, Ultraviolet-C light has been proven to be an effective measure to kill them.