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The Mayo Clinic maintains an easy to read website (no smiley mold spores) on mold related allergies at:

The Mayo Clinic suggests the following  (My comments are in blue)  :

Prevention

The most important thing you can do to prevent mold allergy is to reduce mold growth in your home. Consider these tips:

Eliminate sources of dampness in basements, such as pipe leaks or groundwater seepage. (I would expand this to include all interior spaces where possible, mold will generally can not reproduce without a significant amount of water.)

Use a dehumidifier in any area of your home that smells musty or damp.  Remember to clean the collection bucket and condensation coils regularly.  (Again this is good advice, reducing humidity by even 5% may substantialy limit mold growth.  Mold can grow when the relative humdity in a space exceeds 65% , and is very likely to grow when it exceeds 75%.  As suggested if you do use a de-humidifier you must clean and maintain it on a regular basis).

Use an air conditioner, and consider installing central air conditioning with a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter attachment. The HEPA filter can trap mold spores from outdoor air before they’re circulated inside your home.  (For condo dwellers I actually see more potential for harm from window based units.  No one cleans their AC units consistently or well.)

Keep humidity levels well below 50 percent. (65% humidity seems to be the lower threshold for mold growth so this is again sound advice).

Change furnace and air conditioning filters regularly.  (Building managers take a few minutes the next time your HVAC crew does routine maintenance and actually look over there shoulders, are you getting what you are paying for? )

Be sure all bathrooms are properly ventilated, and run the ventilation fan for 30 minutes following a shower or bath to dry the air.  ( Basic advice, I tend to enjoy a hot shower, but was steaming out the bathroom. Now I periodically run a small box fan at the same time as the vent fan after I shower. It seems to keep the humidity a manageable level and limit dampness.)

Clean bathroom and basement wall surfaces regularly with a bleach solution. (Add some detergent in there and you will reduce the formation of a bio-film.  I do not recommend scrubbing away at porous materials.  Please run your exhaust fan when using any bleach based cleaners.  As always do not mix ammonia with bleach!)

Promote ground water drainage away from your house by removing leaves and vegetation from around the foundation and cleaning out rain gutters frequently.   (I have actually observed a few  roofs be damaged by non maintained gutters. Damage included water being channeled against the wall and pooling on roof surfaces)

Keep organic plant containers, such as those made of straw, wicker or hemp, clean and dry.  (A wicker laundry hamper is probably a bad idea for a number of reasons.)

Based on my observations I have a few more suggestions:

 Vent your dryer outside of your house, or if a condo dwelller to the appropriate vent.  Blasting warm moist air against a wall in a cramped space is a good  way to incubate mold.

If you do use a window mounted air conditioner allow 6+ feet of clearance for the cool air.  If the cool air is blasting against your night stand you may be creating unwelcome condensation.

 Don’t let the children (or adults) bring wet items from the beach inside.  Beach chairs, damp towels, clothes etc should not be plopped down against drywall or carpet.  Many of the hotels in Hawaii have had minor mold growth in closets, because tourists upon returning from the beach throw there wet items in the closet.  Over time the moisture can be adequate to sustain mold growth.

If you suspect you have a mold-related allergy please consult with your primary health care provider

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Tags:   Basics · Housekeeping · Mayo Clinic · Mold · Mold AllergiesNo Comments