Rotted Homes and Dirty Gutters

In my travels all over the world, Central America, South America, all over the USA, I have never seen a population more inclined to let their houses rot out from under their roofs as in the southeastern USA. My Parents are the perfect example. I remember growing up my dad NEVER cleaned the gutters. We lived in a two story house with a 60 year old metal roof. I'll give it to him; it is scary up there. Eventually the gutters became so full that the began to push water back against the facia board. This is the board that runs the length of the house to which the gutter is nailed or screwed. This only took about a year. The facia rotted and then the gutter fell off. This took about five years. All this damage and eventual repair could have been avoided with a simple twice, or even once, a year gutter cleaning. My dad was not completely broke. We could have hired a professional to deal with the scary heights. Instead he had to hire a professional to install new facia and gutters.
Leaving The gutter of a home uncleaned will also lead to rot due to insects that find their home in the muck. As a professional gutter cleaner I have found ant colonies, carpenter bees' nests, hornet nest, and bird nests. This creates the base for an ecosystem around your home that will attract birds, including woodpeckers, mice, and other rodents.
When should you clean your gutters? If you are finding yourself asking this question you should probably call us to come out and clean your gutters. Twice a year is a good place to start. Late summer and early winter are the best time in the Southeast.  If you notice any over flow in your gutters in between cleaning you should either check it out yourself or call Higher Ground to take a look. It is probably due to a clogged down spout.
The moral of the story is to prevent costly damage to your home clean your gutters and clean them often. If you are scared to get on your roof or on a ladder, or if you just don't feel like it, call Higher Ground Rainwater Systems. Visit them online at www.hgrainwater.com, or friend them on Facebook

Author,
Beckett Honicker
Chattanooga, TN

Basement Mold Abatement

Molds are found everywhere inside and outside, and can grow on almost any substance when moisture is present. Molds reproduce by spores, which can be carried by air currents. When these spores land on a moist surface that is suitable for life, they begin to grow. Mold is normally found indoors at levels that do not affect most healthy individuals.

A basement in WNC flooded due to a poor gutter and drainage system.

Because common building materials are capable of sustaining mold growth, and mold spores are ubiquitous, mold growth in an indoor environment is typically related to water or moisture indoors. Mold growth may also be caused by incomplete drying of flooring materials such as concrete.^[2] Flooding, leaky roofs, poor guttering systems, building maintenance problems, or indoor plumbing problems can lead to mold growth inside homes, schools, or office buildings. Visit Higher Ground's website for more information. 

For significant mold growth to occur, there must be a source of water (which could be invisible humidity), a source of food, and a substrate capable of sustaining growth. Common building materials, such as plywood, drywall, furring strips, carpets, and carpet padding are food for molds. In carpet, invisible dust and cellulose are the food sources (see alsodust mites). After a single incident of water damage occurs in a building, molds grow inside walls and then become dormant until a subsequent incident of high humidity; this illustrates how mold can appear to be a sudden problem, long after a previous flood or water incident that did not produce such a problem. The right conditions reactivate mold. Studies also show that mycotoxin levels are perceptibly higher in buildings that have once had a water incident (source: CMHC).

Nutrients: Cellulose is a common food for spores in an indoor environment.Spores need three things to grow into mold:

• Moisture: Moisture is required to begin the decaying process caused by the mold.
• Time: Mold growth begins between 24 hours and 10 days from the provision of the growing conditions. There is no known way to date mold.

Mold colonies can grow inside building structures. The main problem with the presence of mold in buildings is the inhalation of mycotoxins. Molds may produce an identifiable smell. Growth is fostered by moisture. After a flood or major leak, mycotoxin levels are higher in the building even after it has dried out (source: CMHC).

Food sources for molds in buildings include cellulose-based materials, such as wood, cardboard, and the paper facing on both sides of drywall, and all other kinds of organic matter, such as soap, fabrics, and dust containing skin cells. If a house has mold, the moisture may be from the basement or crawl space, a leaking roof, or a leak in plumbing pipes behind the walls. People residing in a house also contribute moisture through normal breathing and perspiration. Insufficient ventilation can further enable moisture build-up. Visible mold colonies may form where ventilation is poorest, and on perimeter walls, because they are coolest, thus closest to the dew point.

If there are mold problems in a house only during certain times of the year, then it is probably either too air-tight, or too drafty. Mold problems occur in airtight homes more frequently in the warmer months (when humidity reaches high levels inside the house, and moisture is trapped), and occur in drafty homes more frequently in the colder months (when warm air escapes from the living area into unconditioned space, and condenses). If a house is artificially humidified during the winter, this can create conditions favorable to mold. Moving air may prevent mold from growing since it has the same desiccating effect as lowering humidity. Keeping indoor air temperature higher than 74 °F (23 °C) also has an inhibiting effect on mold growth.

Because common building materials are capable of sustaining mold growth, and mold spores are ubiquitous, mold growth in an indoor environment is typically related to an indoor water or moisture problem. Leaky roofs, building maintenance problems, or indoor plumbing problems can lead to mold growth inside homes, schools, or office buildings. Another common cause of mold growth is flooding.

Removing one of the three requirements for mold reduces or eliminates the new growth of mold. These three requirements are 1) Moisture, 2) Food source for the mold spores (dust, dander, etc), and 3) Warmth (mold generally does not grow in cold environments).

HVAC systems can create all three requirements for significant mold growth. The A/C system creates a difference in temperature that allows/causes condensation to occur. The high rate of dusty air movement through an HVAC system may create ample sources of food sources for the mold. And finally, since the A/C system is not always running - the ability for warm conditions to exist on a regular basis allows for the final component for active mold growth.

Because the HVAC system circulates air contaminated with mold spores and sometimes toxins, it is vital to prevent any three of the environments required for mold growth. A) Highly effective return air filtration systems are available that eliminate up to 99.9% of dust accumulation (as compared to 5% elimination by typical HVAC air filters). These newer filtration systems usually require modification to existing HVAC systems to allow for the larger size of electrostatic 99.9% filters. However, thorough cleaning of the HVAC system is required before usage of high efficiency filtration systems will help. Once mold is established, the mold growth and dust accumulation must be removed. B) Insulation of supply air ducts helps to reduce or eliminate the condensation that ultimately creates the moisture required for mold growth. This insulation should be placed externally on the air ducts, because internal insulation provides a dust capture and breeding ground for mold.

[edit]Assessment

The first step in an assessment is to determine if mold is present. This is done by visually examining the premises. If mold is growing and visible this helps determine the level of remediation that is necessary. If mold is actively growing and is visibly confirmed, sampling for specific species of mold is unnecessary.^[3]

These methods, considered non-intrusive, only detect visible and odor-causing molds. Sometimes more intrusive methods are needed to assess the level of mold contamination. This would include moving furniture, lifting and/or removing carpets, checking behind wallpaper or paneling, checking in ventilation duct work, opening and exposing wall cavities, etc.

Careful detailed visual inspection and recognition of moldy odors should be used to find problems needing correction. Efforts should focus on areas where there are signs of liquid moisture or water vapor (humidity) or where moisture problems are suspected. The investigation goals should be to locate indoor mold growth to determine how to correct the moisture problem and remove contamination safely and effectively.

The basic goals of any mold investigation are always twofold: 1) find the locations of mold growth, and 2) determine the sources of the moisture. If these can be answered by simpler or more cost-effective methods, mold testing is probably not a wise use of resources.

Recommendations 

For leaky basements look in Higher Ground's Rainwater System's website. They have many solutions for every rainwater problem.

For non-rain related leaks sometimes simply running a dehumidifier will fix the problem. Other times it will be necessary to hire a professional to remove all the porous  molded surfaces and sanitize all the non-porous surfaces.