We have all heard this before: “No one goes in the basement, so we should be okay, right?”
That is not exactly true.
We hear this a lot: “There is mold in the basement, but we barely go there.”
At first, that sounds like it makes sense. If you are not in the basement, it shouldn’t affect you, correct?
But here is what really happens:
Mold does not just stay in the basement.
Mold in the basement is a problem because it makes spores that go into the air. These spores are very light. They can travel all around the house. They can get into rooms that are far away from the basement.
So how does mold get around the house?
- Air moves between floors. Carries mold spores up into the house
- When you open the basement door for a second, mold spores can get out
- The heating and cooling system can spread air all around the house
- There are gaps under doors that let air move between rooms
- And people often use the basement for laundry, storage, and other things
This is what we see when we go to people’s homes:
A lot of the time, the basement has mold. The rest of the house looks clean. There is no mold, so it seems like everything is fine.
When we test the air, we often find that there is mold in the air where people live.
For example, we went to a home where everything upstairs looked completely normal with no visible mold.
However, the kids living there were getting sick frequently.
So we did some tests. Found high levels of Chaetomium in the air.
Chaetomium is a type of mold that grows when there is water damage. You would not expect to find it in a dry house.. It was in the air, and that means that mold from the basement was getting into the rest of the house.
This is how people miss mold problems: The house looks fine where you live. The air is telling a different story.
Here is the important thing to remember: Just because you do not spend time in the basement does not mean it is not affecting the air you breathe.
Mold in the basement is not a basement problem. It is a problem for the house.
If there is mold in the basement, you should take care of it before it becomes a problem.
