Simple Ways to Prevent Water Damage

Finding mold growth in your house does not always require the help of a professional, since not all mold is hidden in nooks and crannies or behind the wall. The easiest places to find mold growth are typically in the bathroom, laundry room, kitchen, and basement. These are usually the places that show the signs of negligence the most and mold growing in these rooms is usually fairly easy to spot.

In a bathroom, the usual place to find mold growth is around the upper walls and ceiling if it does not have an exhaust vent or a window in it. Even though building codes in most places now require that there be either an exhaust vent or a window in the bathroom, older homes may not have either one. It is in your best interest to make sure that your bathroom is renovated to include one of these two features, although if your bathroom is located in the center of your house and not attached to an outer wall, you will have to install a vent to get rid of the excess moisture. What happens is that the moisture is soaked up by the ceiling or the upper walls and allows mold to grow on it and eventually, the ceiling will absorb so much water that it will be in danger of collapsing. The need for an exhaust vent also extends to the kitchen, since steam comes off the stove from cooking dinner.

Another problem to worry about in bathrooms or kitchens is whether or not the floor is waterproofed. No matter what kind of flooring that you have in either room it should be completely water tight so water does not get underneath it and to the floor joists. Floors have completely collapsed in these rooms due to this when waterproofing the floor would have been much cheaper than repairing the damage done by neglecting to do this.

Overflowing toilets, bathtubs, and kitchen sinks also cause mold growth and water damage to a home if it is allowed to happen very often, so making sure that this does not happen and that the floor around it is waterproofed is extremely important. You should do your best not to get preoccupied with other chores or talking on the phone while you are running a tub of bathwater or filling up the kitchen sink.

Any small leaks under the kitchen or bathroom sink also need to be taken care of fairly quickly. Put a bucket underneath it for a temporary fix if you have to, but do not let the drip continue to come into contact with the inside of your cabinet.

Remodeling Your First Bathroom and Kitchen

The two things that can make or break a house purchasing deal are the kitchen and the bathroom. This is for a very good reason, since both of these rooms are visited by each household member at least once a day and by the time we die, we will have spent a large amount of our time in both of these places. So making them the most comfortable and pleasant rooms in the house to be in is very important to anyone wanting to stay in the same home for many years.

If you have purchased an older home in the hopes of remodeling both of these rooms, then you have a few structural and practical issues that you should think of before you get to the decoration design process. The fact is that the kitchen and bathroom are the two most humid and moist areas of your home and should be cared for accordingly. Be careful when choosing the type of flooring that will go down in these rooms. If you will be cooking for a large family every year at Thanksgiving or Christmas or you are expecting to, putting down a material a little more resilient than linoleum or tile may be the way to go.

Since so much water goes through both of these rooms every day and mold is always a problem in areas where there is a large amount of water, you should not put hardwood flooring down in either of these places. Wood is porous and mold loves to grow on any dead organic material. Not only this, but it will also soak up any water you spill on it. If you must have the look of wood in these rooms, try for a laminate, since they can give the look of wood, but not offer the drawbacks.

Natural stone like travertine is much easier to take care of than hardwood, linoleum, or tile, so if you can afford it, this may be the way to go if you want a floor that can last for a great many years.

You need an exhaust fan in both of these rooms to keep the humidity down. The walls and ceilings absorb much more water than you think over time and this can eventually cause the tape on the seams of the drywall pieces and eventually the pieces of drywall themselves to sag and crack. This is not only dangerous because the drywall can collapse on you, but also because mold grows on surfaces that are constantly moist. Install a vent that you can turn on and off to help solve this problem.

Mistakes Made With Fire

Almost everyone has let the bathtub or the kitchen sink overflow at least once, but what most people do not realize is that not paying attention to what you are doing when you are working with heat and water is that these can cause much more damage to their home than they may think. Since fires tend to do much more immediate and devastating damage, they are what will be covered here.

One of the biggest mistakes that you could ever make in your home is leaving something unattended in the kitchen on the stove. We all know what devastating damage a fire can do to a home, but the number of people that put items on the stove and leave the room are staggering. Almost all of us do this on a day to day basis because we get preoccupied with other chores or have to answer the phone or tend to other matters in the household. If you can put any of these things off until later and focus on cooking, please focus on cooking and try to leave the kitchen as little as possible. A fire can start in an instant and this is especially true when you are cooking with grease. At least one person that I know has burned her entire house down and everything in it by putting a pan of grease on the stove, sitting down to watch television, and falling asleep. She lost everything. So, if you are cooking with grease or a deep fryer, forget everything else and just focus on the food. If you absolutely must multitask and watch TV in the kitchen, adding a small television on the counter or under the cabinet may be the way to go.

Another mistake that people make when dealing with electricity and possible fire concerns the space heaters that some people use to get by during the winter. These are notorious for starting house fires, but you do not have to be a victim as long as you know how to use these safely.

The first thing you should know about space heaters is that you should NEVER use an extension cord with them. Simple extension cords simply cannot handle the amount of current necessary to run these items and they will melt fairly quickly. If you must use an extension cord, it needs to be a heavy duty cord marked as being at least a 14 gauge.

You should also be careful with where you place space heaters. If possible, they need to be on a non-carpeted surface, but you can put them on carpet if you are careful. Heaters with more space between the heat source and the floor are safer to use on carpeted areas than ones with shorter legs. Try to avoid space heaters with short legs if you can, since these tend to start more fires than any other kind.

Home Contractors, Mold, and Water Damage

The worst thing that you can find in your newly built home is mold, but it is something that is built into homes these days by careless contractors bent on getting the job done with as little effort as possible on their part. As the employer of the contractor, it is your responsibility and in your best interests to be at the job site on a regular basis to ensure that the building materials that your contractor purchased to build your home with are both up to your standards and that they are handled correctly.

Your contractor should have purchased only the materials that you outlined in your contract with him or her to purchase. They should have purchased nothing more and nothing less. None of these materials, especially drywall, should be stored directly upon the ground where it comes into contact with the soil. They should be stored on tarps or raised up off the ground in some way. This will help ensure that mold does not start to grow on them before they are used in the construction of the house.

The building site should also be covered with tarps before it rains until the roof and walls are put up to protect the interior of the structure.

Before you hired your contractor, you should have obtained references from him or her to determine the quality of their craftsmanship. This is something that you should do when hiring anyone to do almost anything for you concerning an investment such as this. You should ask the references whether they have had any problems with mold or water damage since their home was built and if it was due to bad construction or not. As long as your contractor is known for good building practices, you should have no problem with the way that he treats the building materials for your house.

It is unfortunate that you cannot be at the site of your home’s new construction all the time, but the more you are able to check on the progress of your home’s construction, the better. You should have a mold inspector come and inspect the property at least twice, once during the middle of the construction and again once it is completed to determine that there is no mold growing in the home.

Bathroom and Kitchen Remodeling

The one thing that most wives want in their home is a bathroom and kitchen customized to their tastes. Since we will spend a large amount of time in these rooms before we die (especially wives), these need to be the most pleasant and comfortable rooms in the house to be in. You should be able to spend a lot of time in this room without wanting to leave, but if you have just moved into a house where these rooms need a little TLC, then you have the perfect opportunity to make sure you have the ability to do just that.

One of the first things that shows the age of the house is the flooring in the kitchen and the bathroom. Water damaged or molded flooring shows the most age, but old linoleum and cracked tiles can show it just about as much, depending on the extent of the damage. You should choose the new flooring of your choice according to what you can afford and make sure that the materials that you build the kitchen out of are of consistent quality, but these days it is best not to go with a linoleum floor. Travertine stone floors are in style and are expensive, but are easy to take care of and will last a long time. It will be harder for water and mold to get underneath this than linoleum, as well.

While the kitchen floor is at risk for water damage and mold, the bathroom floor is even more in danger. This is because a much larger amount of water goes through the bathroom every day than in the kitchen, so making sure that this floor is very water tight is essential if you want the floor joists underneath to maintain their integrity over the years.

You also need to consider the fact that the kitchen and the bathroom are the two rooms in the house that are the most humid. You should have a range hood installed over the stove which will serve as a vent to draw the steam out of the kitchen and stop the ceiling from absorbing water and thus becoming molded over time. Mold is an extremely unsanitary and unsightly thing to have in the kitchen, so making sure the steam has a place to go is a good idea. An exhaust vent should also be installed in the bathroom above the tub or the shower and depending on your budget, the light in the room can also be included along with the vent.