Wear clothing that covers your skin. A long-sleeved shirt and long pants are a must. Protect your eyes with safety goggles and your hands with rubber gloves. In addition to lung protection, workers must wear fairly long gloves.
Common household rubber gloves are fine if you use mild detergents. However, chlorine bleach or stronger cleaning solutions require something a little tougher, such as Ansell 37-155 unlined nitrile gloves. They come beyond the wrist and are effective at keeping mold spores away while cleaning. If the black mold that grows in your home is small enough to treat on its own, a simple mix of bleach and water can help.
Add a cup of bleach to a gallon of water and apply it to moldy stains. You can also find commercial products to get rid of black mold. As one source said: “Previous reports on 'toxic mold syndrome' or 'toxic black mold' have been shown to be nothing more than media hysteria and media hysteria. Before you clean up any mold in your home, you must first fix the problem or water source that causes mold growth.
However, black mold presents more health risks for sensitive groups, such as people with respiratory or immune conditions. If you're not wearing any personal protective equipment (PPE), you're causing all those mold spores to settle on your clothes, in the area you're cleaning, on your shoes (allowing mold to spread to other areas of the house), in your eyes and nose until it reaches the upper respiratory system. There's no doubt that mold particles fall within that size range, and the 2097 filters also have an activated carbon layer that filters out some unpleasant odors that are often associated with large scale mold cleaning. The contractors you choose must have insurance and licenses from organizations such as the Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification Institute (IICRC).
First vacuum the area with HEPA, then clean it with a damp cloth, change the cleaning towels frequently to prevent re-contamination, and allow the area to dry. In addition, it is not necessary to seal the area or cover the surfaces with plastic sheeting (called containment), but it can be done as a precautionary measure. Wear unventilated goggles, rubber gloves, at a minimum, a respirator with partial facial paper (the EPA recommends an N-9 and old clothes to throw away when you finish cleaning (or simply wash them separately from normal clothing). This is why you'll typically find black mold around areas damaged by water and affected by plumbing problems, such as floods or leaking pipes.
Black mold develops in water and on porous materials such as drywall or wood, which are commonly mixed in areas such as ceilings, basements and mezzanines. Black mold is more attracted to moisture, which is why it lives in previously flooded homes, in areas of leaking pipes, or anywhere where water has damaged. We all have different levels of tolerance to allergens, such as mold spores, but that's it: black mold is an allergen. But whether you feel symptoms of black mold or not, it's best to get rid of black mold as soon as you find it.
