Getting rid of attic mold is crucial to protecting your home’s value and to protecting the health and safety of your family. At the same time, your home’s ventilation systems must be updated or improved to keep moisture out and away from your home. This is essential to prevent recurring attic mold issues.
Attic Mold: Proper Attic Ventilation
Proper attic ventilation is critical to maintaining even attic temperatures throughout the entire year. In the summer, proper ventilation removes excess heat. In the winter, it prevents the buildup of excess moisture/heat and accumulation of water condensation.
Unless there is an actual leak in the roof, it is during the late Fall, Winter, and early Spring that moisture – which can lead to attic mold growth – tends to occur. During cold weather, warm air and moisture from the house can escape to the cold attic area. When the warm moist air meets the cold surface of the roof sheathing, it can create frost and water damage that will eventually lead to mold growth and expensive mold removal and remediation. This damp environment creates the perfect conditions for wood rot and attic mold which over time will degrade the roof sheathing.
The Danger of Multiple Ventilation Systems
A common ventilation mistake is the combined use of different ventilation systems. Incoming air enters the attic through soffit vents, which are installed in the roof’s overhang. Exhaust air ventilation takes several different forms: Gable vents, ridge vents, and sometimes power vents. Mixing different types of ventilation systems can cause problems. For example, using a ridge vent and a gable vent together can cause a ridge vent to draw in moisture-laden air from the outside. When this happens, it can cause a damaging cycle of attic moisture accumulation and can confuse air flow.
Bathroom Ventilation into Attic Space
There is a significant risk posed by bathroom fans that vent directly into the attic or soffit areas rather than to the outside of the home. In many cases, moisture from bathroom fans is the primary source of attic mold damage.
It is important to have a proper, balanced, ventilation system using equal amounts of incoming air and outgoing air. For bathroom vent fans it is important to use insulated ducting and to insulate around the vent pipe exiting the fan to prevent moisture from condensing inside of the pipe. If moisture condenses inside the pipe it can eventually lead to costly water damage.
Moisture Leads to Attic Mold
In many cases there will be some level of moisture that accumulates in an attic space. This is due to extreme temperature differences between your home and the environment outside. If attic mold is suspected, give us a call to remove mold in your home. We can clean/treat the attic area and remove mold with a system designed to prevent future growth. Each situation is different, but dry ice blasting followed by aggressive cleaning is a preferred approach in many cases to remove mold growth and staining. Mold releases powerful enzymes that can decay and destroy wood framing. Mold contaminants can cause a wide range of potential health problems to your homes occupants, so don’t take any chances.
Download this free Mold Guide from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to learn about mold clean up and answer these important questions:
Worried About Lack Proper Attic Ventilation Leading to Attic Mold?
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