How to Protect Your Walls From Dampness and Mold. Big and Small Prevention Measures

If you have a highly humid home environment you don’t control, damp patches are bound to appear on your walls, especially in badly lit and ventilated areas, like those behind tall furniture. They don’t only look bad on your paint, but they also damage it, as well as the plaster or any other porous material they encounter. If the affected area stays moist long enough, it becomes a living environment for mold, fungus and bacteria, which form dark spots. Those are not only ugly, but also a health hazard. So knowing how to protect your walls from dampness and mold is essential to the health of your home and of its inhabitants.

Building

The starting point of preventing dampness and mold in the house is in the building of the house. The interior division should ensure good ventilation of every room. The rooms that are the most exposed to moisture, bathroom, kitchen, laundry room, should not be on the north side of the house.

How to protect your walls from dampness and mold. Insulation and paint

Next step is insulating properly. After that, you can choose a special emulsion paint, conceived for those areas in the house which are prone to dampness, that allows the wall to “breath”. The priming you put on beforehand should also be mold resistant.

How to protect your walls from dampness and mold. Equipment

There is home equipment that directly helps control indoor moisture level. Turn on your range hood when cooking and the bathroom fan after you shower and you will control two major moisture generators in the house.

If the source of the problem is outside and you live in a humid climate area, than you should use a dehumidifier to constantly adjust indoor moisture level.

How to protect your walls from dampness and mold. Good habits

Here are a few good habits that will protect your home from dampness and its consequences.

• Let natural light get in during the day
• Air the house every day
• Keep the bathroom and kitchen doors closed
• Avoid drying the laundry indoors
• Vacuum and dust regularly to eliminate mold spores that might be there
• Clean and disinfect all kitchen and bathroom surfaces
• Disinfect wood surfaces too
• Wash your fabrics
• Regularly replace the cardboard boxes you use for storage
• Treat your indoor plants against mold

Credits: truezone.ro, blackmold.awardspace.com, axa.co.uk, mnn.com, nhs.uk

Photo credits: izolatie-termica.ro