Symptoms of Black Mold, Learn What To Look For

Symptoms of black mold in your home can manifest themselves in many different ways. You do need to know what these symptoms are so you can be cognizant of anything occurring in your home that could lead to a build-up of black mold. This form of mold is very toxic and can cause mild allergies as well as serious medical conditions. When you know what the symptoms of black mold are, then you know what to look for.

You can be on the lookout for symptoms if there is a high level of humidity in your home. If the humidity is higher than 55%, then this is the prime condition for the development of black mold symptoms. The thing that you need to be most aware of is that you may not even realize that there is a black or toxic mold in your home until someone starts to get sick. Even then the symptoms may be so much like a sinus infection or asthma, that you might not associate them with toxic mold symptoms.

Since the basement is the place where most of the water pipes in a home are located, the condensation on these pipes often goes undetected for long periods of time. In fact, you may never realize that there are symptoms of mold present if you don’t have a problem with the pipes. When leaks are discovered, many homeowners concentrate on fixing the leaks and don’t realize they are toxic mold symptoms and therefore do nothing about the black mold itself.

Odors or musty smells are often the first symptoms of mold. This is because black mold grows in places that are not usually visible or in places that you can’t get to for cleanings, such as in cracks and crevices. Getting an odor does not necessarily mean you have toxic mold in your home, but it is definitely one of the symptoms that can alert you to the need for mold testing. If the odors are present when the air-conditioning system is running, then these are serious toxic mold symptoms.

Yellowish stains on the walls are also a symptom. Black mold has a greenish color to it and when you notice the wall starting to stain underneath the wallpaper or coming through the paint, this is a symptom that you do have a serious mold problem. Toxic mold symptoms can also manifest themselves as the paint coming off the walls because of the excess moisture. One way you can find out if you do have black mold in the walls is to shine a black light on it. If you see a yellow glow, this is one of the symptoms of black mold in the wall.