Mold
Mold isn’t, in itself, a bad thing. Indeed it’s a normal and necessary part of our world. Without mold we wouldn’t have penicillin, blue cheese, or beer. When mold starts growing inside your house however, well, that’s not so good and has been known to be a problem in our homes for many years…
Leviticus 14, 35-45
35First, you must say to a priest, " I think mildew is on the wall of my house."
36The priest will reply, " Empty the house before I inspect it, or else everything in it will be unclean."
37If the priest discovers greenish or reddish spots that go deeper than the surface of the walls, 38he will have the house closed for seven days.
39Then he will return and check to see if the mildew has spread.
40-41If so, he will have someone scrape the plaster from the walls, remove the filthy stones, then haul everything off and dump it in an unclean place outside the town.
42Afterwards the wall must be repaired with new stones and fresh plaster.
43If the mildew appears a second time, 44the priest will come and say, " This house is unclean. It's covered with mildew that can't be removed."
45Then he will have the house torn down and every bit of wood, stone, and plaster hauled off to an unclean place outside the town.
Luckily modern mold remediation no longer requires the involvement of a priest (or the animal sacrifice described in subsequent passages!).
While hoving mold growing in your house could be making you sick it is having a negative affect on the value of your home. And in the current economic situation none of us need an extra hit on our property values.
Stories about “toxic mold” and scary health scenarios make for lurid news headlines. Luckily its not that difficult to avoid mold problems in your home. Getting rid of mold if you are unlucky enough to have it isn’t so difficult either.