Cosy knits, spooky movies, pumpkin spiced everything, and candles are burning. Winter is around the corner, Christmas, the Coca-Cola adverts, before we know it, we will be shouting Happy New Year. You can't help but love the last quarter of the year, and it's romanticized to death! Seeing that cleaning is our profession, we know it's not all hot chocolate and warm nights in. There is a dark side to this time of year especially in our damper climate of the UK. In the col months, with heating on full blast, our homes become a breeding ground for that pesky and damaging mould.
Not only is it an eye sore and unhealthy for your property, but it is dangerous for us humans too. It's important to take measures to prevent mould from growing and spreading in your property, most especially in the winter months. Untreated mould can lead to respiratory and sinus issues. These can be particularly health threatening for infants and elderly people.
So how does it happen? Well, in our need to stay warm in the winter we keep windows and doors shut and prevent proper ventilation, which is normal, because the cold is just as dangerous to us. But without ventilation, humidity occurs, and the warm air creates condensation on windows, ceiling, in draws and anyway it decides to gather. This creates the perfect warm and damp condition for mould spores to grow.
You may also often find that it is an expense to you to have the mould spores removed, as many landlords may state that this is your issue to tackle as you failed to ventilate your property sufficiently.
To prevent mould from growing in your property, open your windows often. As hard as it may be in the colder months, ventilation is the number 1 way to prevent the growth of mould. It doesn’t need to be every window in the property, but in areas such as the kitchen and bathroom where hot water is used often, and condensation is more likely to occur. When the windows are open, keep the doors open so the ventilation can run throughout the property without having to open every window.
Whenever the windows are shut, and hot water is being used or the heating is on keep doors closed. For example, if you are in the kitchen boiling pasta and find that it is far too cold to keep the windows open, then in is important to shut the doors. This would restrict the condensation at least to one room, so the likelihood of mould spreading throughout the property is lowered.
There are still many more ways to prevent the spread of mould, and we will share those in future blog posts. If you have any ideas, you can email them to info@londoncleaningco.com and they will be featured in the forthcoming sequel to this blog post.