Is Your Home Making You Sick?
Is your home making you sick? Can your home make you sick? If you are regularly experiencing cold or flu symptoms, seemingly only when you’re at home, it could be from sick building syndrome. Sick building syndrome is when mold, water damage, poor indoor air quality or other issues in your home are constantly making you sick.
If you suspect the constant stuffy nose is because of your home, take our quiz to find out! Once you’ve finished we’ll provide you with a free, personalized report that lets you know exactly what you can do to help keep you and your family healthy at home.
Note: This quiz will take about 20-30 minutes to complete.
What Are the Common Causes of Sick Building Syndrome?
We’ve categorized the causes of sick building syndrome into three main categories:
- Mold
- Water damage
- Poor air quality
While these causes are often connected, as water damage can lead to mold, and mold can lead to poor air quality, it’s important to find the primary source of the problem. You wouldn’t fix a water damage problem by using methods to treat poor air quality, and some methods to treat poor air quality won’t work to remove mold.
While you can get more results from taking the is my house making me sick quiz up above, here are a few things you can do if you already have an idea of what’s causing your symptoms.
You Suspect a Mold Problem
If you suspect you have mold growing in your home, there are many options you can try. First, call a professional to get an assessment and a general evaluation of the damage and what it will take to repair and restore your home.
A professional can detect those hard-to-find spots where mold might be lurking, such as behind the drywall or even under carpet. They have the equipment to make sure it doesn’t come back, even if it means replacing your carpet.
You can also choose to clean the mold yourself with a number of DIY methods, such as hydrogen peroxide or vinegar, although we wouldn’t recommend it. No matter what you decide to do about your mold problem, make sure you don’t use bleach to remove any growths.
If you want to learn more about what you can do about your mold problem, download your free report. It outlines signs you have mold growing in your home and what you can do to remove any growths.
You Suspect a Water Damage Problem
Water damage can come from many sources. Maybe you had a washer overflow or a burst frozen pipe. Whatever the cause, water damage isn’t something you should ignore. In fact, mold can start growing from water damage in as little as 24 hours. Here are a few signs that you have water damage that needs to be fixed:
- Discolored walls or ceiling
- Warped or bent floorboards
- A musty smell where the water was
- Dripping water somewhere in your home
Repairing a water damaged wall is more than just scrubbing it. In some cases, you’ll have to put in new drywall entirely. The same is also true for carpets. If water soaked through to the bottom layers of the carpet, it creates the perfect environment for mold, making it almost impossible to keep. However, a good restoration company can replace the carpet as part of the remediation process.
Download our free water damage report to learn more about what you can do if your home was damaged by water.
You Suspect You Have Poor Air Quality
This may be something that you have no control over. Your home might be located next to a busy freeway or some type of factory that pushes pollution into the air near your home. However, you can still take some steps to keep the air inside your home cleaner than the air outside.
Some easy things you can do:
- Change your air filters regularly. Your furnace and AC have to work harder if the filters are dirty, and they could eventually start spreading the dirt and mold spores they are designed to collect.
- Get your air ducts cleaned. If you’re worried that your ducts need more than just a filter change, a professional air duct cleaning can clean out any mold and dust.
- Invest in an air purifier. This is especially a good investment if you have cats or dogs in your home, as they can sweep up the pet dander and dust created from your furry friends.
- Vacuum regularly. Use a vacuum with a HEPA filter for the best results. Other vacuums might just throw the dust back out, but the right vacuum can keep dirt and dust to a minimum.
Want to learn more about what you can do if the air quality in your home is making you sick? Download our free resource to help you prevent sick building syndrome caused by poor air quality.
Want to Learn More?
Mold is one of the biggest causes of sick building syndrome, and it’s one of the most common problems that can happen in your home. If you want to learn more about how to prevent these unwanted sniffles in your home, we have a number of other resources about sick building syndrome and mold you can check out!
Read More: How to Prevent Sick Building Syndrome
Read More: Is Exposure to Mold Making Me Sick?
If you suspect something is making you sick in your home, don’t hesitate to give Rapid Restoration a call! We’d be happy to help diagnose the issue and take the necessary steps to keep your home clean and mold-free.
