Many of the pictures online of mold showcase the dark, blotchy circles spreading on visible surfaces like walls, ceiling beams, and shower tiles. But the truth is that mold most often takes hold in unexpected places, where a lack of circulation and an abundance of humidity and food matter (and by food, we mean any organic material that can be broken down, such as wood or paper) provide the perfect breeding ground of a mold infestation.
It’s not surprising, then, that these hidden mold colonies can also be the most destructive, since it homeowners may go months without noticing them.
Of course, every home is different and you may find that humidity and organic matter are more abundant in other areas of your house that aren’t listed here. Many people report finding mold in the brick cracks of their chimney, for instance, or in their damp basement.
Just because a place isn’t on this list, in other words, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t regularly look for mold all over your home. But if you’re looking for a starting point, check out these five common place where mold grows in the home.
Air Conditioners
Air conditioning units provide a pretty constant element of humidity because of the cooling system. That humidity, in combination with the dust and other airborne matter that gets trapped in the unit, provide mold with the perfect environment to settle down and take root. This is especially true if you fail to use your air conditioner at least once a day during humid seasons.
Obviously, it’s difficult to notice the mold growing in an air conditioning system because it is covered. The best thing to do to prevent a colony from popping up is to take off the front plate and clean out the inside consistently. You can also go an extra step and dry it with a HEPA filter vacuum.
That way, you’re increasing the air circulation and lowering the level of humidity in the unit. If you’re planning on leaving the house for a few days and are worried about mold accumulating while you’re away, you may think about leaving that front plate off to ensure outside air exposure and circulation.
Clothing Closet
Unless you have an incredibly strong dryer, you likely put some of your clothes away while they’re still a tiny bit wet. Even if they seem dry to the touch, dryers are not great at removing all of the moisture out of clothing.
And, because we tend to shut our closet doors, all of that moisture is trapped in the enclosed space. Unfortunately, the mold has plenty of food matter in closet spaces: clothes, wooden hangers, flat surfaces.
What makes mold so tricky to spot in this area is that most of us open the door just long enough to hang up our clean clothes or quickly pull out a new outfit. Rarely do we push aside the hanging clothing to get a look at the entire closet.
The best way to fix the problem is to try your best to make sure that the clean clothes you hand up are completely dry, even if that means leaving them out to dry for a while before hanging them up in the closet.
You should also avoid hanging up clothes that have been worn, even once, especially if you’re in the middle of summer, or placing the dirty clothes hamper in the closet underneath your hanging, clean clothes.
Finally, do away with the closed closet door, at least when it’s possible. After all, if you’re gone all day during the hottest and most humid time, opening up that door will not bother anyone, but it will improve circulation.
Washing Machines
This one probably isn’t the most surprising, but it made the list because mold can get trapped in difficult to see places. Front-loading washers are particularly prone to mold outbreaks because, unlike top-loading washers that are often left open, since keeping the door of a front-loading washer is inconvenient and even dangerous.
As a result, the gasket around the door becomes a breeding ground for mold because dust, hair, and other organic materials get caught and stay wet.
Finding mold in the washing machine is generally surprising to homeowners because the units are designed with hard, inorganic materials like metal. However, that gasket can be broken down by mold and should be checked regularly.
Carpets
Carpet is one of those things in our home that we often overlook. We walk on it, vacuum it, maybe play boardgames on it, but it generally doesn’t call our attention. That’s why mold in the carpet is dangerous because we generally don’t actively look at that part of our home.
To make matters worse, dark carpets or shag carpets can easily disguise mold outbreaks, so we may not notice until the floors begin to smell. In fact, longer, thicker carpeting is more likely to have a mold outbreak because the fibers retain water, and will be less noticeable because the mold is happy to bury itself deep down where you may not be able to see the colony.
Mold enjoy carpets because the individual strands are often coated with dust or hair, despite the number of times we may vacuum per week. And, although the colony can get started at any point, it becomes especially likely after a flood in the house, in which you or the cleanup crew may struggle to dry the carpet fast enough to stave off mold growth.
Wallpaper
This one is also tricky because it’s so difficult to notice. Mold on wallpaper tends to take root in the space between the actual paper and the wall, so that you may not notice it until it becomes widespread enough to give off signs of discoloration or wrinkling in the paper.
Mold is particularly fond of this material because the paper is so easily broken down. Like carpet, wallpaper is especially vulnerable after a flood, but you should also be aware of areas in your home in which the wallpaper is likely to get wet: the wall over the kitchen stove, for instance, or in the laundry room.
The best way to prevent mold from taking hold on wallpaper is to ensure good circulation in those high risk rooms of your house and get a mold assessment done after any major incident like a flood. Trying to reveal mold by ripping off a piece of the wallpaper is not advisable because you might be exposing you and your family to the mold spores while also creating more food material for the colony by making tears in the paper.
The Takeaway
Mold isn’t likely to pop up in the most obvious places in your home, which can make detection difficult. It’s always good to remember that if you spot mold in one area of your home, you’re likely only seeing a small part of the larger problem, and it’s time to get a professional in to do a more thorough search.
But, in general, conducting small searches for mold in unexpected places and making small changes to lower humidity and increase air circulation will be the best remedy for mold growth in the home.