The prevention of water damage in most areas of your home is fairly easy, it just usually takes a bit of diligence on your part to make sure that the rest of your household helps you in this task. Preventing this damage from occurring is typically much, much easier to accomplish and cheaper than having to repair the damage after it has happened. Whether it is the discoloration of drywall from steam, damaged floorboards due to cracked tiles, or replacing vanities because of leaks under the sink, the cost of actually preventing this damage from happening usually hovers around zero. Since the bathroom is one of the most valuable areas of your home, you should do what you can to safeguard it.
Keeping an eye on the water junctions in your bathroom is something you will definitely want to do to protect the investment that is your bathroom. These junctions are the shower, bath tub, sink, and the toilet.
The steam that comes off of the bath tub and shower can cause damage to the upper walls and ceiling, so installing an exhaust fan to get rid of this excess moisture buildup is a pretty good idea. Any room in your home that has moisture buildup like this should have an exhaust vent so the vapor does not become absorbed by the ceiling.
Tile that has missing grout or tile that is cracked should be replaced as soon as possible, because this allows water underneath it and will cause damage to the floor boards. This can eventually become so bad that the floor underneath has to be replaced, so replacing a few individual tiles or filling in missing areas of grout is much easier than doing that level of repair.
Look for signs of moisture on the walls of your bathroom, since this could mean that there is a leak in the plumbing in the wall.
Even though you may not see these every day, keep a watch on the plumbing that is underneath your bathroom sink. Having leaks in these pipes can cause the bottom of a vanity to rot and need replacing or if the pipes are not hidden by a cabinet, you will have visible standing water on the bathroom floor.
You should also do what you can to make sure that the toilet does not get stopped up with excess toilet paper, feminine napkins, or other things that do not belong there. Toddlers are notorious for putting items in the toilet like toy cars, so purchasing a lid lock may be a good idea if you have any of these in your home on a regular basis.
Showing posts with label bathroom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bathroom. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Bathroom Humidity and Mold Problems
A relaxing bath or shower can be just what you need after a long day at work, but when you look up and around you and you see mold starting to grow on the walls, the relaxation usually gets ruined by the worry about that mold problem. It shows itself as a splotchy growth on the drywall and it usually moves slowly from one end of the room to the other. If left untreated, it will eventually cover the rest of your bathroom and then you really will not have much of a good time bathing.
Most of the time drywall that becomes contaminated needs to be taken out and thrown away, unless the growth is very new and superficial. If it is old growth and is found to be embedded into the wall, then the drywall cannot be cleaned, since it is such a porous surface. This is unfortunate, because tearing out drywall and replacing it can cost quite a bit, especially if you have to hire someone else to do it for you.
A lot of people seem to like installing carpet in their bathrooms, but what they may not realize is just what a very bad idea this is. Water and mold go hand in hand and once carpet gets wet and is allowed to stay that way on a continuing basis as it will be in a bathroom, it eventually begins to mold. When carpet gets moldy, the unfortunate fact about this, as with drywall, is that it usually has to be thrown out. Carpet can be cleaned, but the padding underneath it cannot and if mold continues to grow on the padding, any new carpet that you put over it will also be contaminated and so will the old carpet if you attempted to clean it.
Try to keep the humidity in the bathroom down by installing an exhaust vent to let steam and moisture out of the house. Also keep wet items of clothing and towels washed as often as possible and avoid letting them stay on the floor, especially a carpeted one.
Keep an eye on your toilet and make sure that it is flushing properly and that the members of your house are not putting too much toilet paper in it. Feminine napkins can sometimes be put into toilets, but this is usually only recommended for homes that are connected to city sewer systems. Homes with septic tanks tend to have a harder time with feminine napkins being put in the toilet and can stop up the whole system, particularly if the pipes are old and corr
Most of the time drywall that becomes contaminated needs to be taken out and thrown away, unless the growth is very new and superficial. If it is old growth and is found to be embedded into the wall, then the drywall cannot be cleaned, since it is such a porous surface. This is unfortunate, because tearing out drywall and replacing it can cost quite a bit, especially if you have to hire someone else to do it for you.
A lot of people seem to like installing carpet in their bathrooms, but what they may not realize is just what a very bad idea this is. Water and mold go hand in hand and once carpet gets wet and is allowed to stay that way on a continuing basis as it will be in a bathroom, it eventually begins to mold. When carpet gets moldy, the unfortunate fact about this, as with drywall, is that it usually has to be thrown out. Carpet can be cleaned, but the padding underneath it cannot and if mold continues to grow on the padding, any new carpet that you put over it will also be contaminated and so will the old carpet if you attempted to clean it.
Try to keep the humidity in the bathroom down by installing an exhaust vent to let steam and moisture out of the house. Also keep wet items of clothing and towels washed as often as possible and avoid letting them stay on the floor, especially a carpeted one.
Keep an eye on your toilet and make sure that it is flushing properly and that the members of your house are not putting too much toilet paper in it. Feminine napkins can sometimes be put into toilets, but this is usually only recommended for homes that are connected to city sewer systems. Homes with septic tanks tend to have a harder time with feminine napkins being put in the toilet and can stop up the whole system, particularly if the pipes are old and corr
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