Lucy Jones lived in your average older house in the suburbs of Brisbane with her husband and two kids. They had only just bought the house 3 months prior. Soon after moving in they started to notice the kind of sickness they had hardly felt before. “I would go through a box of tissues a day. My kids and I were constantly blowing our noses and coughing. We were all sleeping more than ever, and we just felt terrible. Luckily my husband Joe didn’t suffer as badly, he only thought he had a touch of hayfever.”

What Lucy didn’t know at the time, was that there was some major mould issues in their house. Here are Lucy’s recommendations below:

1. If you smell any musty odors or visible signs of mould – never ignore it! (Mould in the shower is fine – Though you should really clean it!) If you are seeing mould in places you wouldn’t usually expect to find it, like in your wardrobe, on clothes, under the bed, on shoes or on the back of artworks hanging on the wall – Get it checked out! Inhaling mould spores is damaging to your health. Mould specialists can test these areas and more to work out what type of mould it is and where it is coming from. 
2. If you discover mould, don’t try to clean it yourself. It needs to be done in a certain way so that spores don’t spread, multiply and become inhaled by home occupants. Again, a mould expert needs to find the cause of the mould and where it’s coming from. Unfortunately Lucy’s house was on a sloping block and due to lack of drainage water was pooling underneath causing many moisture issues. 
3. When purchasing or renting a home, be careful of drainage issues. If purchasing, get a proper building inspection and ensure that they check the drainage. Lucy also discovered once the mould surveyors came in that the roof also had some leaking areas and some of the guttering needed replacing. These are also issues that will cause the growth of mould due to excess moisture getting through. If you’re renting and you start to notice mould or excess moisture issues, contact your landlord to have it inspected ASAP. 
4. You need to keep a home as well ventilated as possible. This could be just creating more airflow in the home by opening more windows and doors. Ducting clothes dryers to the outside of the laundry. Using your exhaust fan in the kitchens and extraction fans in the bathrooms. In some homes this is simply not enough and you need to look into a ventilation system. Check out https://www.zephyrventilation.net.au/ – We definitely recommend these guys for ventilation of your home. 
5. If you find you are suffering with upper respiratory health issues that are just not moving on, please have your home checked for mould. The mould and moisture could definitely be hidden. Perhaps it is behind a wall, or under the flooring. Living in the humid climate of QLD, where it frequently rains you never know when excess water can be trickling into hidden areas.

“For anyone who may have spotted mould in their house or is experiencing chronic health problems and just don’t know what to do about it or even where to begin I hope that this article is a good start.” Says Lucy. “I was just so thankful that someone recommended getting in touch with a mould expert, such as Mould Pro”.