What is the best mold food? Wood, dry wall, insulation, brick? Nope, nothing makes mold grow faster than simple human neglect. The kind that is easily preventable. Every mold disaster may have started with just a minor leak, but a lot of neglect is what caused a lot of mold. In most cases, it’s entirely preventable. Take for example a rented home in Lee County that was recently ruined because of mold. After the renters abruptly moved out, vandals struck by breaking into the home and turning on a faucet, causing the home to flood. By the time a landscaper cutting the grass noticed a broken window, the mold already claimed $100,000 in damages. It’s sad that a life-long investment is now destroyed simply because the water was left running. It was neglect that allowed this to happen. Neglect is unavoidable when a home is unoccupied and there have been a slew of stories lately about abandoned or unoccupied homes being devoured by mold – renters need to pay attention to this.
But what about when a home is not unoccupied? Here, mold is usually entirely preventable. A small leak is overlooked, minimal maintenance and inspection is not carried out, or other minor mishap can easily lead to massive damages. But it only takes a slightly watchful eye to prevent this from ever happening. It can seem entirely unfair for victims when the great toll mold can take on property and health is not to scale with the minor incident that caused it. I often see heartbreaking reports that show how $100,000 in damages could have been prevented with $10 in repairs. Never has the cost of repairs and maintenance exceeded the damages. The point is that it’s always worth the effort to proactively take steps to prevent mold. Any time mold occurs it is a result that someone made a careless mistake. Then, the game becomes who to blame for it and who will foot the bill for the damages.