Before we discuss a few basic tips on how to look for mold and moisture problems around the house lets talk about how not to find mold. Do not depend on ants to let you know if you have mold. They are a sign that you have scraps of food or droplets of water in the house that the ants have discovered.

What about leaf cutter ants

Some ants eat mold, but these ants are not found in our homes. They do not even live in the United States. These specialized ants (called leaf cutter ants) live in large, underground colonies in the jungles of Central and South America. Furthermore, these ants do not enter people’s houses looking for mold not even in the jungles of Central or South America. They tend to their own private gardens of cut-up leaves covered in fluffy, white mold in underground mold farms. They only consume the mold that they raised in underground mold farms they build, and they only grow and eat a very few specific species of mold. If there are any ants in Florida that eat house mold, I have never seen one - despite having done home inspections since 1993 and mold inspections since 2003. I have seen lots of homes, lots of mold, lots of ants and never once have seen ants in the vicinity of the mold. Most ants probably don’t like house mold anymore than humans do because of the natural mycotoxins, beta glucans, allergens, and volatile organic compounds mold produces. In fact, it is predators (such as ants, other insects, and microbes) that prompt molds to produce many of the noxious chemicals most house molds produce.

Check for odors

So what are some signs of mold? if you have had a leak then the first sign of mold will either be musty/moldy odors in the vicinity of the leak. Of course you do not want to be looking for or sniffing for mold, or touching mold if their is even a slight chance that you may have a compromised immune system, allergy, asthma, or any other conditions that would put you at risk of a negative reaction resulting from any form of mold exposure. In addition this article in no way will equip you to conduct your own mold inspection, it is just intended to give you a few simple tips. If you suspect a mold problem contact a certified mold inspector.

Check for odors near your AC ducts

Another trick to check for mold in your house is to turn your AC off for a while, the longer the better but just several minutes will due if you have a serious problem. Next turn your AC back on and immediately stand directly under the path of air flowing from a duct. If your AC unit or your homes ductwork is contaminated with mold you will smell the musty mold odors blowing in your face. Remember do not do this if you are asthmatic, allergic to mold, or have a compromised immune system, do not do this if their exist any chance that you may have any of the above mentioned conditions or any health conditions that could become a problem as the result of exposure to mold.

In ducts the odors build up when the AC is off and may dissipate after the AC has been on for a while. Please note minor moldy odors and minor mold contamination are not unusual in AC units and may not cause a problem for most people. Having a mold inspector sample the air from your ducts may not do you much good because mold in AC units is often vegetative, in other words in may be growing without producing many spores. Further investigation by having an experienced certified mold inspector inspect inside your AC may be of more benefit.

Look for mold on AC registers and coils

Metal AC register grills become cold as air exiting your duct passes through them. If you have high humidity condensation may form on these registers. AC coils are designed to form condensation when you simply use your AC unit in the cooling mode, this feature helps the system to remove humidity from your air. AC registers in humid buildings and coils in any building have a good chance of forming a mold problem. The bottom sides of AC coils sometimes grow large amounts of velvety Grey cladosporium mold or clear jelly like bacteria masses, and AC register form black cladosporium mold. So check your AC registers & coils for mold.

Look for spots in basements and closets

Sometimes mold does not start as the result of a leak in your home but may occur as the result of humidity problems, in such cases the mold typically starts in areas with poor circulation such as in basements, closets, and bathrooms and may spread if your homes humidity is above 60%RH to 65%RH. Mold growing on drywall in bathrooms is typically black cladosporium or it may be pen asp. In closets powdery mildew like white or even powdery light green spots of mold are common. To find these molds look for light spots on black clothes, luggage, and shoes, it does not show well on light colored clothes.

Look for spots on water damaged building materials

Small spots, smug marks, or a powdery residue in the area that became wet is good indication of mold. Most mold spots are black, brown, green, or white. These initial growths of mold are typically very small at just a few millimeters across in the start. One way to tell a smudge mark, a bad paint job, or other marks and stains from mold is to rub it with a dry cloth. Most mold will at least partially rub off or smear and leave a streak mark on the surface. This is because mold is intentionally designed to be friable (easily broken) in addition mold spores are intentionally designed to detach easily for dispersal. Discoloration from scuff marks and paint etc will often not smear easily. Of course this method does not work all the time and is not full proof, but some times it is helpful to a degree in providing some preliminary info on what you may be dealing with.

Check window caulking,

Hidden mold inside walls is common and one of the primary reasons for hidden mold inside walls is window leaks. If you have even minor hairline defects in your window caulking it may let small amounts of rain water or sprinkler system water into your walls. Moderately or Seriously defective caulking causes many mold problems in this mold inspectors experience.

Inspect baseboards

When water enters walls if flows down and soaks into your baseboards and causes them to swell, when they dry they shrink. Swelling and drinking causes baseboards to separate from the wall slightly, you will see a small crack between the top of the baseboard and the wall. Water in your walls that causes baseboards to separate from your walls means water and water in your walls that may have caused mold.

Check tack strips,

Tack strips under your carpet will become stained and rapidly rot if you have water entering your walls. Water in your walls means possible mold in your walls. Peeling your carpet back to see the tack strip located under the perimeters of your carpets may loosen or even damage your carpet, so if your carpet is important to you don’t pull it up to check your tack strips.

Don’t forget your wallpaper

If heavy wall paper is installed any moisture that enters these walls will become trapped behind the wall paper, moisture trapped behind wall paper mixed with wall paper glue is a perfect recipe for a serious mold problem. During mold inspections wall paper is not typically peeled thus hidden mold may not always be discovered but it is common to find mold hidden behind wall paper. The vast majority of moldy wall paper is on perimeter walls, as apposed to on interior partition walls.

Perimeter walls are the walls of a building that abut the exterior of a building, these walls receive moisture from cracks and defective caulking on the exterior side of the walls. Inspecting behind sections of wall paper may reveal large amounts of hidden mold.

If you think you have a house mold problem and are concerned about possible resulting health problems, do not rely on the tips from this article, do not rely on hungry ants, humidity-seeking silverfish bugs, cheap mold inspectors, petri dishes, or divining rods. Hire a professional mold inspector who utilizes moisture meters, humidity meters, borescopes, and air samples to detect mold problems and who provides professional remediation recommendations.

For pop-up spray heads, 30 minutes of water once every 4 days will equal approximately 1.25 inches of rain per week.  Rotary spray heads will need at least twice as much time.

Example for Spray Heads
Start time #1    1:00 am for 10 minutes (20-30 minutes for rotors)
Start time #2    2:30 am for 10 minutes (20-30 minutes for rotors)
Start time #3    4:00 am for 10 minutes (20-30 minutes for rotors)

Winter or Rainy Season Guide
•    Turn your sprinkler system off
•    If there is no rain for 2 weeks, use the manual cycle and water as needed.
•    Take advantage of any rainfall and have a rain/freeze sensor installed.

When temperatures are approximately:
70 degrees – water every 6 days
80 degrees – water every 5 days
90 degrees – water every 4 days
Summertime – increase time 30-50%, not frequency

Remember that these are general guidelines.  Time and frequency will vary depending on the weather and soil moisture conditions.  Be sure to check your system every couple of weeks for proper coverage.  A clogged nozzle, broken head of pipe will show up quickly in Texas heat.  Save yourself and your community lots of water.  Be water wise!

To customize your watering, follow these steps to measure each station of your system.

1.    Set 3 to 5 cans at different distances from the sprinkler
2.    Run the sprinkler for 15 minutes
3.    Measure the amount of water collected in each can in inches
4.    Add together the measurement and divide by the total number of cans obtain an average
5.    Multiply the average by 4 to determine how many inches of water are applied in 1 hour
6.    This test will also locate uneven distribution of the sprinkler system

Drainage:  Soil moisture control must begin with good drainage.  The moisture level must not be too wet (muddy) or too dry (cracking).  Areas with poor drainage are especially prone to going from one extreme to the other.  If this poor drainage area is near your foundation you hone will be moving up and down as the expansive clay soil expands and contracts.  The following identify some specific items to consider:

• The soil for the first 5 feet from the base of the foundation should be non-sandy clay firmly compacted.  Soft sandy landscaping soils should begin greater than 18 inches and be shallow.
• The soil should slope away from the foundation a minimum of 1 inch per foot over 6 feet.
• The soil level should cover the foundation’s perimeter beam up to approximately 4 inches below the brick or 6 inches below siding.
• Rain guttering is not required.  However, where guttering exists, the downspouts should be extended away from the foundation 12 to 18 inches and land on splash block to prevent erosion.
• Water should always run away from the foundation.  There should not be any ponding of water near the foundation.  In areas where drainage cannot be obtained by sloping soil, a surface drain must be installed.  Care should be given to size it correctly and to keep it clean and working as designed.

Changes in moisture levels can shrink or expand clay soils by 30 percent.  This can easily translate into inches up or down of sidewalks, driveways, patios, or foundations!  Many homes in this area are built on several feet (up to 10 feet or more) of expansive clay soil.  To control movement of the foundation, the moisture level throughout this layer of clay must be controlled.  Simply watering the surface around the home may not be sufficient!

Trees and Large Trunk Shrubs – Trees and large trunk shrubs need lots of water.  They have a root system that is very good at finding water.  Roots will travel long distances, if needed, and they are not prejudice.  The moisture und the foundation works just fine.  Some large trees can drink up to 500 gallons of water per day!  Imagine having 10 large trees around your home.  They could drink as much as 5,000 gallons of water per day!  A typical water sprinkler system would have to run 12 hours or more, without runoff, to supply this much water.  It is unlikely that you would be willing to pay a water bill this high each month.  So, in order to control the moisture level under the foundation, the roots of the trees and large shrubs must be controlled.  The following will help guide you to the right balance between landscaping and protecting your foundation:

• A root barrier installed around the perimeter of your foundation will keep the tree and large shrub roots away fro the foundation and will make the task of keeping a consistent moisture level easy.  Details on the design, installation and maintenance of a root barrier can be obtained from a licensed qualified landscaper.
• It is important to keep trees and large trunk shrubs far away fro the foundation or a root barrier should be installed.  As a rule of thumb, any shrub that must be trimmed or cut back more than once per year should not be placed near the foundation.  It the trunk of a mature shrub gets greater than 1 inch in diameter, it should be considered a large trunk shrub.  For example, re-tipped photinias are not recommended because they grow very fast and can get very large.  Crepe myrtle trees and yaupon hollies are also okay as they only require one trimming per year and are low water consuming trees.  However, even with crepe myrtle and yaupon hollies, they should be located 3 feet or more from the foundation.
• All volunteer trees should be removed while they are small to prevent them from becoming large trees.

Consistent Moisture Around the Foundation – With proper drainage and tree roots controlled, it becomes much easier to maintain consistent moisture levels at and under the foundation.  The following watering techniques will help maintain your foundation.  If foundation corrections are needed, refer to a licensed qualified structural engineer.

• The area between the root barrier and the foundation should be kept neither wet nor dry.  The soil should be moist to dry to the touch (not wet to the point of mud or dry to the point of cracking).  Once the tree and large shrub roots are kept away with a barrier, changes in soil moisture levels will be much slower.  Normal lawn watering every few days through the summer should suffice.  During periods of drought or very hot conditions, watering may be required every other day.
• Watering without cutting the roots and installing the barrier does nothing for the foundation.  The trees will simply consume the water faster than you can reasonably put it out.
• Homes without sprinkler systems should use a soaker hose (the black hoses are preferred) around the exterior of the home during dry months.  Hoses should be placed 18 to 24 inches from the foundation and be regulated until they begin sweating.  If an area begins to pond, watering should be halted.  Resume when the soil will absorb water.
• Some areas around the foundation may need more water than others.  Areas to the south and west typically require more watering due to the extended hours of full sun.  Sides of the home with rain guttering likely need more watering than sides without, during times of frequent rainfall.  Since most rain water runs off, do not count on it to water the foundation.

Maintenance of the Root Barrier – The root barrier will be effective in preventing tree roots from removing the moisture near the foundation.  However, there are still some small maintenance requirements, as follows:

• Periodically (every year or as noticed) inspect the area where the root barrier was installed for roots trying to go over the barrier and cut, as needed.

• The type and the future maximum height of the trees around your home.
• The type and the future maximum height of the trees located on your neighbor’s property.
• The location of patio, garage and driveway slabs you want to protect.

After consideration of these factors, the barrier should be run between this foundation and the tree or trees. The barrier should extend to a distance of the future maximum tree height from the base of the closest tree. For example, a large Bradford pear can reach 30 feet high and they have roots 30+ feet long. Trees located on an adjacent property can have roots that will reach your foundation. For example, a neighbor may have a large red oak tree that can easily reach a height of 80 feet, in the center of his yard some 50 feet away. You would need to install a barrier along two sides of your home 30+ feet long around adjacent corner.

Note: Do not cut roots too close to the base of the tree. Doing so may damage or kill the tree. Additionally, the ability of the tree to withstand a strong wind in a given direction may be reduced. As a rule of thumb, the barrier should not be closer than 10 feet to a large tree and 3 feet to a small tree or shrub. In some cases, a tree may have to be removed if it is too close to the foundation and prevents the proper location of the barrier. It is a good practice to use a soaker hose around the base of a tree after cutting the roots to install a barrier. Extra water will help reduce stress on the tree.

The root barrier should be located 5 to 6 feet from the foundation or slab area. The barrier should never be closer than 2 feet to the foundation to stay away from a close tree or a neighboring property line.

A tree will send roots as far as necessary to obtain sufficient water. Thus, failure to install enough length of the barrier can simply delay the time it takes for the roots to get to the water source. For example, if a barrier is only extended 10 feet along a driveway, the roots near the end of the barrier will take a sharp turn past the barrier and head to the foundation.

Identify and mark underground utilities to prevent damaging while trenching.

Installation of the Root Barrier – A narrow trench can now be dug and will allow for the installation of the root barrier material. The following specifics should be followed to ensure the performance of the barrier:

• The trench should be approximately 2 feet deep and allow for the installation of a 24 inch tall barrier material. The barrier material should be left sticking out of the ground and trimmed off flush with grade when complete.
• The barrier material should be a 1/32 inch thick rubber or a flexible PVC building siding material. It is important to use a rubber cement compound and liquid nail, respectively, and overlap each joint 2 to 4 inches to make a secure connection.
• The barrier should be continuous around the corners and have a minimum of 6 inches radius to minimize stress on the connecting joints.
• Return the soil and water-in to minimize settling.
• Trim the barrier material off at grade level.

Note: Caution must be used while digging, as underground electrical, piping, gas lines, etc. may be in the area.

Maintenance of the Root Barrier – The root barrier will be effective in preventing tree roots from removing the moisture from under the foundation, but will require some maintenance, as follows:

• Periodically (every year, or as noticed) inspect the area where root barrier was installed for roots trying to go over the barrier and cut, as needed.
• The area inside the root barrier and other areas that may not have a barrier should be watered periodically to maintain consistent soil moisture levels.