A good shower or a bath can be quite relaxing, but not so much in a bathroom that is contaminated with mold on the ceilings, floor, or walls. This manifests itself is a somewhat splotchy growth on the wall and it slowly moves from one part of the bathroom to another. Leave it untreated and it will eventually go on to infest the entire bathroom. Any drywall that is contaminated must usually be completely replaced, depending on how far along the growth of the colony is. The mold will be able to seep through the entire depth of the drywall because it is a porous surface and unfortunately, all you can really do is replace it with a new piece.
Some homes these days are taking to putting carpet into the bathroom, but this is a serious mistake. No matter how careful you are, the toilet, bath tub, or sink will eventually overflow and both your carpet and padding will be completely soaked in water. If you do happen to have carpet in your bathroom and have no intentions of removing it, get ready for a mold hazard. If the carpet and padding get wet and are not completely dried as soon as possible, mold will start to grow under it. Once carpet padding gets molded, it has to be thrown away. There is nothing else you can do. The best advice is to take up the carpet and have tile installed. This creates a waterproof barrier over your wooden floor.
Leaving damp rags, towels, or clothing on the floor anywhere is a bad idea and these items need to be washed as soon as you can, since if you leave them unattended for more than 48 hours, mold can start to grow on them. Leaving them on a floor that is carpeted and then covering them up with dry clothes is even worse, since you will probably forget about the wet items and neglect to wash them. This will cause mold to grow on everything in the pile, including the carpet and padding. Clothes should be put into a hamper instead of on the floor and dry clothing should never be put on top of wet.
Keeping the humidity down in the bathroom can also be a big problem, especially if you do not have an exhaust vent installed so that steam can escape. The water vapor adheres to the ceiling and is absorbed by it, causing it to be almost continually moist. This is the perfect environment for mold to grow in and if you do not have an exhaust fan installed, this is something that you should invest in, especially if you are going to remodel the bathroom to remove the infection, anyway.
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Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Laptop Water Damage
You might not realize this, but the circuit board in your desktop computer and in almost any other consumer electronic device was rinsed in pure water and thoroughly dried before it was put up for sale. An electronic device that comes into contact with water should be dried as soon as possible, but as long as the water is clean and electricity is not running through the object at the time, it should be fine. An electronic device that has been allowed to soak in unclean water, such as flood waters or even in just pool water that has been treated with chemicals, may be a little more difficult to salvage.
If you spill something onto your laptop, the first thing that you need to do is turn off the electricity. Unplug it from the wall and remove the battery immediately. The battery should be set aside for drying after you are done dealing with the laptop unit itself, since the battery is obviously much cheaper to replace. Turn the unit upside down and wait for the liquid to drip back out of it until the drips cease. Wipe off the laptop wherever the liquid was spilled (this is usually the keyboard) and wipe off anything else that was splattered with the liquid. This other object could be an external hard drive or an external CD-ROM.
The insides of the laptop need to dry out for at least a couple of days before you try using it again. If what you spilled onto it was just plain water, then you can be fairly certain that it will be alright, but if you spilled something acidic such as soda or coffee that becomes sticky when it dries, you may have a bigger problem. You have two options at this point: repair the damage yourself or hire a professional. Since most warranties on electronics do not cover water damage, the concern with this is that you damage the laptop irreparably by trying to fix it yourself. If you take it to a professional, he or she may find out that the laptop is damaged beyond repair, anyway, and you will have wasted money.
If you choose to take care of the problem yourself, disassembling the laptop is your first step. Do not clean the circuit board with water. Use rubbing alcohol and a cotton swab or a small cloth and allow the alcohol to dry out before trying to power up the laptop again. Only service the laptop yourself if you are absolutely certain that you know what you are doing. If you run into a problem that you are not sure about how to solve or if you think you have caused more damage, seek a professional.
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If you spill something onto your laptop, the first thing that you need to do is turn off the electricity. Unplug it from the wall and remove the battery immediately. The battery should be set aside for drying after you are done dealing with the laptop unit itself, since the battery is obviously much cheaper to replace. Turn the unit upside down and wait for the liquid to drip back out of it until the drips cease. Wipe off the laptop wherever the liquid was spilled (this is usually the keyboard) and wipe off anything else that was splattered with the liquid. This other object could be an external hard drive or an external CD-ROM.
The insides of the laptop need to dry out for at least a couple of days before you try using it again. If what you spilled onto it was just plain water, then you can be fairly certain that it will be alright, but if you spilled something acidic such as soda or coffee that becomes sticky when it dries, you may have a bigger problem. You have two options at this point: repair the damage yourself or hire a professional. Since most warranties on electronics do not cover water damage, the concern with this is that you damage the laptop irreparably by trying to fix it yourself. If you take it to a professional, he or she may find out that the laptop is damaged beyond repair, anyway, and you will have wasted money.
If you choose to take care of the problem yourself, disassembling the laptop is your first step. Do not clean the circuit board with water. Use rubbing alcohol and a cotton swab or a small cloth and allow the alcohol to dry out before trying to power up the laptop again. Only service the laptop yourself if you are absolutely certain that you know what you are doing. If you run into a problem that you are not sure about how to solve or if you think you have caused more damage, seek a professional.
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Deducting Mold Remediation And Water Damage Restoration From Your Taxes
Fortunately, if you are a homeowner or a business owner and you need to have mold removed from your property, the fact is that you can probably deduct this from your taxes at the end of the year. The remediation is recognized as a repair that you have to do to safeguard your home, because your home is considered an investment.
Depending on the size of the contamination, the remediation costs can be fairly large, especially if you choose to hire a professional remediation business instead of doing a lot of it yourself. If you know what you are doing and are careful enough, a lot of the mold remediation can be done by you, but hiring a professional is usually the best thing to do.
Sometimes an entire wall or perhaps even more has to be taken out due to a mold infestation on a property and then there is the cost of the professional help that you will probably need to do this on top of the cost of protection equipment and chemicals.
What the IRS has decided is that the cost of the remediation of the mold in your home is a necessary expense. To be counted as a business expense, an expense must be both necessary and ordinary, no matter how great the cost may be.
There are guidelines to this tax deduction, however. If the mold removal and remediation is part of a larger renovation of the household, then you cannot count it as tax deductible at the end of the year; you must capitalize on it. The removal of the mold cannot increase the financial value of the home or property in any way.
Hiring a professional mold remediation company to do the work for you is usually the best thing to do and whatever they bill you at the end of the work is what you will count as deductible. Building materials that you need to buy after the remediation is completed are deductible as well, since you will need these items to finish up the repairs.
Relocation expenses could possibly also be deductible if your family had to relocate while the remediation was taking place, since the relocation is a direct result of the mold removal. Talk to the person who prepares your taxes every year and ask if this is an option.
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Depending on the size of the contamination, the remediation costs can be fairly large, especially if you choose to hire a professional remediation business instead of doing a lot of it yourself. If you know what you are doing and are careful enough, a lot of the mold remediation can be done by you, but hiring a professional is usually the best thing to do.
Sometimes an entire wall or perhaps even more has to be taken out due to a mold infestation on a property and then there is the cost of the professional help that you will probably need to do this on top of the cost of protection equipment and chemicals.
What the IRS has decided is that the cost of the remediation of the mold in your home is a necessary expense. To be counted as a business expense, an expense must be both necessary and ordinary, no matter how great the cost may be.
There are guidelines to this tax deduction, however. If the mold removal and remediation is part of a larger renovation of the household, then you cannot count it as tax deductible at the end of the year; you must capitalize on it. The removal of the mold cannot increase the financial value of the home or property in any way.
Hiring a professional mold remediation company to do the work for you is usually the best thing to do and whatever they bill you at the end of the work is what you will count as deductible. Building materials that you need to buy after the remediation is completed are deductible as well, since you will need these items to finish up the repairs.
Relocation expenses could possibly also be deductible if your family had to relocate while the remediation was taking place, since the relocation is a direct result of the mold removal. Talk to the person who prepares your taxes every year and ask if this is an option.
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Prevent Mold From Growing On Your Stuff
I know that I do not like mold on my stuff and you probably do not, either, but sometimes we dig into our closets and discover an old favorite item of clothing only to find that it is stinky and covered in mold. What a disappointment. This happens more often than some of us realize and the solution that we usually come up with is just to throw the item away. But, why let it get that way in the first place? What can you do to stop mold from getting on your things? There are a few different ways to help prevent mold from growing not only just in your home, but also on your stuff.
Since we are already talking about moldy clothes, one of the worst things that you can do is to pack your clothing extremely tightly into your closet. Maybe you have an aunt or a grandmother that has a closet packed to the brim with clothing that they never wear, but they might not realize that by trying to save space, they are actually helping mold to grow in the closet full of the clothes that they love so much. Air cannot circulate in these packed closets and add to that high humidity and warmth and you get mold. Some closets have vents installed in the floors to help alleviate this problem, but packing the closets so tight you can barely move them aside to get the shirt or pair of pants that you want completely defeats the purpose of the vent. Try not to pack your closets so full and if you cannot help it, simply get rid of some clothes.
Wet clothes are also particularly a problem, especially during the summertime when people go swimming. These are often thrown on the floor of the laundry room and left for some other person to pick up, but if you are the person that is supposed to pick them up, please do so. Wash wet clothes as soon as you can, especially if you can do this before they dry out. If you can help it, never throw dry clothes on top of wet ones because you will forget about them and mold will begin to grow pretty soon.
If you have baby bottles or any bottle that is oddly shaped, perhaps with a hollow handle that allows liquid inside, you probably have a hard time getting them completely dry if you do not have a dishwasher. To keep mold from growing in these, simply put them in the freezer after you wash them.
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Since we are already talking about moldy clothes, one of the worst things that you can do is to pack your clothing extremely tightly into your closet. Maybe you have an aunt or a grandmother that has a closet packed to the brim with clothing that they never wear, but they might not realize that by trying to save space, they are actually helping mold to grow in the closet full of the clothes that they love so much. Air cannot circulate in these packed closets and add to that high humidity and warmth and you get mold. Some closets have vents installed in the floors to help alleviate this problem, but packing the closets so tight you can barely move them aside to get the shirt or pair of pants that you want completely defeats the purpose of the vent. Try not to pack your closets so full and if you cannot help it, simply get rid of some clothes.
Wet clothes are also particularly a problem, especially during the summertime when people go swimming. These are often thrown on the floor of the laundry room and left for some other person to pick up, but if you are the person that is supposed to pick them up, please do so. Wash wet clothes as soon as you can, especially if you can do this before they dry out. If you can help it, never throw dry clothes on top of wet ones because you will forget about them and mold will begin to grow pretty soon.
If you have baby bottles or any bottle that is oddly shaped, perhaps with a hollow handle that allows liquid inside, you probably have a hard time getting them completely dry if you do not have a dishwasher. To keep mold from growing in these, simply put them in the freezer after you wash them.
Visit Mold Remediation and
water damage restoration For More Info
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