Brown mold does not have the same effect to homeowners as its black counterpart. Even green mold is more recognizable. People know more things about it than brown ones. This is something that has to change.
Every mold color should be taken seriously. It doesn’t matter what color it is. You have to get rid of it. They can all wreak havoc inside a home. Most of them can also do damage to one’s health.
On this page:
- What is Brown Mold?
- Is Brown Mold Dangerous?
- Other Dangers of Mold
- What Causes Brown Mold?
- Types of Brown Mold
- How to Control Mold
- How to Control Mold
- How to Remove Mold
This is why we want to educate people. Is brown mold dangerous? Is it hairy or fuzzy? How do you remove it? We’ll help you identify it.
There are also different types under this color. We’ll talk about the 9 most common ones in this article.
What is Brown Mold?
Types that have this color fall under the genus Cladosporium. It’s very common outdoors. You’ve seen it on leaves of plants. Unfortunately, it can also be found inside a home. It’s usually hiding behind walls and in the insulation. If you leave a carpet wet and damp, it will grow there too. Just like most types, it can also be found in damp areas like the bathroom.
It’s not as dangerous as say, black mold. However, it can still be dangerous especially to those allergic to its spores, with it being allergenic in nature. It can infect your eyes, skin and sinus. In worst case scenarios, it can also infect your brain.
What It Looks Like
It’s brown for starters. Types under this color can also appear as tan or dark yellow. Generally speaking, they can be identified easily because they appear to be dark patches on wood.
However, it can be confusing sometimes because it will sometimes appear as black to the naked eye. A look under the microscope will tell you that it is indeed brown. A test will also tell you that. This is not recommended to be done by any homeowner because handling it can be dangerous.
It looks like hair. Yes, it can be hairy and fuzzy. This is particularly true for the Stemonitis type.
Is Brown Mold Dangerous?
Being an allergenic, it’s not as toxic as the dreaded black mold. It’s also not dangerous if you’re perfectly healthy and you’re not going to ingest a huge amount. With that being said, it can be considered if one of these factors comes into play:
- You’re allergic to spores or you’re suffering from a respiratory illness.
- You’re going to ingest or come in contact with a huge amount of the spores.
This doesn’t mean that you can disregard it. You don’t even know for sure whether you’re already being affected negatively or not. Besides, you’re not the only one living in your home. The children and the elderly are also at risk.
Science backs this up. The Institute of Medicine, in a 2004 report, stated that there is enough evidence to say that exposure to mold inside your home will expose you to these dangers:
- Upper respiratory tract symptoms
- Coughing
- Wheezing
- Asthma
- Difficulty breathing
- Allergies
- Infections
- Loss of memory
- Hemorrhaging
- Sinusitis
It will wreak havoc. At the very least, it will wreak havoc on your home. It will slowly eat away at your home. This is why you’ll also be directly affected because your quality of life will be affected.
Other Dangers of Mold
Here are the other dangers in addition to the negative health effects:
- It destroys your house.
It will slowly but surely eat away at your house. It’s going to do so slowly, but in a lot of cases, it would have been too late before you notice the damages. By then, the damages would be significant.
Worse, it will affect your home’s foundation as well. When it comes to damages to a home’s foundation, it doesn’t matter if they’re big or small. It’s going to be an emergency that will require expensive repairs.
- It’s unpleasant to look at.
While some species look amazing out there in nature, mold in general looks unpleasant inside homes. Most of them look disgusting and have no place inside a home.
This is why it’s been known to lower the home’s resale value. In addition to potential buyers recognizing the negative health effects, the nasty appearance will bring down the resale value.
- It smells.
In a lot of cases, you’d smell mold before you see it. The smell can range from earthy to disgusting. Whatever the smell is, it’s not welcome in anyone’s home.
- It affects your sleep.
This is a relatively unknown danger. It’s a direct effect of how it’s an allergenic. How can you sleep soundly at night with bouts of allergies?
What Causes Brown Mold?
The first thing that you have to know is it’s everywhere. It’s been this way for millions of years. They’ve survived, thrived, and show no signs that they’re going away soon.
This is because they only need 3 things to grow and survive. They need a food source, the right temperature and moisture.
Now, your home probably has the first 2. It has a food source in the nutrients that are aplenty on wooden surfaces. For the temperature, it prefers warmth and humidity. Most homes have around 70 degrees Fahrenheit indoor temperature which is perfect.
Luckily, you can control the last requirement which is moisture. Unfortunately, a lot of homeowners don’t do routine maintenance and checkup. They miss things like a leaking roof and busted pipes. Things like these will introduce moisture into your home. Your home now has the trifecta that’s needed.
Types of Brown Mold
There are 10 common types. While they share the same color or hue, they can differ on how they affect people and how they look like. Some look like hair. One looks like dirt. Others may look powdery. Read on to know more about them.
Pithomyces
This type is usually found outdoors. It grows on soil. There are over 40 species that fall under this type. They thrive with dead leaves as their preferred food source. They can also be found on grass.
It’s not common indoors, although they can still grow and thrive given the perfect conditions. Paper is their preferred surface area, although they’ve been spotted on mattresses, tiles and carpets as well.
This type looks like cotton. Its brown color can be dark or pale.
Looking at it under the microscope will reveal its different shapes. It can be shaped like a club or a barrel. It can also be ellipsoid.
As for the health effects, it’s been known to cause allergies and its symptoms.
Stachybotrys chartarum
It’s more popularly known as black mold. Yes, it’s the notorious toxic black mold. It produces mycotoxins. While these mostly affect animals especially swine, they’ve been known to be toxic to humans as well.
While mostly black in nature, we’re also including it in this article because it can sometimes be dark brown. This is why it’s important that you familiarize yourself with it.
Identifying it will usually start with smelling it. Yes, you’ll smell it first before you see it. While most molds have a musty and earth-like smell, Stachybotrys chartarum has a stronger smell than most of them.
It loves wetter areas so a flood will jumpstart it. It will start growing on drywall. You may also find it on cardboard, wicker and the likes.
It can be identified by its slimy appearance which is consistent with its preference for wet environments. In some cases, it looks powdery.
It has the same health effects as the other types but it’s more toxic. It will lead to more chronic symptoms at the very least. In fact, it can even cause a condition called black mold poisoning.
Aureobasidium
This is another allergenic type which means that it’s usually not toxic although its health effects can really affect the quality of one’s life. A lot of homeowners become surprised when they see it hiding behind their wallpaper where it usually thrives. Just like most types, it also feeds on nutrients of wooden surfaces so it can also be found there.
It’s not always brown. While it will eventually turn dark brown as it ages, it can be brown, black or even pink when it’s just starting.
It’s notorious for how it infects humans. It can infect the eyes and nails. It can also cause a skin infection called dermatitis. This means that you shouldn’t touch it.
Stemonitis
It’s characterized by its spores enclosed in sporangia that are chocolate brown in color. It’s one of the fastest types to grow. It can develop, sporangia and all, within 24 hours.
It’s also slimy to look at. It’s obviously slimy to the touch, although don’t touch it to confirm. Just take our word for it.
Bipolaris
This is another dark-colored type that can be brown or black and is composed of filaments. It can cause phaeohyphomycosis that can attack the eyes, skin, and even the brain.
This is a very common type found all over the world. It has historical significant wherein it’s been held responsible for regional famines, including India’s Bengal famine in the early 1940s wherein the bipolaris inflicted a disease on the region’s rice supply. This should give you a good idea as to how it can be devastating.
Cladosporium
This is one of the most common types not just outdoors but indoors as well. While some can be olive green or black, they can also be brown in color. Their spores are in the air that we breathe outdoors. The fungus itself mostly lives off on plants. Indoors, it can grow and thrive on any surface where there’s moisture.
This type is mostly allergenic but it can be pathogenic as well. But in most cases, its health effects are limited to asthma and other respiratory illnesses. However, it’s been known to cause skin and nails infection as well. Worse cases have been reported wherein it has infected the lungs and sinuses.
It’s also important to note that it’s a known producer of volatile organic compounds.
Taeniolella
This is often confused with Annellophora since the two are closely related. Taeniolella is dark brown in color, although it can also be black in color. It’s also shiny to look at.
Just like the Annellophora, it can also be found indoors on wooden areas and indoor plants.
Chaetomium
There are a lot of species under this genus. It’s been estimated that there are close to a hundred species. They’re mostly outdoors, living in the soil and debris of dead plants. Fortunately, only a few of them have been proven to be harmful to humans. Unfortunately, these species can prove to be very dangerous. As a whole, chaetomium can be considered toxic.
The globosum species is known to infect the nails with onychomycosis. It can also lead to a rare skin infection called subcutaneous phaeohyphomycosis.
It usually starts as white in color and is cottony in appearance. As it matures, the color turns olive green or olive brown.
Alternaria
Mostly black in color, alternaria can also be olivaceous-black which for some people can be brown to look at. It looks soft and velvety. Sometimes, it looks as if it’s covered by wool. It’s pathogenic in plants, but widely-considered to be allergenic in humans.
It can lead to hay fever or asthma. People suffering from a compromised immune system are at risk.
How to Control Mold
Outside our own homes, mold can be considered good. It serves good purposes among nature. It also saves lives since it’s needed in making penicillin.
Unfortunately, these benefits come with disadvantages. This is especially true if it grows inside your home.
The thing with mold is it will affect you from day one and by the time you discover it, it have been affecting your quality of life for quite some time already. Prevention is better than cure, as they say, and this is why you have to know how to control mold.
Here are some prevention tips:
- Check your home for holes, cracks and other damage.
Moisture is needed for mold to grow. Your home has everything that it needs to grow except moisture. Once moisture is introduced into your home, it’s now the perfect environment for it to grow.
Moisture usually comes from leaks and leaks happen because there are holes, cracks and other damages in your roof, windows, walls, and the likes. This is why it’s recommended that you regularly check your whole house for damages. Hire a professional contractor to check it out for best results.
Leaking pipes are also culprits. This is why you have to regularly check as well.
It’s also good practice to make sure that water flows away from your home. Check that your gutter system is working perfectly. You should also have the land around you checked to make sure that it’s sloped away from your home so that water flows away from your home.
- Wipe and dry the wet areas in your home.
Always check after a heavy rainfall if there’s water in your home. Wipe and dry it immediately to prevent moisture from building up.
It doesn’t even have to be a heavy rainfall. A forgotten spill on the carpet can prove to be an ideal breeding ground. Walking across the room while you’re dripping wet may be a simple thing, but you’ll never know if it will start an infestation until it’s too late.
You should also check indoor plants. We already know that mold loves plants and trees outdoors. What’s stopping them from growing on your indoor plants?
Just follow the general rule. If it’s wet, wipe and dry it.
Needless to say, you need to dry flooded areas immediately. Serious cases need professional intervention to make sure that water damage is kept to a minimum.
- Provide proper ventilation, air flow and humidity.
The simple act of opening a window while cooking can help with prevention. Did you also know that your everyday routine of taking a shower can start an infestation? This is if there’s no proper ventilation inside your bathroom.
In addition to the kitchen and bathroom, also at risk to be a breeding ground are the attic and the laundry room. The key here is to make sure that moisture-producing appliances are vented outdoors.
It’s also a good idea to use air conditioners and dehumidifiers. Just make sure that you regularly check them because they can be a source of leaks as well.
How’s the flow of air in your home? The air should be able to flow freely inside your home. Introduce fresh air into your home by opening windows and encourage air to flow freely around by opening doors.
It’s also a good idea to monitor and ensure proper humidity inside your home. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, ideal humidity is anywhere between 30 and 60 percent.
Monitoring can be done using a moisture meter. You can buy it at most hardware stores near you. You can also watch out for signs like condensation. These signs are due to higher humidity.
How to Control Mold
You already know the dangers of mold. So why would you remove it on your own? While an experienced DIYer can do it, it’s generally not a good idea for most homeowners to do it.
If you insist, here’s how you can remove a small infestation:
- Protect yourself. Wear clothes that you can throw away after the task. Wear gloves, goggles, and an N-95 respirator.
- Position a throwaway box fan by an open window. Tape cardboard around it to ensure that there’s no open space where the spores can be blown back in. You need to throw away this box fan once you’re done.
- Start with a natural remover. Mix 2 tablespoons of borax with a quarter cup of white vinegar and 2 cups of hot water. Use a spray bottle to apply it on the infestation.
- If that doesn’t work, use a bleach solution. Mix a quarter cup of bleach with 2 cups of warm water. As an important note, don’t mix this solution with any other cleaning solution. To be safe, don’t use it immediately before or after using another cleaning solution. Use a spray bottle to apply it on the infestation.
Professional help is required for bigger or more stubborn molds. In addition, there are cases wherein it’s hidden behind walls or underneath the flooring. Needless to say, you need a professional to remove mold in these cases. This is to protect the rest of your house because damaged areas need to be removed and replaced.
Getting Quotes from Competing Contractors
If there’s one thing stopping you from hiring a professional, it’s probably because you’re assuming that you can’t afford to hire one. This can be true in a lot of cases. After all, they’re trying to run a profitable business so they’ll charge as much as they can. If they know that you’re only talking to them, then they can charge you a lot because they have the leverage.
This is why we recommend that you ask for quotes from competing contractors. Basically, get the leverage that you need to get good deals to choose from. If you let them know that you’re shopping around for the best deal, it’s in their best interest to send their best deal for them to have a chance of getting hired.
This can be a time-consuming process, though. We know this for a fact because we’ve received feedback from many homeowners who decided in the end to just hire the first contractor they’ve talked to because they don’t want to spend a lot of time asking for quotes from competing contractors.
This is why we’ve streamlined the process. All you need to do is to use the form that you see on the page. Complete the form that you see on this page and send it. The best licensed contractors in the area that specialize in mold removal will receive your details and they’ll put together their best quote. This means that you’ll be choosing from the best available quotes.
Try it today!