Do You Have Mold?

In our previous post we discussed what causes mold in a home. In this post we will discuss how to identify if you have mold.

Minor mold infestations in your home can be easily spotted by its telltale blackness, whether as spots or gathered together in one group.

Also called mildew, these minor mold infestation in your home — say in the shower stall or musty basement corner — can be removed with everyday home cleaning products.

Mildew and mold can also form outside your home, on siding, decks or patios. These infestations can sometimes be mistaken for dirt.

To test if a suspected area is mold simply some drops of bleach on the area and if the area turns white it is mold/mildew and not dirt or dust.

Mold can also form in unseen areas, including framing and insulation. Mold can grow in those areas if water encroaches behind a home’s siding — typically around doors or windows — or from a leaky pipe or condensation.

This type of mold infestation can typically be discovered by its strong, musty smell or when walls or siding are being replaced. Mold in a home’s framing is also a sign of possible rot to the framing and other water damage.

If you smell mold or mildew, but can’t see obvious signs on walls, ceilings or in cabinets, it is recommended that you consult a professional mold remover before looking behind walls or pulling up carpet.

It is also a best practice to turn off your HVAC system so any disturbed mold isn’t blown through your house if you decide to make a more invasive inspection.

Some common areas not readily viewable where mold grows include:

  • Under carpet or carpet pads, particularly if they have gotten wet
  • Behind wallpaper or draperies
  • Behind drywall, wallboard or wood paneling
  • On pipes
  • Inside ductwork
  • Behind or above ceiling tile

While milder, smaller mold easily accessible can be removed using common household cleansers, caution is recommended when considering disturbing larger infestations. This is especially true if you or anyone in your house has a weakened immune system or some type of breathing-related condition.

For those larger mold infestations serious protective measures are recommended, or contact a professional mold removal company to ensure all the mold is safely removed.

In our next post we will take a closer look at what steps you can take to keep mold out of your home.

Waconia Lakeside Home

When a new home isn’t what the owner expected, and discovery of exterior water damage yields a court-ordered repair, it would be easiest for a contractor to restore the home to its original look.

But AMEK Custom Builders can help that homeowner turn the defect into a dream opportunity, which is exactly what happened with a Waconia widower.

While repairing the water damage was the first priority, AMEK was able to offer her a vision of using new materials and the deck she desired to transform her home into something greater than the sum of its parts.

AMEK’s designers presented optional looks using a variety of amounts of latest stone, shake and siding to convert the one-tone stucco into a nuanced, detailed design giving her home a unique look in her neighborhood.

See how AMEK was able to help her bring her dream home to life by turning damage into opportunity.

Construction Defect - Waconia Home

 

Compare LP SmartSide vs. Fiberglass Siding


A view of LP SmartSide’s front (at top) shows the wood texture and the rear view (bottom) shows how the product is manufactured.

Choosing a new siding for your home involves sifting through many options, including style and material.

If you are seeking wood siding you likely already know there are alternative siding materials for lap, shake and panel siding.

Two such wood siding alternatives are LP SmartSide — an engineered wood product — and another relatively new siding material, fiberglass.

Both LP SmartSide and APEX fiberglass siding by Marvin, give the appearance and finish of wood.

LP SmartSide is made using treating wood strands with a resin binder and compressing them to give the board superior strength while being light weight. Use of the small, fast-growing trees means strong forestry practices limits the tree acreage needed to make the siding. The process includes adding a textured face that is embossed, providing a rough, cedar-like texture at a percentage of the cost of wood.


A view of APEX Fiberglass siding’s front (at top) shows the clips used in the water management system. The rear view (bottom) provides a perspective on the thinness of the durable siding.

APEX Fiberglass siding is made using a proprietary process that begins with fiberglass filament made from sand and ends with siding material. The process includes adding a acrylic finish with the color bonded into the material during manufacturing, not applied on the finished product. This means no painting decisions and no added cost.  Continue reading Compare LP SmartSide vs. Fiberglass Siding

LP SmartSiding vs. Fiber Cement

If you’re in the market for engineered wood siding among the choices are fiber cement and LP SmartSide.

The best known fiber cement siding product is HardiPlank by James Hardie which has been around far longer than the relatively new LP SmartSide siding.

Each siding option is a  manufactured product — “engineered wood siding” — that combine wood fibers with another material before using a process to combine and compress the combination into the final siding material.

In the case of fiber cement,  the fibers are combined with a form of cement while in SmartSide the wood fiber is mixed with resin. Continue reading LP SmartSiding vs. Fiber Cement

Evolution Of Replacement Windows

To help make a better replacement window choice it helps to understand how windows are put together and what advances have been made in home windows.

First, the basics. There are several parts to a window:

  • The sash is the part with the glass and the material around the glass holding it in place, or the “frame” of the window. The sash is what opens and closes in a window.
  • The sash is held in place by side jambs and the “head” jamb at the top. The bottom of the area around the window is the “sill.”
  • There is “trim” around the window on the inside and outside of the home.

Prior to the 1950s all parts of the window were typically made of wood. If a window pane cracked, broke or needed replacing a new sash could be built if the glass pane couldn’t be removed and replaced. Continue reading Evolution Of Replacement Windows