Mold Growth and Building Materials
Experiments have shown that mold grows on the building materials in 4-10 days approximately. There are a lot of factors that determine the speed of mold growth on the building materials. Here we would discuss some of the key factors affecting the mold growth on building materials.
Type of the mold
The rate of growth of all molds is not same. Some molds grow at a high speed and other grow slowly. The best example is of ulocladium and stachybotrys. If there are same conditions of growth for both of them, ulocladium will grow fast as compared to the stachybotrys.
Temperature
The optimal temperature for the mold growth in indoors is 25 °C. Molds grow faster at this temperature but mold growth can also occur on the temperature below 25 °C. A type of mold like cladosporium and penicillium can grow on wood even at low temperature of -5 °C. But at low temperatures the growth is very slow and spore germination occurs at 0 °C at least.
Water and Moist Activity
Mold grows in damp and moist conditions. So the water activity can become a major cause of the mold growth. Growth rate is optimal at 0.96-0.98 (for indoor molds). If the level of water activity can be reduced then the mold growth can also be reduced. Exceptions to this are eurotium, wallemia, penicillium and aspergillus. All these types of mold have capacity to grow at the lower levels of water activity. A slightly higher water activity is required for spore germination (as compared to that required for the growth of molds).
Spore’s Age
Younger spores require lesser time for germination and the old spores need more time for this.
Load of the Spore
If there are settled spores in the buildings then mold can grow fast.
Building Materials and their composition
The building materials that are composed of the plant materials are at high risk of fast growing molds. The best example is wallpaper on which the cellulolytic molds (like stachybotrys or chaetomium) can grow fast.
pH of building material
Rate of mold growth is strongly affected by the pH of the building material.
Nutrients for Mold
If the building material has excess nutrients for the molds then their growth can be very quick to avoid this call professionals like los angeles mold remediation.
Antimicrobial compounds
Building materials that have antimicrobial compounds are safe from quick mold growth because these compounds help to slow down the mold growth.