One of the sneakiest locations for mold growth is behind the baseboards. Water collects easily behind these, creating a perfect environment for mold. Mold on baseboards is also usually a sign of a potential deeper problem within the walls behind it.
Is Mold Dangerous?
If you suspect you do have a mold problem, finding and addressing it should be done as quickly as possible.
While there are many types of mold, and some types may have little to no effect on people, mold growing in your house can be dangerous. For mold to grow it releases spores into the air, which you can inhale. Some people are at risk and predisposed to these mold spores, such as those with asthma or other respiratory issues.
There are also some types of mold, like toxic black mold, that can have a variety of negative side effects when exposed. These worsen the more prolonged your exposure. Some of the possible dangers include:
- Symptoms similar to allergies/cold/flu in throat and nose, such as coughing, wheezing, runny nose, and other sinus troubles
- Fatigue
- Headaches
- Difficulty Breathing
- Poor memory and brain fog
Prolonged exposure can cause chronic conditions. This is why it’s important to discover whether you have mold in the house or not early on. Luckily the baseboards are fairly sealed. If mold is growing back here, it probably isn’t able to release spores into the air. However, it could be a sign of a worse outbreak.
Identifying Mold
Mold comes in all kinds of shapes and sizes. There is a whole rainbow’s worth of colors you could potentially encounter.
If you’re trying to get an idea of what to look for, you’ll probably have the best luck just looking up pictures of it on google.
Remember being in school and culturing bacteria growth on a petri dish, that is not basically what mold will appear like at scale on parts of your house. There will be various clusters. Usually with the highest density in the middle. But it can also be a variety on small, distributed spots. This all comes down to the type of strain that is growing.
When it grows on your food, mold looks very fuzzy. This is because it is in the early stage of growth. By the time your seeing it appear behind baseboards and in your house it will probably look dryer and flatter, or more slimy, especially if the area is wet.
Toxic black mold, or Stachybotrys will be black and green, appearing in large clusters with varying levels of density. This is one you definitely want to look out for.
Possible Causes of Mold Behind Baseboards
Moisture
If you have mold, there is, without a doubt, a moisture issue.
Moisture is fundamental for mold to grow. It is the most important prerequisite. It cannot grow without it.
While this can happen as a result of high humidity inside that area of your house, it’s far more often due to some kind of leak releasing water into spaces of the house. The problem is this could be coming from a number of areas.
You may have a leak in your roof or in your window. This is usually very difficult to catch. Because odds are, it’s not always leaking. Maybe every time you get a bad storm, a little water gets in. This water runs down your wall and settles in between the baseboards, where it slowly begins to accumulate. And, because there is little airflow, it never evaporates. So it just sits there. And every storm there’s a little more. You might not ever notice it too. Now the backside of the baseboard gets wet, the wood making up your wall and baseboard is probably wet, and mold is able to grow.
This is another issue, because you won’t see signs of this growth until it is already extensive, and like we’ve alluded to above this could result in larger issues for your house.
Other possible leaks could come from air conditioning or your piping. These can usually lead to the same scenario. Once the water is behind the baseboards, it is very difficult to dry, and you will likely have mold growth.
Mold on baseboards is especially common in bathrooms because of the perpetual moisture. Poor air filtration leaves the room with high humidity. Your shower sprays water on the walls, which trickles down and collects between the baseboard and the wall.
This can even come from under the house where you might have something like a leaking pressure gauge.
In most cases, it’s going to be very difficult for you to figure out on your own, so if your concerned we recommend having someone come out and inspect that area of the house.
Signs of Mold on Baseboards
In general if you see baseboards start to pull away from the wall, you may have a problem. For two reasons.
One this makes it even easier for more moisture to get in. Caulk is the substance used to attach your baseboard to the wall and floor. One of the reasons for using caulk is to seal the area between your wall and your baseboard so nothing gets in.
The second issue is that is means there is probably already moisture there. You see, when wood absorbs water it actually expands. This causes the baseboard to come off of the wall and become warped.
If you see visible stains on the baseboard, that’s probably from water. Not exactly the place you’d spill coffee.
It is going to be difficult to tell most times. Because problems with the baseboards are not necessarily due to mold, but are just deteriorating or poorly installed baseboards. This may require you to put some clues together, but if you see these signs, and are aware of moisture or have been having symptoms of mold exposure, you need to either check it out yourself or call in a professional.
Removing Baseboards
Please please get someone to do this for you.
If you have never done this before and try to do this yourself, there is a good chance you will:
- Damage your baseboards
- Put a hole through your drywall
Now if you’re stubborn and still insist on at least getting a peak back there before you call someone in, here’s the way to do it without breaking something.
Let’s begin with a list of tools. You’re going to need:
- Crowbar
- Utility Knife
- Thin board of wood/hardcover book or anything similar
- Five in one tool or chisel
To begin if there is any caulk on the baseboards, use the utility knife to cut through this. If you don’t when you pull the baseboard away from the drywall you may tear the wallpaper as well.
Next your going to take you chisel or five in one tool, start at the end of the baseboard, and drive it down between the wall and baseboard. If you start in the middle, you will be pulling your baseboard in two directions and may damage it. If the tool won’t go in you might need to gently hammer it down in there. Once its down, give it a wiggle or two to get it started and widen the gap, enough for your crowbar to get down there.
We don’t start with the crowbar because without enough space to fit it in you’ll damage the baseboard, and if it doesn’t have mold you’ll have ruined a perfectly good baseboard after all!
Once you have the crowbar in there don’t wedge it up immediately. That puts a lot of pressure on one area of your wall and will put a hole through the drywall. Instead, place the thin board or book on the wall behind the crowbar, this spreads the pressure along a larger surface.
From here gently lift the crowbar slowly at different points advancing along the wall until you are at the area of interest. You should be able to see mold on baseboard if it is there. Any significant mold growth should be fairly visible.
Cleaning Baseboards
If there is mold growth, before you go any further, wear personal protection equipment. Then, continue the process outlined above to remove the whole baseboard.
What happens next depends on the extent of the mold growth in the affected area. If it appears severe, or there is water damage to the wall and floor, there’s probably more the this than you’re able to handle by yourself. Going further could risk releasing more spores into the air or contaminating other areas of the house.
On the other hand, you can give cleaning the baseboard a shot at and then reattaching it to the walls. If the mold seems dry and comes off without much effort, you can probably salvage the area.
There are a number of ways to go about this. There are plenty of chemical mixtures or products you can buy to spray on surfaces to clean for mold. We recommend using tea tree oil, bleach, ammonia(don’t mix bleach and ammonia), or detergent with water, and then scrubbing the board and the surrounding area until clean.
What Mold on Baseboards Means For Your Home
If the mold growth is due to a leak, there is a possibility that mold extends into more difficult to reach areas, and is a more extensive problem.
It really depends on where the water is coming from, because in some of the scenarios listed earlier, like roof leaks, piping, or pressure gauge leaks, there is moisture inside the house itself. This means there could be mold growing in the drywall, insulation, under the flooring etc.
Do not try to investigate this yourself. It is unsafe and will likely do more harm than good. Instead call a mold inspection service as soon as possible. Your home may be in need of mold remediation. This is an industrial grade mold removal process where the area of the house with mold is put in containment, taken apart, and cleaned to rid the space of mold. This mold remediation may require you to leave your home for a short time. While not simple, it is highly effective.
Wrap Up – Prevent Mold From Growing in the Future
For baseboards in particular, proper installation should provide some protection due to sealant place along the top and bottom where it connects to the wall and floor, respectfully.
To prevent mold and mildew from accumulating in the future, it is important to address the source of moisture as soon as possible.
Without it, you prevent mold from growing in the first place.
If you aren’t sure where the source of the moisture is, call a plumber or mold technician out to inspect areas of concern. While it may feel like a hassle, preventing mold is always much easier than having to remove mold.