Types Of Mold In Crawl Space [Fungus / Mild Dew Species]

Here is all about mold in the crawl space.

When it comes to moisture presence in homes, one of the most vulnerable spots is the crawl space. Also common with moisture presence is mold growth.

In other words, mold growth is bound to occur when there’s moisture.

Here, our focus will be on the crawl space of homes. If you have mold issues within your crawl space, you may wish to know the type involved.

Crawl Space Fungus

Mold identification is one of the basic steps necessary for effective treatment.

Being able to determine the mold species present in your crawl space allows homeowners to narrow down on the most effective remedies. So, do you wish to have your mold issues comprehensively dealt with?

The details provided here will prove helpful.

Dangers of Mold Presence In Crawl Space

Wherever mold growth is, there’s a potential for damage to the structure in addition to the significant risk posed to health.

Some of the health risks associated with mold growth include lung infections, throat irritation, skin irritation, and coughing or wheezing.

Other common symptoms include eye irritation, asthmatic symptoms (with shortness of breath being a primary symptom), and pulmonary bleeding. Mold growth could also result in kidney conditions, as well as cancer.

These are real risks you get exposed to with mold presence on your property.

It doesn’t matter where the problem is. Mold growing in your crawl space could slowly extend or spread to indoor areas starting with hardwood floors. As long as moisture presence causing this growth isn’t contained, the growth and spread of mold continue.

Does the Type of Mold I have Make Any Difference?

Certain mold types are known to be more dangerous than others. While this is true, no mold growth is considered safe to have around the home. In other words, it doesn’t matter the type of mold issue you have.

As long as it’s growing, some risks must be contained.

Taking appropriate actions to address mold growth in your crawl space will require identifying the type you have. As stated earlier, understanding the type of mold issue you have will largely determine the particular action to take.

Treatments perform better when tailored to particular mold variants or species.

This is the main objective of mold identification; to offer better treatment to your crawl space mold problem. Now, visual identification of mold species isn’t possible.

Lab tests need to be performed to identify the type of mold you’re dealing with or have.

Can Mold Types in Crawl space be visually (by Colors or Appearance) Identified?

If you’ve seen or witnessed a patch of mold growth before, you may have noticed the varying colors they have.

Mold color variations range from yellow, black, green, white, gray, or brown. Now, you may think that the color variations are enough to distinguish one mold type from the other.

The truth is; there’s nothing as such. In other words, the different color appearances have nothing to do with specific mold type identification. Extra probing needs to be done to determine a particular variant.

You may have multiple mold variants sharing the same color while others may also have varying shades.

For example, acremonium is a mold type you may find growing in your basement. Its color varies and can be found in shades of pink, grey, white, and orange.

The point is, color is never a yardstick to identify or point out particular mold types.

White And Black Mold Types Found in Crawl Spaces

Several types of mold can be found growing in crawl spaces. Before we get into specifics on those growing in your crawl spaces, let’s start with the different classes.

i. Mold Categories

Like all mold types, these are classified under three categories; allergenic, pathogenic, and toxigenic. The names of these classes of molds give an idea of what they’re about.

Let’s begin with the classes before identifying the different mold types.

• Allergenic

Molds belonging to the allergenic class are quite common and are agents of decomposition. In other words, these mold types break down all sorts of organic materials.

In terms of health risk, their impacts are not as severe to your health; nevertheless, symptomatic signs include skin irritations, eye irritations, and many more.

• Pathogenic

Pathogenic molds are basically identified as disease-causing species.

Persons with weak or compromised immune systems are most vulnerable to pathogenic molds. Exposure of such vulnerable persons to mold growth areas must be prevented at all costs.

• Toxigenic

This is the mold type that poses the most risk to your health.

These molds produce toxins that could prove deadly when exposed to them. Now, visual identification won’t work to differentiate one mold class or category from the next.

There need to be lab tests to tell one apart from the other.

ii. Mold Types in Crawl Spaces

There are different types of mold found in homes. These may also be found within your crawl space.

They include Alternaria, acremonium, Ulocladium, and Trichoderma. Others are fusarium, mucor, Stachybotrys, Penicillium, chromium, Cladosporium, aspergillus, and Aureobasidium.

• Alternaria

This type of mold type like all the others has lots of sub-species. They’re commonly found in homes as well as in outdoor sections like the crawl space.

Surface sampling and air tests are necessary to determine its presence.

• Acremonium

Another type of mold you may have in your crawl space is acremonium. You’ll find this in color shades of white, grey, orange, and pink.

• Ulocladium

The Ulocladium mold variant can also grow in your crawl space. It’s commonly found in outdoor and indoor locations and has a fluffy texture.

• Trichoderma

Trichoderma molds have a green or white appearance. These can be found in indoor and outdoor areas and are most notorious for causing wood rot.

• Fusarium

The fusarium type of mold spreads fast across affected areas. Like most mold types, they cause damage to the structure and are a risk to have in your crawl space.

• Mucor

The mucor mold variant can be found just about anywhere such as indoors and outdoors. They’re known to cause a wide range of illnesses as well.

• Stachybotrys

This mold type is among those you can find growing in your crawl space. They cause severe illness and most have a black appearance.

Any of these mold types mentioned are quite common in homes and will easily grow in your crawl space as long as conditions are optimal (moisture presence).