Mold and mildew refer to the same thing. Mold in your home is unsightly and it destroys any material it grows on. In homes, mold has been isolated from damp walls, wallpaper, PVC/paper wall covering, gypsum board, dust (from floor, carpet and mattress, and upholstered-furniture), acrylic paint, UFFI, leather, HVAC insulations, filters and fans, humidifier water, leather, fabrics, bird droppings, potted plant soil, plastic, and decomposing wood. Due to spores settled on surfaces, the amount of spores in the air significantly increases when cleaning is carried out mechanically, for example, when carpets are vacuum cleaned. Some species are more prevalent indoors than others. Some molds cause allergy symptoms, while others are toxic molds. The’re all kinds of reasons why we think of all mold as “bad”.
But even if we could, we’d never want to completely get rid of mold because mold is a good thing too.
What Mold Does For Us
Mold eats dead organic matter, and is responsible for decay. So without mold we’d be living with heaps and heaps of garbage.
Everyone’s heard of penicillin, discovered years ago. Penicillin saved millions of lives before other antibiotics were discovered. Without antibiotics, bacterial infections would still be deadly. Penicillin was discovered from the common household mold Penicillium.
Mold is the “bleu” in bleu cheese. It’s needed for Stilton, Roquefort, and Gorganzola cheeses. Mold gives other cheeses, like Brie and Camembert their delectable edible rinds. In fact a number of molds are used in the Asian countries to make various sauces and cakes from soya beans.
And mold improves our wine. A premium brand of sweet wine is made from grapes that have been rotten and shriveled by a mold called Botrytis.
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