Your Cold Room Can Affect Your Indoor Air Quality

 Mould In Your Cold Room Can Affect Indoor Air Quality In Your Home

Mould In Your Cold Room Can Affect Indoor Air Quality In Your Home

Toronto and the GTA has experienced the coldest temperatures so far this year. Cold outdoor temperatures or outdoor conditions that are well below freezing can lead to indoor air quality and mould growth issues. The area of your home that can be most affected in your basement and specifically your Cold Room, Cellar or Cantina. Which ever term you use…it’s the room usually under the entrance of your home. Your cold room can affect your indoor air quality of your home.

The issue with the Cold Room is the potential for mould growth. Mould an grow in the cold room and affect not only the indoor air quality of your home…but also the entire home.

Condensation leading to mould growth in your cold room can cause poor indoor air quality.

In winter warm and relatively more moist air than outdoors can enter your cold room. Your cold room is by nature…cold! Warm and humid air turn to condensation as soon as it hits a cold surface or cold contents. If this is sustained or remains damp for several days, mold growth can form. Once mould growth starts in the basement cold room, mould spores become airborne inside the cold room. Mould spores can then travel and affect the rest of the basement and also travel upstairs to negatively affect your indoor air quality in your home.

So what is the solution? You need to make sure the condensation does not form. You need to keep the warm humid air from entering the cold room. How do you do that?


Top 5 Ways To Keep Condensation out of the Cold Room:

  1. Make sure the door to the cold room is insulated and weather stripped
  2. Control the Relative Humidity in your home an keep it below 42%
  3. Don’t keep cellulose materials in your Cold Room (fabrics, wood, paper, cardboard)
  4. Make sure the Cold Room does not have any leaks
  5. Keep the Cold Room well ventilated from outside or install a dehumidifier


What if you already noticed a mould issue or suspect a mould issue in your Cold Room?

This becomes a little more problematic. The worst thing you can do is panic and try to clean up the mould or remove the affected articles yourself if you don’t know what you are dealing with.

Disturbing, moving touching or spraying mould growth that has already formed can lead to thousands and even hundreds of thousands of spore being released into the indoor environment. An increase in airborne mould spore activity will lead to poor indoor air quality and can lead to negative health issues.


Top 5 Allergy and Health Symptoms From Airborne Mould Spores:

  1. Itchy or burning eyes
  2. Sinus irritation or infections such as sneezing and runny nose
  3. Respiratory infection or disease, trouble breathing
  4. Skin irritation, rashes and skin infections
  5. Stomach irritation and digestive issues and disease.


A Cold Room mould growth issue can heave serious consequences for your health and the overall quality of the air you breathe. Mould growth in a cold room is not a DIY or Do It Yourself Project. You will need a professional indoor air quality specialist or air quality consultant to help you figure out your next steps.

Here is where Verify Air Quality Test can help and has been rated the best indoor air quality testing company in the Toronto area.

Verify Indoor Air Quality Test can assess your Cold Room and perform a Mould Inspection to ensure you do not have a mould growth problem and that the airborne mould spore levels are normal. Should you have a indoor mould growth issue, we and then provide a specific scope of work for mould remediation purposes so you can safely and professionally have the mould growth and the airborne mould spores removed from your basement and your home.

Don’t gamble with the health of your family. A mould growth issue in the cold room can cause serious health issues and affect the indoor air quality in the rest of your home. In some cases, mould growth from the basement cold room can also lead to a mould growth issue in other areas of the home. Contact us today, we can help you make your home a healthier home.

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