Our final post for May's Allergy Awareness Month features tips on how to prevent household mold from affecting your family's health by using natural cleaners.

Mold growth inside the home can be hazardous to your family’s health, causing allergic reactions, such as sneezing, runny nose, red eyes, asthma, and skin rash.  However, mold can be eliminated from your home using natural cleaners.

Baking soda is well known as a natural and safe household cleaner. Unlike other mold killers which contain harsh chemicals, baking soda is mild (pH of 8.1) and harmless to your family and any pets. Besides killing mold, baking soda also deodorizes and so using it can get rid of the smell mold leaves in your home. Baking soda also absorbs moisture to help keep mold away.

                How to Kill Mold with Baking Soda:

• Add ¼ tablespoon of baking soda to a spray bottle of water. Shake well.
• Spray moldy area with baking soda/water solution.
• Use a sponge or scrub brush to remove the mold from the surface.
• Once the mold is gone, rinse the area with water to remove the residual.
• Spray the area with the solution again and let dry. This will kill any left over mold and prevent it from returning.

Vinegar is often used along with baking soda when cleaning up a mold problem since vinegar kills different species of mold. Vinegar is a mild acid which can kill 82% of mold species. However it also has the advantages of being natural and safe. Vinegar is non-toxic and doesn't give off dangerous fumes like bleach does. If you want to use vinegar to prevent mold growing on surfaces just spray vinegar on the surface and leave it. Repeat this every few days to ensure the surface will stay mold-free.

Controlling the source of moisture inside the house is necessary to eliminate mold growth. Mold grows when air-born spores (invisible to the naked eye) land on a wet or damp surface. Indoor mold has potential to cause ill health effects resulting from inhalation.