Mold is a living organism, a fungus, which is in the same kingdom as mushrooms. Mold grows in colonies. Some mold is flat and smooth, while other molds are raised or bumpy. Some are powdery and some are slimy.
Even though it has a bad reputation, mold can be very beneficial under the right circumstances. Different molds give us various kinds of cheese, alcohols, and even industrial chemicals. Penicillin is an antibiotic that comes from a mold (penicillum). Penicillin is a mycotoxin, a poison released by a mold. In this case, a mycotoxin is helpful, but that isn't usually the case.
Karl Ritz and Iain M. Young tell us in "Interactions Between Soil Structure and Fungi" from Mycology , which appeared in The Cambridge Journal in 2004, that fungi play an important role in the soil, helping to shape soil's structure and composition. Most agricultural plants and trees have fungi growing in the soil around their roots; these fungi increase the surface area of the plants’ roots so the plants can take in more nutrients. This is essential to the growth of the plants, but some fungi, including most molds, are harmful to plants.
While molds and other fungi found in nature can be beneficial, mold found in buildings is not. Household mold can destroy furnishings, clothing, and the building itself. Mold can also make many people sick. The Illinois Department of Health and the EPA's website recommend prompt and proper mold remediation when mold is found in buildings.
How Mold Spreads
Mold multiplies by asexual reproduction. This means that it does not need another mold to reproduce. Spores are just one means of asexual reproduction. Spores are tiny structures (often invisible to the naked eye) that may be one of several shapes, but are often round and spiny. They function like seeds. Any disruption of the mold sends the mold spores into the air, and when they land on another surface, if conditions are right, they begin to grow. Cleaning up the mold in a home disturbs the mold, and actually spreads it.
Mold also spreads by branching. It sends out branches called hyphae, and they form new clusters. This branching allows mold to spread deeper into its food source, such as wood, walls, floors, and ceilings.
What Mold Needs to Grow and How to Stop its Growth
Household mold has three requirements to grow – moisture, organic material to digest, and a moderate temperature (usually between 40 and 100 degrees). "Organic material" simply means the things that were alive as some point - wood, paper, cotton, etc. The mold will continue to grow until it consumes all of the organic material present – that means the mold eventually can “eat” all of the wood in a building. It can also digest the cellulose (wood/paper) fibers in the wallpaper, wallboard, ceiling tiles, floors… Mold can eat almost the entire building if it is not stopped.
If there is insufficient moisture, mold will not go away, but it will stop growing. Lowering the relative humidity to 30% will halt the growth of mold. The moisture source is viewed as the only factor that can be controlled. It is impractical to eliminate all of the mold’s food source (there would be no building left in many cases), and not many people would be able to keep the thermostat under 40 degrees or over 100 degrees, so the only one of mold’s requirements that can be eliminated is the moisture.
Halting the growth of the mold is not the end. The Environmental Protection Agency says that dead or inactive mold must still be removed because it can still cause health problems. If mold grows in a building, such as a house, apartment building, or office, it presents a danger to anyone who spends time in the building. The mold must be remediated carefully, by someone qualified to handle it. Every building has some mold spores, but if the moisture is controlled, mold growth will not occur.
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