Making sure your home is a safe environment is often a homeowner’s number one priority. In this guide, we take a look at some of the most common safety hazards that could be lurking in your home. As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so be sure to pay attention and learn how to handle these mostly unseen hazards.

Lead poisoning

Lead poisoning has been in the news a lot recently, which is making homeowners much more aware of the dangers of Lead. In the past, lead was a common material used in home construction, so it’s very possible that lead is in your home. This could be in the form of lead pipes that carry your drinking water or lead paint that’s on the walls of your child’s bedroom.

Over time, pipes and paints can degrade. When lead pipes corrode, small amounts of lead can find their way into your home’s water supply. Human skin doesn’t absorb lead, but even a tiny amount of ingested lead can lead to long-term health problems. With lead paint, cracking or peeling paint produces dust that can be swallowed or inhaled by nearby people. If this dust contains lead, it can also result in lead poisoning.

While a state-licensed lead inspector can help you identify any problems in your home, the only way to detect lead poisoning in people is to have a blood test performed.

Radon

Radon is another material that can lead to long-term health problems if left undetected. In fact, Radon is one of the leading causes of lung cancer in the US, second only to smoking cigarettes. Radon is a gas that is produced from the natural decay of the element radium in soil. Because radium is radioactive, long-term exposure and inhalation of radon is a big safety hazard.

Although radon is potentially deadly, it is also nearly undetectable. You cannot see, smell, or taste radon even if it has built up to unsafe levels within your home. To be safe, you can hire a radon inspector to test your home or purchase a self-testing kit. If the test detects unsafe levels of radon in your home, you will need to have a mitigation system installed right away. The cost of the mitigation system will vary depending on the size of your home, but you can’t put a price on keeping your family safe from radon.

Carbon monoxide

Carbon monoxide is another odorless gas, but unlike radon, carbon monoxide can kill very quickly.  As a result, CO has earned its nickname as The Silent Killer. Symptoms of mild carbon monoxide poisoning include lightheadedness, headaches, and delirium. Many have gone so far as to speculate that haunted houses can be blamed on carbon monoxide poisoning since subjects may also experience hallucinations after exposure to the gas.

It’s recommended that homeowners place a CO detector outside each bedroom in a home. That way, even sleeping occupants can be alerted to dangerous CO levels before it’s too late.

Mold

Mold and Mold spores are all around us waiting until they have a chance to develop in an inviting environment. Anyone who’s left a loaf of bread in their kitchen for too long can understand just how pervasive mold can be.

In many ways, mold is a good thing. Its plays a vital role in the earth’s ecosystem by breaking down decaying matter. Still, that does not mean having mold in your house is a good thing. Certain types of mold are really no more than a nuisance, but other molds (like Black mold) can be toxic to humans.

Mold matures and then spreads by releasing spores into the air. When these spores happen upon a habitable spot, the process begins all over again. These small spores can be inhaled by people nearby, which can lead to mild or severe health problems.

Mold loves to settle and grow in moist environments, so keep an eye out for any leaks inside your home. Also, be sure to thoroughly dry any areas in your house that get wet and make sure wet clothes don’t sit out in the open for too long.

If your home has already developed a mold problem, getting rid of it can require costly repairs. A mold issue can also make your home harder to sell.

Getting rid of home with mold doesn’t have to be difficult, however. Simply request a free quote from We Buy Ugly Houses Houston before coming out of pocket to pay for mold repairs.