Mold not only has the potential to devalue your house, but it can pose a health risk to those that live in your home. Mold is called the silent killer for a reason because it can cause people to suffer from congestion, headaches, eye and skin irritation, and even respiratory problems. Mold can be easy to identify when it is in an open area of your home, but is much tougher to identify when it is hidden in your ductwork. Here are three ways to tell if you have molds growing inside your ductwork. 

Smell

A good indication that you have a mold problem is if there is a musty odor that is persistent throughout the home. You may notice this odor more often when the air conditioning or heat turns on. Unfortunately, your HVAC system is what is causing the mold to circulate, which is creating that persistent smell even when your HVAC system is not on.

Health Problems

Even though mold can cause health problems, mold does not always show the same symptoms in all people. Reactions can be severe, mild, or nonexistent. The key health problem to look for is any condition that is persistent over time. Normal illnesses improve with time, but the mold in the air will cause the symptoms to stick around much longer than normal.

For example, a common cold usually shows symptoms for 1-4 days, which includes symptoms like watery eyes, wheezing, coughing, and a runny nose. Having these symptoms from time to time is fine, but you need to be concerned when the days stretch into weeks.  Many signs of mold exposure are similar to having a cold.

Visual Identification

Mold can grow deep within the air ducts of your home, but it also can grow near the vent openings as well. This can make it easy to check for mold if you have some suspicions based on the previous signs.

All you need to do is pop off the vent covers and look inside with a flashlight. Mold will grow in colonies that have fuzzy green, white, brown, or black spots. Even if you do not spot mold within the immediate opening of a vent, it could still be growing deep inside.

If you do suspect that mold is in your ductwork, you can have a professional duct cleaning service (learn more here) to clean them for you. They have special tools that will scrape off anything that could be growing inside the ductwork, and suck out the mold with a powerful vacuum.