How Mold and Mildew Play a Role in Your Home’s Curb Appeal

Whether it is in an online listing or the view from the street, curb appeal is the first impression your house makes on a prospective buyer, so your home’s exterior must be in top shape. While it is perfectly natural to see some mold and mildew on your home’s exterior– especially in New England and other coastal areas– these seemingly innocent flaws can lead to significant damage.

If you’re looking to sell your home or just want to maintain a pristine property, here is what you need to know about how mold and mildew play a role in your home’s curb appeal.

First and foremost, mold and mildew are unsightly. Mold on a home’s exterior can mask the true beauty of your home’s exterior and give the impression that you have not tended to the needs of your home.

Even if your home’s interior is carefully curated and beautiful, seeing a home with mold or mildew on its exterior may lead your potential buyers to believe that there are other areas of the home that have been neglected. This could leave them with a lower opinion of the home overall. This prospective buyer will likely offer a lower amount on your home or pass it up entirely.

Aside from the obvious issue of mold and mildew’s unsightly appearance, these elements can also lead to significant damage to your exterior. Mold and mildew are corrosive elements that eat away at your home’s exterior materials.

Wood can be significantly affected by mold. As wood traps moisture, it will bend and warp, entirely losing its shape. Not only can wood come loose from siding, but it may also become entirely unusable and lead to expensive residing for your home.

Additionally, when mold and mildew eat away at your home’s siding, aesthetic problems can quickly become a security issue. When doors or windows degrade, you may find that doors do not shut entirely, and windows do not seal completely. At best, drafty doors and windows could increase your heating or cooling bills. At worst, the exterior damage caused by mold and mildew could leave your doors and windows vulnerable to a break-in.

Trying to rid your home of mold and mildew yourself may be a lost cause. Mildew clings to crevices and texture on your home’s exterior, which can make it impossible to clear away with a high-pressure nozzle on a standard garden hose.

To properly take care of your home’s exterior when it has mold or mildew is through surface restoration with a sandblasting service. Sandblasting and other forms of media blasting are the only abrasive cleaning methods strong enough to clear away mold and mildew from your exterior paint and reveal a clean surface, good as new for any prospective buyer.

With the right cleaning services, you may even avoid house painting from your local paint contractor.

No one likes to see mold and mildew on their home, so it is critical to hire the right people to take care of these dangerous elements before they create significant problems for your home. Whether you need to make major changes or take care of cleaning issues like mold on your siding, ELCO Painting is ready to meet your property’s unique needs.

We offer home painting services and services for commercial and industrial buildings in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Southern Massachusetts. We have the tools and professionals to get the job done. Check us out online or call us today at 401-329-0910 to experience the ELCO difference!