How Deteriorated Caulk Lines Can Affect Your Home And Health
Smooth and sleek caulk lines can make your home look all groomed and flawless. This wonderful product is great for sealing off gaps and openings in and around your home and can protect your home from water damage. If caulking is done professionally, it will hold up well and keep protecting you and your home for many years. This product will, however, eventually start to deteriorate. When this happens, the lines that were once smooth and sleek can look all crumbly, cracked, and a bit creepy.Deteriorated caulk should be stripped out and replaced with fresh product as soon as you start noticing signs of wear like cracks. If the old caulk is left to sit there without any touchups or repairs, it can result in issues for your home and it could even start affecting your health.Let’s take a look at the different ways old and worn caulking can affect your health and your home.
Breathing Or Respiratory Conditions
Caulk is mostly used in bathrooms and kitchens because the product forms a water-tight seal and keeps moisture from seeping into your cabinets, vanity, or underneath the tub. If this happens, these structures and surrounding materials can become soggy and mould and mildew can start to grow inside these items or in the grooves between tiles. Breathing in the toxic spores of mould and mildew is quite unhealthy and can result in all sorts of respiratory or breathing issues.
Increased Risk Of Diseases
Caulking seals off gaps and openings in your home so pests like cockroaches or termites cannot get into these areas. When the caulk becomes brittle and soft, these pests can easily make their way into these narrow openings. Over time, they can start to nest in these areas and they will gradually cause the materials to deteriorate. Pests like ants, roaches, and termites can bring lots of diseases or bacteria into your home. These pests can cause diseases like diarrhea, dysentery, cholera, or thyroid fever. They will also cause a lot of damage to your structures or furniture.
Increased Risk Of Colds And Flu
The openings around windows and doors can let chilly drafts into your home which can make your interior spaces very cold. This cold living environment can increase your chances of catching colds and flu because these viruses flourish in colder temperatures.
Higher Risk Of Water Damage
When your caulk lines are all worn out, these surfaces will no longer be able to block out moisture. Water will easily seep into your vanity or cabinets in kitchens and bathrooms and rainwater can also get into your walls. This increases your risk of getting water damage dramatically and you will eventually need to tend to a couple of costly repairs.
Reduced Property Value
When the caulking is worn and cracked, it can make your home look old and unkept. The unpleasant-looking old caulk lines can eventually hurt your property value, especially if water damage occurs if the caulking isn’t repaired.
Structural Damages
Caulking is often applied on the exterior of buildings to keep rain from entering and affecting the walls. If too much moisture gets absorbed by the wall itself it can affect the structural strength of your buildings. Drywalls will start showing signs of water damage in the form of dark spots or flaking. Mortar walls, on the other hand, can start to crack if too much moisture is absorbed by the concrete or bricks. It is very important to keep all the caulk lines in and around your home as fresh as possible and to touch them up as soon as you notice signs of wear. IB Caulking is a great company to call if you need help with caulking or epoxy grouting. With their help, your home will be protected and your family will be a lot healthier and safer.
