Mold is everywhere.  But, that's not the "mold problem."  What

  gives people headaches, runny noses, skin rashes and worse,

  is when these outdoor organisms are allowed to prosper

  indoors and multiply out of control.  So, what is mold?

By common description...

it's a fungus with several hundred known varieties.  They're a necessary part of our biological environment serving primarily to break down organic matter like fallen leaves and dead animals.  Without fungus our soils would be barren and our planet would be choked with un-decayed plants and animals.

As living members of our environment, mold needs two things to grow; water and food.  Since fungus (mold) loves to eat everything from deer to drywall, food is never in short supply.  And, since the earth absorbs rainfall in the soil, the trees, and the animals, natural concentrations of mold can be found virtually everywhere outdoors.

People have lived with mold for thousands of years.  Our bodies and our immune systems are accustomed to natural concentrations in the air.  We even benefit from some types of fungus living in our intestinal tract that interact with our digestive system.

Mold, however, becomes a problem when it finds an opportunity to reproduce and grow inside the home.  Given the right conditions, these hungry and resilient organisms will multiply with startling efficiency.  A fallen tree on a wet forest floor will soon be reduced to pulp, as it should be.  Unfortunately, the same is true regarding elements of your house.  Taking directions from mother nature, mold will literally eat your home to the ground if conditions are right.

Not only a problem to buildings, some of these otherwise helpful organisms can make you sick.  A growing mold population confined inside a house, spreading across large surfaces and/or varied locations, can raise levels of air concentration many times higher than outdoors.  And, as an opportunistic organism, mold is just as happy to invade parts of the human body as it is parts of the house.  The result of this parasite invasion can be illness - from hay fever symptoms and skin lesions to pneumonia and meningitis.

Solution...

Given that mold is everywhere indoors and out, and food for mold is everywhere, the key to controlling a problem inside the house is controlling the water it needs.