If you have found some mold in your home, then you should deal with it as quickly as possible. In some cases, you might want to handle it on your own. If that's the path that you want to take, then you will need to make sure that you are prepared before you dive in. To help you out with that, here are some tips on preparing for mold remediation:

Identify the problem

You first want to determine the extent of your mold problem and exactly what kind of mold you are dealing with. Some types of mold are more dangerous and resilient than others, which means that you will need to take additional precautions.

You first want to take a look at the color of the mold.

• Green – If you find some green mold, then you can't really jump to any conclusions. There are a huge number of green molds, ranging from dangerous to mildly inconvenient. The safest course of action is to treat a green mold as potentially dangerous if you are going to remove it yourself.

• Red/Orange – If you found some strange mold that looks red or orange, then you can actually be relieved. These types of mold are almost entirely harmless and tend to grow on decaying or moist plants, including untreated wood products. If you do decide to remove red or orange mold, then you don't need to be terribly careful.

• Black – Black mold has the potential to be pretty dangerous, triggering respiratory and allergic reactions in certain people. If you have a compromised respiratory system or bad allergies, then you should treat this mold quickly and with a great deal of care.

• White – In most cases, white mold is actually a young version of other types of mold. This means that it is too young to release the spores that cause the majority of mold-related health problems. As a result, white molds tend to fall on the harmless end of the spectrum.

Protect yourself

Before you dive in, you want to make sure that you protect your mouth, nose, eyes, and skin.

Protecting the mouth and nose can easily be done with an industrial respirator that can filter out small spores. Simple surgical masks may seem sufficient, but they can actually let a lot of small particles through the filter, meaning that they won't necessarily stop mold spores.

For your eyes, you will need safety goggles. Regular glasses are not enough, and neither are sunglasses.

For skin, just make sure that you cover your entire body with long-sleeved shirts, pants, gloves, and socks. As long as you don't have much surface area exposed, the chances of contacting mold with your skin will be extremely low.