prevents mold growth and reduces viruses in the air
Especially in the cold winter-season when the snow is falling down outside, Swiss-People like to make themselves warm and cozy – understandably. However, it is very important to ventilate properties regularly, especially in winter, especially if no ventilation system is installed that could take on this task. On the one hand, the air exchange helps to reduce viruses in the air, which is particularly useful during the current CORONA pandemic, on the other hand, it helps to put an end to the mold infestation.
Why is that? How do you ventilate properly? How does mold develop in the first place?
You can find out more in our new IDZ blog.
Why does mold develop?
Mold growth is always the result of too much moisture. A lot is possible, from broken roof tiles to defective rain gutters and leaky pipes to rising groundwater. A common cause are so-called thermal bridges, such as in cantilevered concrete and steel parts to the balcony or on inadequately insulated lintels and window reveals. But also poorly insulated outer walls, which get so cold on the side of the room in winter that humidity condenses there, can promote mold. Moisturizing food also provides normal life in the apartment:
– have a shower
– to bathe
– cooking
– drying clothes
– sweat
This alone results in a few liters of water per day. If this moisture is not transported out of the apartment through regular ventilation, it can condense on cold walls – similar to a bottle that you take out of the refrigerator on sultry summer days.
Economical heating can increase the growth of mold
Ventilation without heating is like city traffic without buses and trains: the transport capacity would not be sufficient. To get a lot of moisture out of the home, the air must be warm enough. Because warm air can hold much more water than cold air. Temperatures around 20 degrees Celsius are recommended, a little more in the bathroom and living room and a little less in the bedroom. However, the air temperature should not fall below 16 degrees Celsius in any room in the apartment. Therefore, do not let any room cool down too much. Above all, the bathroom should always be adequately heated.
When is the risk of mold highest?
Mold spores are always and everywhere in the air. But in order to be able to grow and reproduce in large numbers, they need one thing above all: moisture. In winter, the mushrooms often find these ideal living conditions on cold room walls. If outside walls cool down too much, problems can arise even in well-ventilated apartments: water condenses in the coldest places.
Why do molds grow in some places and not elsewhere?
With regard to the subsurface, many types of mold are quite frugal. They often settle, for example, on wallpaper or even on plaster. The basic requirement for any mold infestation, however, is in any case an increased level of moisture. Where this moisture comes from can be very different: A common cause is poorly insulated outer walls, which in winter get so cold on the side of the room that humidity condenses there.
How dangerous is mold?
In general, mold spores can irritate mucous membranes and lead to respiratory diseases. The typical musty smell of mold also contains mycotoxins. These are toxins produced by the mushrooms that damage the body and, in extreme cases, can even cause cancer. People who are allergic to mold or people with a weakened immune system are particularly at risk. Wherever molds infest walls and materials, certain types of bacteria (actinomycetes) often also spread. Although the health effects of the actinomycetes cannot yet be assessed, according to the Federal Environment Agency in Germany, initial studies have shown that the bacteria can be harmful to living cells in cell cultures.
What are indications of mold?
Suspicions are a musty smell, water stains and – in winter – damp window frames and heavily misted glasses when entering the apartment. Dust lice are also an indication of mold. Because the insects, which are around two millimeters in size, feed on mold. It is true that dust lice very rarely trigger allergies. Those affected by mold should not, however, expect the dust lice to “eat away” the mold problem. If you want to get rid of the dust lice, you should avoid insecticides. They only help for a short time. Above all, it is important to get rid of the mold. The dust lice also disappear with it.
How do I ventilate properly?
Intermittent ventilation is most efficient, i.e. it is best to open the window wide for five to ten minutes and ventilate the entire apartment. You should ventilate the apartment in this way at least twice a day. Better even three times: in the morning before you go out of the house, in the afternoon or in the evening when you come home from work and again just before you go to bed. It can also make sense to ventilate the bathroom or kitchen after showering or cooking so that the haze can escape. The colder it is outside, the more effective the ventilation, because dry air can absorb a lot of water.
Mold despite adequate ventilation
Often mold problems are not only due to incorrect heating and ventilation behavior, but are related to structural defects. Cold external walls are often the result of missing or inadequate facade insulation. Walls cool down particularly easily on so-called thermal bridges, such as cantilevered concrete and steel parts to the balcony or on lintels without insulation. Moisture tends to collect here. Sometimes the structural defects are so serious that simple heating and ventilation is no longer enough. If water constantly penetrates through a leaky roof, cracks in the outer facade or a clogged rain gutter, even the best heating system can no longer get the wall dry in winter. In basement rooms, groundwater or seepage water can become a problem if walls or floors are not properly sealed. Splashing water in the base area of the house can also cause moisture damage in the wall. Then mold can hardly be avoided by the residents.
Where does mold form particularly often?
Where the house walls get very cold inside, moisture is most likely to condense. Critical points can often be felt with a bare hand. Check there specifically with a thermometer. For comparison, also measure the surface temperature of other room walls that do not belong to the surrounding walls, as well as the air temperatures outside and inside. Infrared thermometers enable quick, non-contact measurements. Aim at the target, press the button and read the temperature on the display. Usable devices are available for around 40 to 50 CHF. An on-site energy advisor costs around 140 CHF per hour.
Conclusion
So don’t forego adequate, correct ventilation in winter either, your walls and, above all, your health will thank you for it.
The IDZ real estate service center in Rapperswil-Jona and Pfäffikon SZ, in addition to real estate management and real estate advice, is also happy to help if you want to sell your property.
In addition, we carry out valuations and help you with your property search.
Contact us by email or phone if you would like more information or follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook.
- Privacy policy
- Processing of personal data
- Data collected directly by us
- Data collected via third-party services
- Disclosure of your data to third parties
- Transfer of personal data abroad
- Duration of storage of your data
- Protection of your data
- Your rights as a user of our website
- Responsibility
Privacy policy
The following privacy policy applies to the use of this website. It is generally possible to use our website without providing personal data. However, if you would like to use a special service offered by our company via our website, personal data may need to be processed.
This website is subject to the provisions of the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) and complies with the key points of the European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Within the scope of the applicable data protection legislation and technical possibilities, we strive to ensure the security of your data. We will generally transmit your personal data in encrypted form. We use the SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encoding system. However, please note that the transmission of data via the internet (e.g. communication by email) may be subject to security vulnerabilities.
This privacy policy is continuously updated and adapted in line with legal requirements and the services that we offer. The latest version of the privacy policy always applies. Changes enter into force as soon as they are published on our website.
Processing of personal data
You have the option to register for various services on the website by providing personal data. The personal data that is transmitted to the party responsible for processing is generally determined by the particular input screen used for registration.
Personal data means any information relating to an identified or identifiable person. For example, this may include a person's name, address, email address or telephone number. We may process this type of personal data. Processing means any operation or set of operations that is performed on personal data, whether or not by automated means, including collection, recording, organisation, sorting, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction.
The personal data that you submit is collected and stored exclusively for internal use by the party responsible for processing and for our own purposes. Wherever possible, data will be anonymised. Anonymisation means that no conclusions can be drawn about the data subject.
The criterion for the duration of storage of personal data is the respective statutory retention period or a legitimate interest on our part in its storage, e.g. the fulfilment of the contract or the preservation of evidence. The corresponding data is then routinely erased.
Data collected directly by us
When you use our website and associated services, we may collect the following personal data:
Enquiry forms
If you are interested in a particular property listing, you may send us an enquiry via a contact form. The personal data that is transmitted during this enquiry is determined by the input screen in question. Your data may be recorded manually using software from a third-party provider or may be imported via an interface. Depending on the stored data, we may send you other property listings corresponding to the criteria of your enquiry. Relevant property listings may be identified manually or automatically via software. We may notify you of such property listings via email, letter or telephone. You have the option to unsubscribe from this service at any time.
Creating a property search profile
Our website gives users the opportunity to store a property search profile by completing a form. The aim of a property search profile is to share your property search preferences with us. The personal data that is transmitted when you store a form is determined by the input screen used.
The personal data collected to create a property search profile is used exclusively to send you information about suitable property listings. The data transmitted may be recorded manually using software from a third-party provider or may be imported via an interface. If properties that meet the search criteria are available, we may notify you by email, letter or telephone. We may also contact you periodically to update your personal data in the property search profile. You have the option of temporarily deactivating or completely deleting your property search profile at any time.
Registering for the newsletter
You can subscribe to our company's newsletter using the form or by email. If possible, a confirmation email is sent to the email address entered in the double opt-in process when the newsletter is sent for the first time. You have the option to unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time. A link to unsubscribe can be found in every newsletter. If this link is missing, please contact the data protection officer for our website.
Our newsletter may contain a tracking pixel. A tracking pixel is a miniature graphic embedded in such emails to enable recording and analysis of log files. These are used to statistically evaluate the success or failure of online marketing campaigns. The analysis may be performed using anonymised or identifiable personal data. You can deactivate the loading of these external graphics/tracking pixels in the settings of all common email programs.
Data collection during an application process
We may collect and process personal data provided by applicants during an application process. Processing may also be carried out electronically. This is particularly the case when applicants submit application documents to us electronically, for example via email or a form on the website. The data transmitted will only be used in connection with the requested job profile.
Data collected via third-party services
In order to continuously improve the quality of our services, we use the following technologies on our website:
Cookies
We may sometimes use cookies. Cookies can be used to optimise the information and offers on our website with the users in mind. Cookies enable us to recognise users of our website. The purpose of this recognition is to make the use of our website easier for users. You may prevent our website from setting cookies by adjusting the browser settings you use, thereby permanently blocking cookies.
Use of Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a web analytics service. Our web analytics includes the anonymous collection and analysis of data concerning the behaviour of visitors to our website. The data recorded by a web analytics service includes information on the third-party website from which a user came to our website, which subpages were accessed, and how often and for how long a subpage was viewed. Google Analytics sets a cookie in order to record this information. As mentioned above, you can prevent the setting of cookies by our website at any time by configuring the corresponding setting in your internet browser.
Use of script libraries
In order to deliver content correctly or prevent spam, we use script libraries and font libraries on our website (e.g. Google Webfonts for fonts, Google Ratings for ratings or Google Recaptcha to protect the website from spam). The retrieval of a script library or font library results in a connection to the provider of the library. It is possible that the operator of the library may collect data on this connection.
Use of Google Maps
We use an interface to geographical data from Google to display location-based information. Google collects and uses data on the use of the map function. Information on how Google uses data is available in the Google privacy policy.
Use of social plug-ins
Plug-ins from various social network providers may be used on our website. The relevant social networks include these plug-ins to use certain information, which may also include personal data. If the data subject is simultaneously logged in to a social network while visiting our website, it can be assumed that personal data will be transmitted to the social networks. We have no control over which data is used by social networks. We do not use social plug-ins to record personal data. The privacy policies of the corresponding social networks provide information on the collection, processing and use of personal data.
Disclosure of your data to third parties
We may disclose your data to domestic and foreign law enforcement authorities and courts in order to combat fraud and misuse or in the event of any other suspicion of criminal acts.
Apart from the disclosure of your data described above, we will only pass on your data if you have expressly consented to this in accordance with applicable data protection law, if there is a legal obligation to do so or if this is necessary to enforce our rights, in particular to enforce claims arising from the contractual relationship, which is an overriding interest of ours.
Transfer of personal data abroad
We may also transfer your personal data to third-party companies or contracted service providers abroad, in particular in Europe and the USA, insofar as this is appropriate for the data processing described in this privacy policy. They are obligated to ensure data protection to the same extent we are. If the level of data protection in a country does not correspond to that in Switzerland, we will contractually ensure that the protection of your personal data corresponds to that in Switzerland at all times. We ensure this by concluding EU Model Clauses or other contracts approved by the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner with the commissioned service providers.
Duration of storage of your data
We will only retain your data for as long as is legally necessary or as required for the purpose of processing, in particular for the fulfilment of the order or contract and for compliance with legal obligations.
When analysing your data, we store your data until the analysis is complete or you have objected to further processing. If we store data on the basis of a contractual relationship with you, this data will remain stored for at least as long as the contractual relationship exists and for no longer than the statute of limitations for possible claims or statutory or contractual retention obligations.
The contents of the contact form and the following email correspondence must be retained by us for six months by law.
It will then be erased if we no longer need your data for the stated processing purposes and are no longer legally obliged to store it.
Protection of your data
We take appropriate technical and organisational precautions to carefully protect your data against loss, destruction, falsification, manipulation or unauthorised access. We operate secure data networks that comply with the applicable technical standards. Our security measures are continually being adapted and improved in line with technological developments.
Our employees and the service companies commissioned by us are obliged by us to maintain confidentiality and to comply with data protection regulations.
Your rights as a user of our website
Under applicable law, you have various rights with regard to your personal data. You may contact our data protection officer to assert the following rights:
- Information on your stored data and processing of this data
- Rectification of inaccurate personal data
- Erasure of your stored data
- Restriction of the processing of data if we are not yet able to erase your data due to legal obligations
- Objection to the processing of your data
- Data portability, i.e. the receipt of stored data in a machine-readable format, if you have consented to data processing or concluded a contract with us.
Please note that, in some cases, the granting of your rights may be refused or restricted for legal reasons or based on data protection law. If legally required or permitted, we will inform you of the reasons for our decision.
Responsibility
The party responsible for the collection, processing and use of your personal data is:
IDZ Immobilien Dienstleistungszentrum GmbH
Unterdorfstrasse 13
Postfach 152
8808 Pfäffikon SZ
Schweiz
Should you wish to object to our collection, processing or use of your data as described by this privacy policy, whether in all respects or with regard to specific measures, please direct your objection to the controller.
