How to Get Rid of Black Mold is the third in a series of my articles on this subject. My first article covers the Health Issues of Black Mold, secondly How to Recognize Black Mold and this one on how eliminate this unwelcome house resident.

Since moisture and food are the two primary elements needed to grow black mold, we should eliminate the easier element, which would be the water component, since our homes are basically built of food sources such as wood, gypsum board, carpet, leather etc. Your first step should be to prevent mold growth from getting any worse by:

1. Eliminating any cause of moisture entering the house. Whether this is the result of a leaky roof, or compromised siding. Re-roof if necessary and add a strip of ice and water-shield material at the roof edge.
   
2. Ice buildup and water damming is caused by poor ventilation in your attic. This can cause water running within your walls without your knowledge. See the article How to Prevent Ice Dams form Forming on Your Home
3. Fix leaking pipes that are within walls or ceiling spaces. You can often detect these by discolored walls, ceilings, drywall tape coming loose and cracks in wall surfaces.
4. Make sure all appliances such a dryers, ranges etc. are properly vented to the outdoors.
5. Clean out your gutters and downspouts of all debris. Check them with a water hose test.
6. Check your indoor humidity. If you have moisture on your pipes and windows, it is likely you have the humidity set too high
7. Put insulation on all pipes.
8. Have your HVAC system checked out. You may need special filters or UV zappers installed to kill mold.
9. If water is coming in through your basement walls, this can be a sign of a high water table or poor drainage of water around the exteior of your home.

If you suspect you may have a mold problem your next step, beyond fixing the moisture problems, is to have a mold test completed. There are several test samples that you can do from air sampling to surface sampling. You should check them out and see what is best for you.

If you wish to tackle the job of cleaning he black mold yourself and you have determined that it is not severe, refer to I've  Found Black Mold - Now What Do I Do? 

If the black mold is very severe, consider contacting an expert on mold sampling and black mold mitigation to completely eliminate the problem.