Flood damage often leaves behind dampness or water, both of which can create an ideal incubation place for mold spores to germinate. When your home is flooded, if it is not thoroughly dried out, common areas of the home where mold grows like carpets, drywall, floorboards, etc… can all remain damp sometimes for days.
As these areas remain damp, mold spores can grow within 24-48 hours and spread in a matter of days. By the time most people physically see the tell-tale spots in their home, it has been several weeks since the original water damage and mold growth. This can expose your family and loved ones to the dangers of mold.
How To Detect Mold Growth
There are many things you need to know about mold in order to make sure your house remains free of it. One important thing to understand after flood damage are the expected andunexpected places where mold grows in your home.
1. Do A Spot Test
You should be able to look around the home in shady or damp areas and visually look for areas that could be mold. If you see small black spots that get larger, it is probably mold. If you see spots in areas that are often damp or dark, it might be mold.
2. Use A Bleach Solution Test
Sometimes, you might see a small amount of something in your home that could be dirt or mold. You can do a quick spot test using 1 part bleach to 16 parts water. With this mixture, dab the suspected area. If that spot gets light really quickly, or if it continues to come back as soon as you clean it, then you should assume it is mold.
If you have an area you have noticed in your spot test and it stays dark when touched with bleach, it is probably dirt and can be washed away. You can use an at home kit, but it won’t tell you what type of mold you have or help you fix it.
3. Check For Soft Spots In The Wood
Mildew is a form of surface mold that isn’t too harmful to the structure of your home. However, there are other types of mold that will cause your home to rot from the inside, out. You can probe an area that you suspect to be damaged with a screwdriver or a sharp tool. If you feel the wood crumble, then rot has started.
4. Look For Any Plumbing Leaks
If you see mold appearing near your water lines, pipes, or near a plumbing fixture, then the mold is probably feeding off a leak nearby. You can let the water run as you look around the affected areas for damp spots.
Remember that water can move down, sideways, or up as it wicks into the materials in your home, so your actual leak could be a ways away.
5. Look For Leaks Outside
If you see mold growing on your ceiling or an exterior wall, check to see if there is a leak in your roof or your wall. Measure from the moldy region to a reference point like a nearby door. From there you should be able to find the side of the nearest wall or ceiling.
Look for any part of the landscape that slope toward the house, or places where downspouts would empty near the wall. Check on roof flashing, any nearby vents, or window wells in search of rotting wood.
Most Common Places Mold Grows
Mold can grow anywhere, but the most common places include basements or cellars especially those which have recently been flooded. Second to that is the space under your kitchen sink or bathroom sink. Even a small leak that drips but once every minute or two—when left unchecked—can prove problematic. So remember to tighten everything down next time you fix a clog in the garbage disposal.
Underneath your fridge, or behind it, you might find mold growth especially if the refrigerator is next to a sink and water is often lodged from the sink or end of the counter down to the ground behind the refrigerator where it sits and soaks into the ground, assisted by the warm air exiting the refrigerator.
Other common places for mold growth include behind the walls where plumbing is housed, under stacks of wet or damp cardboard boxes—so check on that pile of moving boxes you saved under the stairwell.
Make sure to check around any windows or wallboards that leak and around air conditioning units too. One of the common myths about mold is that once you have removed the water from your house, that it can no longer grow. This is not the case. As long as moisture remains, mold can grow.
5 Ways To Treat Mild Mold Growth From Flood Damage
1. Soap, Water & A Bit Of Bleach
If you see mold growing in your home, you can remove it from hard surfaces with soap and water, commercial mold killing products, or bleach solutions that contain 1 cup of bleach for every gallon of water.
Just remember that if you do clean your home with bleach or a bleach based product, always wear non-porous gloves and eye protection. Keep the windows and doors open to provide fresh air.
2. Monitor The Humidity Levels Of Your Home
You should keep your humidity levels no higher than 50% throughout the day. If necessary, use a dehumidifier to keep the levels acceptable. Remember that as the air temperature and moisture levels in the air change, so too will the humidity so this is something you should check regularly.
3. Proper Ventilation Of Your House
Make sure you have a clothes dryer that vents outside the house. At all times use exhaust fans to vent the bathroom and kitchen areas. If necessary, help this ventilation by opening windows.
This need for good ventilation spans out to other areas of the house as well, including basements and areas that do not get good airflow like attics, bathrooms and closets. Mold thrives on stagnant conditions. Keeping the airflow going hurts its chances of growth.
4. Use Specific Mold Cleaners
Invest in mold-killing cleaning products for all of your standard cleaning. If, for example, you have a cleaner to keep your bathroom clean, look for one with mold killing properties in it.
Some cleaners may be more advanced to use, so you will want to be sure to read the instructions, or speak with a mold removal professional. You can also check out some of these awesome chemical free ways to remove mold.
5. Use The Correct Paint For Your Home
If you are going to paint your home, add mold inhibitors or find paint with mold-inhibitors in them. Most paint already does a good job of deterring mold growth, as it protects wood from moisture and air exposure.
How Do You Prevent Mold Growth From Water Damage?
Once you have detected some of the warning signs of mold growth in your home after flood damage, you want to act quickly. There are steps you can take to prevent future flood damage, and to treat your existing flood damage and reduce the chances for mold to grow in your home.
1. Prevent Future Flooding
Preventing mold growth from water damage starts by stopping the water damage. You can work to control the humidity level in your home. Then fix any leaking pipes, windows, or roofs immediately.
Of course, in the case of a flood, there is not much you can do to prevent water damage that has already happened. But, you can make sure that you take the right steps to waterproof your home for the next time around.
2. Dry Out Your Home
After a flood, thoroughly dry and clean the home so that you do not compound the issue. This is especially important if you live in a place susceptible to many floods during the rainy season.
If you don’t properly dry out your home in between floods, the second or third flood could make the issue much worse. At all times, make sure you ventilate your cooking areas, shower areas, and laundry areas.
3. Act Quickly
To that end, you will want to keep your eyes peeled for any leaks in the existing plumbing, the walls, or the roof so that it can be rectified immediately. If you do have a flood in your home, clean up and dry out the area quickly—within 24-48 hours of the flood.
Make sure that any carpets or upholstery that cannot be properly dried are removed and replaced. If you have rooms in your that are carpeted and are exposed to a lot of moisture, like your basement or bathroom, consider removing the carpet.
How Can You Get Rid Of Mold In A Flooded House?
If your house has flooded, there are steps you can take to remove it. Similarly to the ways one would prevent mold growth, immediately after the flood it is imperative to dry out the home within 24-28 hours of the flood.
The home needs to be thoroughly cleaned up and dried out, typically with industrial fans from a professional. Any carpets or upholstery in the home should be dried thoroughly and those pieces which cannot be dried out (which can be especially difficult to achieve in the winter months when perpetual flooding takes places) should be removed or replaced.
Typically, flooded houses require a mold removal professional to truly make sure that future mold problems do not cause damage to your home. While it may seem that you have removed all moisture, all it takes is a little bit of it hiding underneath the surface to cause serious mold damage over time.
When it comes to flooded homes, you are best off hiring a mold removal professional to take a look at your home and measure mold spores. Not only will this keep your home safe, but your family safe from the dangers of mold growth.
How Long Does It Take For Mold To Grow In Drywall?
The reason this 24-48 hour mark is so critical is that it takes between 24-48 hours for mold to germinate and grow in drywall or anywhere else in the home. Under ideal conditions this takes place very quickly. Moreover, the mold spores will start to colonize within 3-12 days thereafter. They won’t become visible to the naked eye until 18-21 days after they have germinated.
Is Mold From Water Damage More Dangerous?
Mold from water damage can be more dangerous depending on the type of mold you have, and your sensitivity. For people who are sensitive to mold, mold from water damage can cause mild symptoms like throat irritation, coughing, eye irritation, or nasal stuffiness.
More severe reactions can include asthma symptoms, respiratory illness in children, infections in those with chronic lung disease, and upper respiratory tract symptoms. To learn more about the danger of mold in your home, check out this comprehensive guide we created.
Why You Should Consider Working With A Professional
1. Not All Mold Can Be Seen With Your Eyes
Now, while you can certainly do things to remove the mold you can see with your naked eye, you should still work with a professional thereafter. Some mold you can remove with your good old fashioned tile cleaner in the bathroom might work for now, but the mold can be worse than it seems.
2. Improper Mold Removal Can Cause Mold To Come Back
It could also come back. If you have a problem behind the scenes, so to speak, removing what creeps through the wall won’t be enough and long term this exposure can be dangerous to your family’s health. Moreover, it can turn into thousands in damages and repairs if you leave it untended.
For example: If you start to notice mold in the second story master bathroom, you can take measures to clean it. However, if you don’t get it checked out by a professional then you might not realize that there is a leak in the floor where the second story deck meets the second story floor.
3. Mold Damage Can Be Extremely Expensive And Disruptive
Then you also won’t realize that this leak, which gets worse each winter, is damaging the ceiling to the first level of the house and the floor to the second. And by that point you won’t learn that the mold you see creeping into the second level bathroom is actually a sign of serious water damage inside the home which will lead to costly repairs.
In the end it is better to be safe than sorry.
Why Consider Silver Environmental For Flood Damage
Mold germination is rapid, and it takes place behind closed doors, so to speak. You won’t see the actual growth spots on the inside of your walls, floors, or carpets until weeks after the mold spores have growth and spread.
With professional help, you can alleviate the issue before it compounds. The longer you wait, the worse the issue will be. This is especially true after a flood. If you wait days or weeks after a flood to get professional help, it could mean damage throughout your home and a hefty sum of money.
If you hire mold removal professionals from Silver Environmental as soon as you have water damage, you might be able to prevent the mold from growing in the first place. Our expert team of Mold Removal Specialists have over 25 years of experience in the Greater Boston Area, and have been voted one of the best mold removal companies in the State of New Hampshire.
Atop amazing service, we offer free consultations and Dustless Demolition, leaving your house exactly as we found it - Minus the Mold! Give us a call today for a free consultation from one of our mold experts.