Cleaning Up After Water and Mold Damage

 This is one of those words that can strike fear in people 

Mold

For those of you who have had mold in an apartment or home, I get it. I do. 

I had black mold in my first two homes. 

 I've attended many in-depth trainings for my environmental health job. And I now help other families with evidence based interventions. (And a few stories about our experiences thrown in.)

Here are some basic things I learned along the way:

Health Effects of Mold

Mold can irritate the throat, lungs, eyes, skin and nose. It can also cause an asthma flare. When we  found black mold in our play room, our daughter had just been discharged from the hospital after a battle with pneumonia. 

Can I link it to the mold? Maybe?

You don't need to "test for mold" 

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says:

"In most cases, if visible mold growth is present, sampling is unnecessary."

When we had mold in our first home (20 years ago), the disaster cleanup company wouldn't allow their staff to fix our home until they knew what type of mold we had. We had to hire an Industrial Hygienist to take an air sample. 

It cost us $1,000 - and insurance wouldn't cover it. 

I later learned that the EPA does NOT have federal limits for mold. So save the money you would spend on testing and use that money to fix the problem.

Call your insurance company 

Take photos of the damage and call insurance. 

It seems they have a habit of NOT wanting to pay for  damages. 

They told us a storm that flooded our basement was "An Act of God", so we were on our own. 

Find the source of the water leak. 

It drives me crazy when people just paint over the water damaged area. 

Y'all know that if it's still leaking, it's going to keep damaging that area, right? 

 Discarding damaged materials 

Anything that is porous is going to be VERY hard to clean (couches, drywall, ceiling tile, etc.) It's best to toss it. Hard surfaces can usually be scrubbed clean. 

 Cleaning it up yourself

 The EPA recommends calling in a professional if the area is bigger than 10 square feet. 

Ditto if sewage water is present. 

Get the right gear 

You don't want to be breathing in mold spores, so CDC recommends wear an N-95 respirator that fits properly. 

Protect the other areas by wearing goggles, a long sleeved shirt, protective gloves, long pants and waterproof boots. 

 https://www.cdc.gov/mold/What-to-Wear.html

 

Wait for the area to completely dry out 

 When our basement flooded in the storm, it also flooded one other neighbor's basement. I spoke to the husband, and he said they were going to re-carpet immediately. I knew their concrete floor wasn't dry yet, and cautioned the neighbor to wait until it was dry. 

 

I told him he could borrow our moisture meter to check the floor, but the husband brushed me off. 

 

After all, I'm female and all - so what do I know about environmental issues? 😒

 

(Btw, you can buy a moisture meter at any hardware store for about $40. Fancier models can run $200)

 

They can't say I didn't warn them. I know their basement will continue to have mildew and mold problems because they covered up damp cement  

 

Due to my training, we remediated the RIGHT way. 

 

We checked various areas of the cement floor every morning and every night with the moisture meter. Then adjusted the industrial sized fans to blow on those areas

It took 6 WEEKS to dry out the cement floor in the basement 

Yes, SIX

 

Then we had to pay for new carpet....because insurance refused to cover it (even though we had paid premiums for years...) 

If you have mold in your apartment or home, my sympathies 

Find and fix the leak, THEN repair the damage and replace the damaged items 

Then focus on the next problem. You know how it goes - one of the kids is sick, the cat threw up on the carpet, the car has a flat tire, one of the kids is learning how to drive 

Life goes on