Mold on Walls/Carpet: Advice Needed STAT

[SteveO]

I'm gonna google this, but I thought someone here might have some insight for me on this:

My parents had a drain overflow in their basement about a week ago. The water went from the unfinished furnace room to a small finished storage room. They didn't figure this out until three days after the overflow. The carpet was apparently fairly soaked -- now there is mold on the walls in this room and of course a stench. They've had a box fan going all week, but the mold is not abating.

I told them to get a dehumidifier (um, wow, breakthrough idea!) but they've dragged their feet on it all week so now I'm sure the mold is worse. So I'm trekking over there this afternoon to see what else needs to be done.

Q: I assume the carpet and pad will have to be trashed. Correct? What about the sheet rock? Does it need to be removed, or can it just be cleaned with a bleach solution? When I was there on Monday, the mold was streaking the lower half of one wall. I imagine it is about the same if not worse at this point.

As to cause: best they can figure, it was from the dishwasher and the washing machine emptying at the exact same moment. Which still seems suspect to me as their house is only 15 years old. But they've had some other funky plumbing problems, so I think they are just cursed. Thanks in advance for advice!

[John B.]

If it's relatively "minor" mold (or mildew, I understand there's a difference that I can't articulate right now)...and by "minor", I mean that it's on the surface of the wall, but the drywall/etc isn't warped and deformed...I've had decent luck spraying it with a 25-50% bleach solution in a garden sprayer. Carpet and pad will probably have to go if they've been wet/moldy for a week

[spacescape]

DID all the drywall get wet? Padding? Carpet? My understanding is that if the sheetrock gets wet you really need to tear it out, let it dry and start over. If my basement ever floods. If I don't die immediately from depression I will be cutting 1/3 of the drywall off and remove 1/3 the insulation and put up some sort of water resistant paneling or just wood paneling after it drys out. If the drywall didn't get soaked and was caused from an over flowing washing machine I would just let it dry w/ a fan for a week or so then get some Primmer that stops mold from growing and repaint. As far as the carpet... If it didn't 100% get wet I would pull it back from the tack strips, pull back and remove the padding that got dammaged and wash the floor thoroughly. Lay the carpet down and spray it with some chemical that will kill the mold but is safe for carpet. Wash the carpet 1-2 times in the area, spray and respray the mold killer, let dry and replace the bad padding.

YMMV but this is what I would do.

Bill

[M A V I C]

Spraying mold with a bleach solution does not solve the issue.

More info: http://www.enviroshield-moldprevention.c...stions.php

-Chlorine will "flash" or dissipates preventing sufficient contact to kill the mold hyphae. Some bacteria and fungi need to be submerged for a minimum of thirty minutes to be killed.
- Chlorine, because it "flashes," evaporates faster than its water base leaving moisture in the contaminated area, which encourages and supports mold growth.
- Bleach is also 99% water, which is one of the main contributors to the growth of harmful bacteria and mold. Current experiments when mold was treated, using bleach allowed mold to regenerate faster and more densely than the original colony. As a result of bleach being used, there are some mold strains that are resistant to chlorine.

[SteveO]

Thanks for the fast response, folks. Good thoughts, all. The carpet and pad definitely got wet; I don't know how much of the wall did or did not get wet. It is probably worth it to try the bleach solution thing and see if it works.

[OWC Jamie]

#1 You've gotta knock the humidity/moisture level down ASAP.
#2. I'd probably trash the carpet and pad.
However, if this was expensive carpet, there are places that remove carpet to clean it. Their "trick" is cleaning and drying it off the floor.

#3. If studs and drywall have wicked up water, it may be prudent to remove any drywall that has or is getting soft. A.) It will not dry out well. B.) any studs that are drywalled on both surfaces will trap moisture in the wall, will take forever to dry. Until the innards dry , they are a growing media.
You really need to get inside the walls dry. Opening them up is really the only way. By the time you cut inspection holes, you may as well remove the bottom 2 - 4 feet.

Bleach does work.
Even the abatement companies use it.


The longer it has a media to grow, the harder (increasing elbow grease) will it be to remove.



BTW, (if done to code) the (properly installed/maintained) plumbing shouldn't be backing up even with every drain in the house being used at once.

[incognegro]

http://www.moldinspector.com/mold_removal.htm

[M A V I C]

[quote incognegro]http://www.moldinspector.com/mold_removal.htm
And that site has a link to this one: http://www.bleach-mold-myth.com/ which reads:

Chlorine Bleach is ineffective in killing mold on porous-surfaced building materials [wood, drywall, insulation paper, ceiling tiles, etc.] for at least four reasons:

It is too diluted and thus too weak to permanently kill mold unless the mold is simply sitting on top of a hard surface like a counter top or sink. Even a scientific study paid for by Clorox [biggest manufacturer of chlorine bleach] concluded: "The study results confirm that denaturing the mold spores with a dilute chlorine bleach solution appears to be the most effective and efficient way to reduce mold allergen on hard surfaces. [emphasis added]"

What little killing power chlorine bleach does have is diminished significantly as the bleach sits in warehouses and on grocery store shelves or inside your home or business [50% loss in killing power in just the first 90 days inside a never opened jug or container] Chlorine ions constantly escapes through the plastic walls of its containers.

Chlorine bleach's ion structure also prevents chlorine from penetrating into porous materials such as dry wall and wood--- It just stays on the outside surface, whereas mold has protected enzyme roots growing inside the porous construction materials. When you spray porous surface molds with bleach, ONLY the water in the water solution soaks into the wood while the bleach chemical sits atop the surface, gasses off, and thus only partially kills the surface layer of mold while the water penetration of the building materials fosters further mold growth.

Chlorine Bleach is NOT registered with the EPA as a disinfectant to kill mold. You can verify that important fact yourself when you are unable to find an EPA registration number for killing mold on the label of any brand of chlorine bleach.

"Bleach is actually a poor cleaning agent and can be inactivated by organic material..." reported the Indoor Air Unit, Environmental Health Division, MINNESOTA DEPT. OF HEALTH, in its report "Recommended Best Practices for Mold Investigation in Minnesota Schools," November, 2001.

Lots of other info there too.

[OWC Jamie]

I found a link to Budweiser.

Does that mean it's the only beer to drink ?

[macphanatic]

Tear the affected drywall out. Consider replacing with one of the new mold resistant drywall replacements. Newer drywall is even more prone to mold due to a change in the adhesives used (more environmentally friendly and better for mold growth). Make sure that the drywall is installed at least 1/2 inch off of the floor surface.