Emergency Response for Mold Damage

10/26/2021 (Permalink)

Mold damage in a Rayford, TX home.

When a flood hits Rayford, TX and impacts your home, the first thing on your mind is likely damage control – but you probably aren’t thinking about black mold as part of that damage. Mold cleanup should be your first priority, before anything else; it’s hard to salvage the rest of the home if mold takes root. You have 24-48 hours before mold begins its lifecycle as spores begin to blossom into a full-on fungal outbreak. Here are a few tips for mold remediation.

Preventing Mold After a Flood

As soon as you are safely able to enter your home again, you should:

• Glove up. You should wear personal protective equipment, at the very least something to protect your eyes and hands, before handling material that may be contaminated with mold or black water.

• Shut off the water. You may have broken pipes or other leakage issues contributing to an environment ripe for mold growth.

• Shut off your HVAC system. Airflow picks up mold spores and spreads them throughout the house, often carrying them to sources of water that allow them to grow.

• Quickly clean up any standing water. Black mold will rapidly sprout in areas where standing water has soaked into the walls and floorboards.

• Get rid of waterlogged materials. Furniture, carpeting, and curtains can make ripe breeding grounds for black mold. Immediately tear out anything waterlogged that can’t be salvaged. Take other objects out into the sun to dry out.

• Use an air purifier to clear the environment. While you may want to avoid fans that could just circulate spores, an air purifier can remove them from your environment and reduce the saturation of spores in the air.

• Contact a mold remediation specialist. Many times handling mold cleanup yourself is just a stopgap. Once you’ve taken emergency measures to prevent the infestation and spread of black mold, contact a mold remediation professional to conduct a more thorough assessment of your home and any potential mold hazards.