Do You Need A Mold Test After Your Home Floods?
Floods can occur in homes for various reasons, including weather events, burst pipes, and sewer backups. Whatever the case, water on your floor inevitably means excess moisture in your home's air. Even if water is only present for a short while, you can expect it to soak into the drywall, wood, carpeting, fabrics, and other porous materials in your home.
While you may not notice the change in air humidity, these materials will retain enough moisture to make an excellent medium for mold growth. According to the EPA, mold can begin to grow in a moist environment in under two days. In other words, you're unlikely to have as much time as you expect to prevent, control, or remediate mold growth.
Why Do You Need Mold Testing?
One simple rule to follow after any flooding event is to clean up the water fast!
The sooner you remove the water from your home, the more likely you'll avoid substantial mold growth and additional damage. For anything except a minor flood, you should rely on a professional water damage company to help you handle this task. The tools available to most homeowners aren't good enough to fully remove the moisture from a large space.
However, there are many reasons why cleaning up the moisture may not solve the problem. For example, you might want too long to start, allowing moisture to soak deeply into materials around your home. Even if you act quickly, water can drip into unexpected places, going from your living areas into basements or crawl spaces.
Additionally, mold may form in hidden locations before you finish your clean-up. This mold may dry out once you remove the bulk of the water from your home, making it easier for mold spores to spread through your home and land in areas with sufficient moisture for growth. This way, mold can spread from the flooded parts of your home to seemingly unaffected rooms.
When Should You Schedule Mold Testing?
It's important to understand that professional mold testers use commercial-grade equipment to collect mold samples from the air in your home. Do-it-yourself test kits can't provide the same accuracy, nor can they help you identify the difference between harmful molds and relatively harmless species. Accordingly, it's crucial to always rely on professionals when you suspect mold.
Since you can safely assume that some mold will grow following a flood, you'll want to schedule a professional test and inspection as soon as you finish the initial clean-up. This test will help you determine if you need additional remediation or if you dealt with the water damage quickly enough to avoid a significant mold outbreak.
You should also consider scheduling mold testing once or twice in the year following a flood. If there's residual moisture in hard-to-reach areas, these mold colonies may take some time to blossom. Testing will help you catch these problems before they get out of hand, allowing you to deal with them before you need costly whole-home remediation.
