How To Avoid Mold After Water Damage Strikes

Water damage brings on a whole slew of issues in your home. Aside from the actual damage, and the costs associated with repair, what do you do about the potential hazards it has caused? It doesn’t take large amounts of water to create huge problems, because mold doesn’t take much moisture to blossom into a deadly unwanted fungi. You require some simple tools; fans, cleaners, and a few buckets of bleach.
Here are some simple yet extremely important steps to follow in the event you have even just minimal water damage in your home:

1. Get the water out as fast as you can. This is the most important part of the process, a wet/dry vacuum is possibly the most effective way to remove water in the home, and can be rented by various companies around the Twin Cities.
   
2. Increase airflow as much as possible. Fans can be used to speed up drying your carpets, and circulate fresh air in your home. Once you think those carpets are dry, keep the fans going, because they’re not. Even the most minimal moisture can enable mold to take root deep in your carpets and walls, so keep the fans on for at least another week post flood.
   
3. Turn that dehumidifier on high. This will help get all the moisture out of your home, but be prepared for cooler drier air for the time being. That just means the dehumidifier is doing its job and removing all excess moisture from the air.
   
4. Steam clean everything. Carpet padding will likely need to be replaced, but if you can save the carpet then you won’t have to re-do your entire home. A steam cleaner will deodorize and sanitize your home.
   
5. Sanitize everything. This part should be more self-explanatory. Use bleach and water to clean the baseboards and walls of the affected area to kill all residual mold spores.
   
6. Look over your furniture. Any furniture that was on wet flooring will need to be closely inspected and removed from the area until it can be dried and cleaned.
   

Water damage is easy to miss, so make sure that you’re closely inspecting every aspect of your home. The easiest way to prevent mold growth is by drying whatever water has accumulated in your home. The sooner the water is dry, the sooner you stop mold from spreading, under your carpet and in your insulation. Mold requires moisture to grow, and actively growing mold damages whatever it has decided to grow on. This can potentially damage the structural integrity of your home. If you’re not up for thoroughly cleaning up after water damage, hire someone, because this requires some heavy scrubbing.