HOW TO SAVE YOUR FLOODED HOUSE FROM MOLD AND DECAY

By Khanh Dinh

Your house has been flooded.  It does not matter if the water went up to the roofline, or just covered the floor; the most severe damages will be at the lowest levels, i.e., the basement, floor and the bottom part of the walls.  If you can save the floor, chances are good that you can save the rest of the house.

Here is a step-by-step strategy to save your home from a total tear down and rebuild.
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Step 1:  Before you have electricity:

1.  Clean, wash, and mop as much as you can, even before you have electricity back. 

Immediately after the water has receded, mop, wash and scrub as much as you can with a mold-killing household cleaner.  If you have some clean water, wash down all dirt and mud, from the walls down to the floor.

If the carpet is beyond salvaging, peel it off and discard.  If it is still ok, wash generously with clean water then mop and use a ton of dry towels to press as much water out of the carpet as possible.  The towels, you can dry them in the sun.  The carpet, you cannot.

2.  Open up the house, get as much ventilation as possible.

If you have standing water in the house, by all means, open all windows and doors, to ventilate the house.  Even when it feels wet, outdoor air still has some drying capacity especially if it is sunny. 
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Step 2:  What you can do with a generator:

1.  Use the heat from the generator.

Remember that all generators make heat.  Install you generator OUTSIDE THE LIVING SPACES to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning.  So make sure you DIRECT THE EXHAUST away from your living spaces.  If needed add a pipe to route the exhaust well away from your living quarters, but you can direct the HOT AIR STREAM from the blower of the generator into your garage, crawl-space, or basement.  Hot air dries, so hot air under the house will help greatly.

2.  Run Room Dehumidifiers or convert a window AC unit to dry.

After your house is “dry to the touch”, you will still have lots of moisture left inside the walls, insulation, wood and plaster,.  You must get rid of that hidden water to save your house from mold invasion.  One way to achieve such results is to use room dehumidifiers.  As the name says, you need about one dehumidifier per room, and each will remove 40 to 50 pints/day.  At night and during raining hours, close all windows and outside doors to seal the house. Use as many room dehumidifiers as your generator can power.  If your generator cannot supply enough power to run several dehumidifiers at the same time, locate the one dehumidifier at a central location and open all inside doors.  Use fans to move air around the house.  Set the dehumidifier humidistat on the lowest setting.  It’s easiest to have the dehumidifier automatically empty into a drain.  If the bucket on the back is used, be sure to empty it as necessary or it will automatically shut off.

If you do not get room dehumidifiers, you can use an air conditioning window unit as an efficient dehumidifier. 

This is how you can use a window unit as a dehumidifier:  take a window unit of the largest size you can run on your generator, and install it in the center of the house.  THE UNIT MUST BE TILTED, USUALLY TOWARDS THE SIDE, SO THAT THE CONDENSATE CAN RUN OUT.  Catch the water coming out of the AC unit and route it out of the house, using a funnel and a garden hose.  If not, you can locate the AC unit on top of a sink or large bucket that you will have to empty periodically.

Note that in this instance, we are using the ac unit as a dehumidifier, therefore the cold air from the front as well as the hot air from the back of the unit blow inside the house. The house could get pretty warm, but that is how it will dry out. 
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Step 3:  When you get power back: 

Follow all instructions from your power company before powering up!!!  It is likely that you have to clean and blow dry all the electronics and electrical relays in your AC system before you can start it back up.  Feeding power to a wet AC system can result in costly damages.

As soon as you have power back up, switch your dehumidifiers or AC unit to run on house current.  Have an electrician or air-conditioning man check your central air, and RUN YOUR CENTRAL AIR CONDITIONER.  Run your air conditioning system all day and all night by setting the temperature as low as 68F.  AT THE SAME TIME, RUN YOUR DEHUMIDIFIERS OR WINDOW UNIT USED AS A DEHUMIDIFIER!!!

The dehumidifiers or window unit used as dehumidifier will help make hot air and extract moisture from the walls, carpet, floor, etc… the central air-conditioner also removes moisture out of the house while cooling.

Depending on how badly your house was flooded, it can take a few days to a couple weeks to dry out.  Do not stop too early.  It is better to over dry than not dry enough.  If you follow the above steps, you have a good chance to save your house from irreversible water damages.