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Mold Action Guide after Flooding: Ineffective Mold Products and Ineffective Black Mold Cleanup Procedures to Avoid
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If your building has been flooded, this website provides an easy to understand guide for flood damage assessment, setting priorities of action, safety, and we provide special information about avoiding or minimizing mold damage.

This chapter lists some ineffective or even possibly harmful procedures and products that are marketed to "kill mold" or "prevent mold" - things that you should avoid any time, including when cleaning a building after it has been flooded.

Our "Flood Response Checklist" lists key actions you should take after building flooding to minimize mold damage, and includes some safety warnings. We also list after-flood "anti-mold" procedures that do not work or are unsafe - to help you avoid unnecessary expense in dealing with mold after a building flood. If your building is already moldy or if you suspect mold related illness in your building, we link to a step by step "Mold Action Guide" dealing with toxic or allergenic indoor mold and other indoor contaminants: when and how to inspect or test for mold, when to hire an expert, how to clean up a moldy area, when and how to perform post-remediation mold testing.

If your septic system has been flooded we link to an article outlining what to do about that system as well. Extensive, technically detailed in-depth articles on other mold detection, testing, and prevention methods are organized at our Mold Information Center © Copyright 2008 Daniel Friedman, All Rights Reserved. Information Accuracy & Bias Pledge is at below-left. Use links at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.

INEFFECTIVE PRODUCTS or Unreliable Products and Procedures Marketed for Preventing Mold

• Disinfectants and fungicides: Spraying cleaners, disinfectants, bleach, fungicides without first drying the building and removing moldy materials and cleaning all surfaces. Use of disinfectants as part of cleaning are appropriate at times, especially where there has been or may have been sewage backup. But no spray or gas is an effective substitute for cleaning and removing mold and moldy materials. Watch out for companies who offer sprays or gases as a shortcut when cleaning is what's needed.
• Ozone for mold: Using ozone generators to "kill" mold. See Ozone Warnings - Use of Ozone as a "mold" remedy is ineffective and may be dangerous.
• Dehumidification without Demolition Water "extraction" methods which simply run dehumidifiers in a building which has been flooded. We've found soaking wet wall cavities and insulation many weeks after a building appeared "dry" when this method was used.
• Blown-air Wall Cavity Treatments: "Water extraction" methods that cut small holes between wall studs to blow air through the wall cavity. In many buildings which we have investigated where this method was used, we found severe mold growth on the cavity side of drywall and wallboard afterwards.
• Water Detection to Track Moldy Areas: Use of moisture meters or infra red or other measures to "find the wet areas" - this works to find mold-risk areas only if the cavities are still wet. In other words, if a building was wet in the past but has since dried, it could have a severe hidden mold infection that will not be detected by using moisture-detection methods.

Building Flood Damage, Cleanup, and Mold Prevention Articles (Green Links shows where you are)

MOLD CLEANUP GUIDE A Guide to Mold Cleanup Procedures FLOODS & MOLD CLEAN/PREVENT A Guide to Dealing with Flood Damage & Mold Prevention or Cleanup for Flooded Homes
FIRST PRIORITIES When Responding to a Flooded Building
BUILDING ENTRY PROCEDURE How to Enter a Building After a Building Flood
FLOOD RESPONSE CHECKLIST Checklist of Key Steps to Minimize Mold Damage After a Building Flood
INEFFECTIVE PRODUCTS Ineffective Mold Products and Procedures to Avoid in Mold Cleanup/Prevention
FURTHER STEPS PREVENT MOLD Further Steps to Avoid Mold Damage After a Building Flood
WHEN TO STOP LOOKING FOR MOLD after Flooding: When is a Mold Cleanup Job Complete?
GENERAL MOLD PREVENTION Preventing Future Mold After a Flooded Building Cleanup
RFERENCES References on Mold Prevention and Flood Damage
FLOOD VENTS How to Use Flood Vents for Structural Protection from Flooding - Flood Venting in Foundations and Enclosures Below Design Flood Elevation

SEPTIC SYSTEMS What to Do after a Flood - Septic Flood Response, Safety, Health, Maintenance, Repair Advice

Use the links just above or other links at the left of each page to navigate this website.

Technical Reviewers

Particular thanks are due to experts and also consumers who read these articles and suggest corrections, changes, and additions to the material. Content suggestions, technical corrections and content critique are invited for any of the content at our website.

• Mark Cramer Inspection Services Mark Cramer, Tampa Florida, Mr. Cramer is a past president of ASHI, the American Society of Home Inspectors and is a Florida home inspector and home inspection educator. (727) 595-4211 mark@BestTampaInspector.com 11/06
• Hankey and Brown home inspectors, Eden Prairie, MN, technical review by Roger Hankey, prior chairman, Standards Committee, American Society of Home Inspectors - ASHI. 952 829-0044 - hankeyandbrown.com 11/06
• Arlene Puentes, a licensed home inspector, educator, and building failures researcher in Kingston, NY. 11/29/06
• Daniel Friedman - principal author/editor of the InspectAPedia ^TM Website
• Technical reviewers are invited to comment or ask questions - contact us

Use links at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.

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