Mold Clean-Up Tips For Your Home's Interior
A water disaster inside your home, whether it is from a leaking pipe or rising outside floodwaters, needs to be handled in a serious manner. This is due to the problems and risks associated with floodwaters and the resulting mold growth. Here are some mold clean-up tips for you to use throughout your home after you have experienced flooding and mold growth.
Dispose of Damaged Items
As you first start to clean up areas inside your home, sort through items and decide which ones you immediately know need to be disposed of. Items that are porous and absorb water to hold it in will promote mold growth and cannot be cleaned enough to prevent problems. This includes materials such as carpeting, mattresses, pillows, upholstery furniture, insulation, and drywall.
Cut out the area of damaged drywall plus an additional twelve inches to ensure you remove all the mold growth to bag it and dispose of it into a dumpster along with any other moldy items. When you encounter any paper items, such as books, files, and cardboard, these are best disposed of as it is difficult to clean the paper to restore it.
Clean Surfaces
Once you have removed items that are destroyed from water and mold growth, you can move on to clean the items and surfaces that can be cleaned. Surfaces that are not porous can be wiped clean of any bacteria and waste and disinfected if you are dealing with floodwaters. For example, your dishes, cookware, and plastic containers in the kitchen can all be cleaned and sanitized with a mixture of bleach and water.
Wipe off the bleach and use a soft brush to scrub any remaining visible mold. Repeat this process until all the mold is removed, and then let the bleach and water solution air dry upon the surface. This helps to kill any lingering mold spores that were not scrubbed off during the cleaning process.
You can also hire a professional mold cleaning service to clean up the mold within your home. They will thoroughly go through your home to clean off mold and mildew and treat the surfaces appropriately to restore it to a clean interior.
Handle Home Ventilation
After you have cleaned surfaces in your home, you will need to address the presence of floodwater inside your home's heating or air conditioner ventilation. Contact a mold clean-up professional to restore your ventilation and HVAC and to keep your home protected.
To learn more, contact a mold remediation team.