After a leak or a flood, one of the first questions we hear on our line is “how long do I have before mold starts?” We answer water damage calls across Azle and northwest Tarrant County, and the honest answer comes from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), not from us. This post walks through what the EPA’s guide, A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture and Your Home, says about the first two days after water gets into a house, and what that means for the steps you take.
The 24 to 48 hour clock
The EPA says it is important to dry water-damaged areas and items within 24 to 48 hours to prevent mold growth. That is the clock this whole post is about. It starts when the water arrives, not when you first notice a stain, so a leak that ran overnight has already used up part of it.
The reason is simple. The EPA explains that molds reproduce by means of tiny spores, and that the spores are invisible to the naked eye and float through outdoor and indoor air. Mold may begin growing indoors when spores land on surfaces that are wet. The EPA adds that there are many types of mold and none of them will grow without water or moisture. Wet drywall, damp carpet padding and soaked wood give spores what they need.
Moisture control is mold control
The EPA’s guide puts the central idea in one line: the key to mold control is moisture control. It also notes that it is impossible to get rid of all mold and mold spores indoors, because some spores are always floating through the air and in house dust. What you can control is whether they find a wet place to grow. The EPA says the spores will not grow if moisture is not present.
That is why our approach to water damage and our approach to mold are the same thing at the start. Water comes out first, and then the structure has to dry. The longer wood, drywall and insulation stay wet, the more time the EPA’s clock has to run out.
What to do in the first 48 hours
The EPA’s guidance and basic water damage steps line up like this:
- Stop the water. The EPA says to fix leaks and other water problems as soon as possible and to dry all items completely. Closing the shutoff valve at the fixture or the main is the first move if it is safe.
- Get standing water out. Pumps and wet vacuums remove what a mop cannot. Our water extraction in Azle page explains how that works.
- Dry the structure, not just the surface. Walls, subfloors and framing hold moisture long after the surface looks dry. Our structural drying in Azle work uses air movers, dehumidifiers and moisture readings so the drying is measured rather than guessed.
- Sort the wet belongings. The EPA says absorbent or porous materials, such as ceiling tiles and carpet, may have to be thrown away if they become moldy, because mold can grow on or fill in the empty spaces and crevices of porous materials and may be difficult or impossible to remove completely.
If you are reading this on day three, do not panic and do not wait. Dry the area as fast as you can and call us. Acting late is still better than not acting.
If mold is already growing
The EPA’s advice for a mold problem you already have is to act quickly, because mold damages what it grows on, and the longer it grows the more damage it can cause. It gives a two-part instruction: clean up the mold promptly and fix the water problem. The two have to happen together. The EPA says that if you clean up the mold but do not fix the water problem, then most likely the mold problem will come back.
A few other points from the guide are worth knowing:
- The EPA says to scrub mold off hard surfaces with detergent and water and to dry them completely.
- It says not to paint or caulk moldy surfaces. Paint applied over mold is likely to peel, so the mold has to be cleaned up and the surface dried before painting.
- For small jobs, the EPA says that if the moldy area is less than about 10 square feet, roughly a 3 foot by 3 foot patch, you can in most cases handle the cleanup yourself by following its guidelines. For a lot of water damage or mold covering more than 10 square feet, the EPA points readers to its separate guidance on mold remediation in schools and commercial buildings, which it says applies to other building types too.
- If you hire a contractor to do the cleanup, the EPA says to make sure the contractor has experience cleaning up mold, and to check references.
Where we fit
Our job is the part the EPA describes as the real fix. For mold that has already started, our team handles mold remediation in Azle: we remove the mold from the affected area and dry out the source of the moisture so it stops feeding the problem. For water that has just come in, the best protection is the drying itself, which is why we run an emergency line around the clock.
We do not repair the pipe, roof or appliance that let the water in. That needs its own contractor, and it matters, because the EPA is clear that an unfixed water problem brings the mold back.
If water has been in your house for more than a day, or you are watching something grow, contact Water Damage Azle or call the number on this page. Our line is answered 24/7, including nights, weekends and holidays.
Sources
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture and Your Home