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Had a small flood in basement, dried most of it, now it smells moldy

Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
Long story short, there was a rag was in laundry tub and it blocked the drain and the washing machine emptied into it and well, yeah, it overflowed. I'm lucky the washing machine somehow sensed this, since when I opened it there was more water left to drain but it had just stopped. I put a big fan and dehumidifier to dry the area. The floor is a drycore subfloor system, so a lot of water fell against the block wall and under the drycore as opposed to over it, most of it went to the drain and whatever went over the drycore is all dry. The chipboard seems to be holding up, no bulging or anything. I think I really caught it on time. The bottom plate of the framing is treated as well, so I'm not too worried about that.

But problem is, now it smells like mold, it's a very moisy type smell. I have a big fan and dehumidifier running 24/7 as it's still wet under the drycore but I'm afraid it might be too late now. Anything I can do without having to rip it all up? Do you think that smell might just go away once it fully dries? It's only been like a day. Wondering if there's anything I should do now, or just wait and see?
 
keep running the dehumidifier and fan that should get rid of all the moistness and moldy smell.

that's what companies who handle basement floods do.
 
I would keep them both running as long as it takes to equalize the humidity in the whole house. I'd alternate the fan direction each day or so, to avoid any dead air spots.

Buy an Ambient Weather WS-09, place one probe down in the basement and the other upstairs away from the basement door. When the humidity is the same in both locations, you're done.
 
I noticed something weird, despite the fan the edges of the drycore are STILL wet, now they're starting to buldge. But maybe it's because it's so wet under that the water is just wicking up?

I've been moving the fan here and there as well. Guess now I just wait and see what happens. Interestingly the area under the laundry tub seems 100% fine, but the area where some of the water flowed is where the edges of the drycore stay wet even with the fan being there for so long. Maybe water is wicking up through it and its still soaked under.

The smell is what is unnerving though, but I'll just have to keep at it and wait I guess. It was soapy water at least, though, dirty laundry soapy water.

That humidity sensor looks interesting, might get it. I have some i2c ones I want to play with at some point as well, but I'll need something to calibrate them against anyway.

I'll check with a local restoration company to see if they rent their units, and maybe I can get them to take a quick look for an opinion as well, I'm sure they'll recognize the smell and be able to tell me if it's really mold or not. But I've smelled that before in places that have mold so automatically associate it with that but maybe it's not.
 
Mold can form almost instantly if the cement floor is not sealed. Mold can live for years in unsealed cement floors or rugs.
 
paperfist said:
The fans won't dry out the wood. You need to remove the moisture via humidifier.

You shouldn't have the windows open either.

You can get some help here: https://www.truckmountforums.com/forums/water-damage-fire-mold-restoration.10/
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damn my irc buddy started those forums years ago, cool to see that it's going strong! i helped him write some scripts for it when he was first starting it.

as someone who grew up in a house that constantly had it's basement flooded, i feel your pain. i have my HT in my basement now in my own home and my biggest fear is that it floods. we have a b-dry system installed in the house and i hear the sump pump running during storms to pump the water out, but damn i have this fear that the pump is going to malfunction one day and just not work, then i'm going to end up with inches of water in my HT.
 
purbeast0 said:
damn my irc buddy started those forums years ago, cool to see that it's going strong! i helped him write some scripts for it when he was first starting it.

as someone who grew up in a house that constantly had it's basement flooded, i feel your pain. i have my HT in my basement now in my own home and my biggest fear is that it floods. we have a b-dry system installed in the house and i hear the sump pump running during storms to pump the water out, but damn i have this fear that the pump is going to malfunction one day and just not work, then i'm going to end up with inches of water in my HT.
Click to expand...

But you must have at least one backup system for your sump right?
 
Well smell seems to be less bad. Everything is dry except for those odd ball edges on the drycore, it's really odd, only thing I can guess is that the wood is soaked under and it's just wicking up. I have the fan blowing directly on it and humidifer going (humidifier on it's own does not really blow hard, so fan helps push the air around)

I don't have two humidity meters but when the one I have was upstairs it was 34%, I moved it downstairs near the affected area and it's at 40%.

Basically this seems to be the only thing visible that's wet:



Can see the seams where it's darker in two spots.

overall view of situation:




Eventually I need to build some kind of water tight containment area to put the washer, dryer and tub in.

I got lucky that the sump pit is just there so the water actually drained towards it.

Not the most optimal placement of dehumidifier but I'm limited by power outlet and drain. Also have to watch not to put fan too close to hot water heater heater air intake in case it back drafts.
 
I would have gotten more fans and a bigger dehumidifier. I have drycore in the laundry room of my rental and I sealed it. Has held up well.
 
purbeast0 said:
damn my irc buddy started those forums years ago, cool to see that it's going strong! i helped him write some scripts for it when he was first starting it.

as someone who grew up in a house that constantly had it's basement flooded, i feel your pain. i have my HT in my basement now in my own home and my biggest fear is that it floods. we have a b-dry system installed in the house and i hear the sump pump running during storms to pump the water out, but damn i have this fear that the pump is going to malfunction one day and just not work, then i'm going to end up with inches of water in my HT.
Click to expand...

Tre? Yeah it's a monster forum now, at least for cleaning. They recently had something like a million posts.
 
cbrsurfr said:
I would have gotten more fans and a bigger dehumidifier. I have drycore in the laundry room of my rental and I sealed it. Has held up well.
Click to expand...

That's all I have for now, that one is taking out a decent amount of humidity though, the hose is dripping at a pretty decent rate. Though I could look at renting an industrial one from a restoration company. Might look into that once I'm off. (on night shifts now)

The smell is slowly going away too, so think I may end up being ok.

All this because of a stupid rag, lol. It could have been much worse I guess...
 
Red Squirrel said:
Eventually I need to build some kind of water tight containment area to put the washer, dryer and tub in.
Click to expand...
You could build up a curb around the washer & dryer, then epoxy paint the floor under and around them.
It would be an easy way to form a pan, in case something goes wrong in the future.
 
that's a pretty big room...

humidifier will only work well in a space that big if you keep the air sealed. shut doors and leave them shut overnight.
 
You might want to consider an ozone generator. Usually gets rid of odors and supposed to kill mold and mildew.
 
Red Squirrel said:
Eventually I need to build some kind of water tight containment area to put the washer, dryer and tub in.
Click to expand...

If you don't want to DIY, I'm pretty sure they make those already. (Our washer and hot water heater are both sitting in their own little plastic "tray" or "tub" with a drain in them. So, a little more involved than a standard drip tray.)
 
why would you want to put a dryer in the containment?

you can get plastic or metal trays for washers and water heaters. very cheap.

ozone will help, but you really needed a larger dehumidifier.
 
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