Stupid Homeowner Question #73:
My dear wife left the laudry room sink on for an hour, with the drain plub in. The laundry room is on the 2nd floor. Water leaked down into the joist space and down an interior wall and 2 exterior walls into the basement.
We were able to get most of the water up quickly. The oak and maple floor do not look to be damaged. Long live the shop vac.
My question is about the water damaged drywall and FG insulation. Should we remove the DW and FG in the water damaged areas. I’m worried about the insulation loosing it’s R value and/or mold growing on the paper of the DW or FG.
What’s the standard to decide whether or not to remove the DW?
Replies
You did good by getting rid of what you could imediately. Personally, I'd play the wait and see game... In the mean time go rent some big fans at a rental place to get the mosture out of there ASAP.
If you have wet insulation in wall cavities, you'll have to open them and remove the FG to dry the wood, etc. If you can't get it all dried with 48-72 hrs, you risk a mould bloom. Spare no effort.
Edited 5/17/2006 9:02 pm ET by experienced
I agree, and the next time his wife starts the laundry, he should postpone thoughts of romance untill the socks are clean and folded....;)
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Actually, the stupid part is blaming the DW. Obviously you failed to take adequate safety precautions ... like a floor drain maybe. Or whatever. Now we're gonna email her with your original message, and then you're gonna have real trouble on your hands.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
I got tired of viewing the laundry room and hearing the washer and dryer, so I just installed a door closing mechanism on the Laundry Room door just last night. The first thing my wife said is "It's your fault, if the door had been open I would have heard the water running."Sometimes you just can't win.The Laundry Room is in a new addition near completion. Only thing left to install is the soapstone countertops in the Kitchen. I quickly forgave my wife because she did a great job of getting the water out of the new Cherry cabinets and off the new maple floor. Water did get under the oak floors in the hallway next to the Laundry Room, and they are already starting to curl. They will have to be ripped out or resanded.The laundry room has a drain pipe in the floor, but it's hooked directly to the plastic pan under the washer. After going through this I will be creating a large "pan" which runs under both the washer and sink.
Mold continues to grow if there is a water source. Cut off the water source and it does not die, but is dormant. This piece of info was given to me by an environmental engineer who was overseeing a mold claim in an older home, next to a new home we were building.
In my estimation, based on all of the info I have been privledge to review in the past 4 years, the mold problem was blown out of proportion. There was panic in the streets for some time, resulting in lots of insurance claims. I read two articles by doctors in the University of Texas Health Care division stating the paraphrased conslcusion above.
There were some extreme cases, but the engineer stated that it is a fact that we could find many people who could get sick and die from drinking milk. The environmental engineer told me that whole some mold is indeed toxic to some people, much of the problem mold (affecting a small percentage of the population) is mold we are exposed to on a daily basis.
I may get wacked for this post, but the engineer made sense. He sited homes built in years past that had little of no moisture controlling methods and problems were little known and certainly not of epidemic proportions.
If the drywall was not severly damaged it will dry, the same is true with the FG insulation. Simialr to another suggestion, I would wait and monitor the area. If all seems well, Kilz and / or bleach the affected areas and repaint.
>>"the mold problem was blown out of proportion.
Don't know if sombody else comes along to whack at you but you'll get agreement from me.
Homes in this country have been fine for over 300 years. Mold is what it was what it is. Some greedy bitch hires a smart lawyer a few years back and all the sudden it's deadly, excluded from every prop/casualty policy, separate lease clause, on and on.
Adding to the problem is a certain element that profits from fostering general panic at a ridiculous level.
Turn on the central air or a dehumidifier and like a waving a magic sword, the mold demon mold will be vanquished post haste. ;-)
s'cuse me, I need to go to my basement to test my theory -- gets musty down there, same as in most houses for the past hundreds of years. If nobody hears from me again you'll know the mold spores ate me. ;-)
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