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Mississippi Gulf Coast Homeowners Face Mold Menace

Posted on: Friday, 16 September 2005, 12:00 CDT

Sep. 16--People don't have to identify the mold now growing in houses that got water in them 18 days ago. They just need to get rid of it, and there are various ways for doing so.

Ultimately, however, the bare boards must be left to dry completely, which can require several weeks, before new walls go up.

Black mold is the worst kind and magnifies or even initiates severe breathing disorders, sometimes in people who didn't realize they have a susceptibility. It smears easily if touched. It and other molds literally feast on cellulose, which is a substance found in wood, carpet, wall board -- practically everything in a house. Just mix the spores with moisture and within 24 hours, they begin to grow.

Across the Coast, people are doing the best they can to preserve what's left of homes that are still standing.

Stripping wet furnishings, wall board and insulation is step one for eliminating mold, which is vital to ever being able to live in the house again.

Jerry Holter's home in Waveland is gone, but he's putting all of his Navy and past hurricane experience into cleaning out his son's home in the Greenbriar subdivision in Gulfport, where 5 feet of water came in. Holder lived in South Carolina when Hurricane Hugo went through in 1989, is retired Navy and has a clear-cut plan for how it needs to be done.

Inside the house, the smell is musty, beams are bare and 95 percent of the Sheetrock has been removed. The air conditioners are running full blast, doors and windows open. On the curb out front are piles of ripped out wall board and insulation.

Holter has sprayed the wood beams with a mixture of one cup of bleach to a gallon of water and is letting it dry. Two humidifiers are going.

"I'm not sure which spore is which," he said. "Any mold is not good.

"Once we get all the Sheetrock out, I'll leave the air conditioners going, close it up. We'll keep it that way till the wood dries."

He said it would be at least two weeks. After that, he'll have it checked by a contractor with a moisture detector, then have it sprayed professionally with a chemical to assure the spores are dead.

"We've been very careful," he said of the masks and protective clothing he and his helpers have worn while pulling walls down.

In Pascagoula, Vernon W. McGary on Martin Street, a block and a half off the beach, is doing the same thing. He is concerned, because he just learned that the Clorox company, which produces the bleach most people are using, doesn't recommend using it on wood.

But if you do, they tell you to rinse it off within 10-15 minutes. Otherwise, it will eventually eat up the wood, McGary said he was told.

He sprayed his germicidal Clorox on interior wood beams four days ago.

"What am I supposed to do now?" he said.

"Rinse it now; just rinse it. That's all you can do," said Alfredo Cruz, customer service representative for the Clorox company, when the question was posed by the Sun Herald.

The Clorox company recommends six cups of bleach to 10 gallons of water applied for no longer than 10 minutes to a small area at a time, then rinse with water. Left on too long, the bleach solution could start degrading the wood and cause it to start rotting, according to Cruz.

Not necessarily so, says a private mold removal contractor who's working two crews in Biloxi.

Mike Nettles, owner of ABC Environmental Services in Pensacola and Covington, La., said first of all neither he nor the Environmental Protection Agency recommends using bleach because of its potential danger. It can cause problems if mixed wrong, or is too strong, he said, or if people don't use personal protection, masks and gloves.

Bleach will get rid of mold, he said, and if he were using it, he wouldn't consider it necessary to rinse the wood. Nettles is a certified microbial consultant, board certified by the American Indoor Air Quality Council (www.aiaqc.com).

For homeowners who are doing the work themselves, he said the rule of thumb is to remove all soft and porous materials 2 feet past the mold or water line. At that point, spray with a 10 percent bleach and water solution.

Instead of bleach, he uses Biocide, an industrial chemical that's not available residentially.

Air quality is a vital concern.

As you spray, you disturb the mold, Nettles said, it becomes airborne, the house is cross contaminated and people will inhale the spores.

If the air conditioner is going, they will float through the ducts.

Use dehumidifiers to pull the air out and put them in as quickly as possible to immediately pull the moisture out of the home, he said. Keep windows shut.

Professional procedures are to spray the Biocide after everything is torn out, run air scrubbers for 72 hours, which will clean the air of all airborne spores. The air scrubbers are large air changing machines that change the air every few minutes and have three filters, including a Hepa filter.

The problems with spraying bleach, he said, is you have killed the mold, but you haven't gotten the spores out of the air. The spores will become dormant and grow again in the future, if you have moisture.

The following instructions for cleaning after a hurricane are provided by Mississippi State University Extension Service on its Web site, msucares.com.

Open the wall to the level of flooding. Use a circular saw to cut Sheetrock walls in a straight line, being careful not to cut into electrical wiring. If walls are paneled, remove the baseboard and pry loose the paneling. Prop paneling away from the wall, remove the insulation, and let it dry. After removing wet insulation, wash walls with disinfectant. Spray wall cavities with one cup household bleach to a gallon of water. Allow walls to stay open 4 to 6 weeks to allow thorough drying before putting in new insulation and covering.

QUICK TIPS ON HOME CLEANUP

The Mississippi Department of Health suggests the following to avoid contamination while working in and around your home in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina:

--Wear rubber boots, rubber gloves, and goggles during cleanup.

--Keep children and pets out of the affected area until cleanup has been completed.

--Remove and throw away flooded items that cannot be washed and disinfected (such as mattresses, carpeting, carpet padding, rugs, upholstered furniture, cosmetics, stuffed animals, baby toys, pillows, foam-rubber items, books, wall coverings and most paper products).

--Remove and throw away drywall and insulation that has been contaminated with sewage or floodwaters.

--Clean thoroughly all hard surfaces (such as flooring, concrete, molding, wood and metal furniture, counter tops, appliances, sinks and plumbing fixtures) with hot water and laundry or dish detergent.

--Help the drying by using fans, air conditioning and dehumidifiers if possible.

--After completing the cleanup, wash your hands with soap and disinfected water, or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

--Wash all clothes worn during the cleanup in hot water and detergent. These clothes should be washed separately from uncontaminated clothes and linens. Wash clothes contaminated by the flood or sewage in hot water and detergent.

Details: To learn more about hurricane safety, go to the MDH Web site at www.HealthyMS.com. You may also call the 24-7 information hotline at 1-866-HLTHY4U or 1-866-458-4948.

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.)

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