Preventing Costly Mold Damage After Flooding?

After the hurricanes and flooding our Property Management company has been unable to keep up with all of the mold damage. Many people have gotten sick from black mold and we need a way to prevent this from happening again. Can Lime Prime be used after flooding? What if there is a lot of mold infested in wet wood and drywall? Would coating the frame of a house during construction help? 

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Hi,

If mold is allowed to grow, full mold remediation is expensive. Waiting for mold to grow is the most common mistake after a flood. A few of the best ways to help limit damage:
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1. Lime Prime the building frame during construction.
2. Lime Prime immediately after a flood.
3. Lime Prime during mold remediation if the mold was allowed to grow. 

My suggestion for property management after floods would be to send a five gallon pail to each family after the flood so they can immediately paint the affected areas until the major repairs can be done. This cost would be vastly outweighed by the expense of inaction, loss of contracts and unhappy customers. Consulting a mold remediation professional is important, especially when health sensitivities are present. Contact us through support@earthpaint.net for project specific advice.

The main thing is not to wait and let moisture and debris feed mold growth. By coating the flooded surfaces soon after the water recedes, the damage can be better assessed. Floods cause many issues some take a long time to fix. Among many issues affecting people's health after floods, a large portion are related to mold being allowed to grow and rot. Mold smells. Causes rot. Looks awful. Everything gets musty and many people end up displaced, sick, fatigued and overwhelmed. So, the first step is to Lime Prime as soon as possible, preferably during construction.

Professional assessment after a flood is vital but after two hurricanes we had down here, it took a long time to get work done in many cases. Fort Bragg had some very bad mold damage. Disaster Aid funding was delayed. Work orders misplaced. Many people at Fort Bragg are still waiting and their mold is still growing. Lime Prime offers a fast, effective way to help people contain that damage before or after mold grows.

Many restoration professionals count Lime Prime as one of their most powerful tools for severe mold remediation projects. Lime Prime is strong and specifically engineered to be painted directly over severe mold stains, even on surfaces with high moisture content. Having something on hand that is very strong can be comforting when encountering all varieties of mold problems on jobsites. Not getting poisoned by your trade is also nice. Many families don't want to poison their home spraying highly toxic chemicals to fix a mold problem. Lime Prime provides an excellent, Zero Voc, safe option for those customers, both during construction and after.

Builders spray Lime Prime on the building frame, subfloor and wall cavities before the windows and drywall goes in. This is fast, easy, looks great and is one of the best preventative measures during construction. It provides a protective layer that allows the wood to dry out safely. Rather than letting wet, mold stained wooden frame get closed in with drywall and siding, the frame is given protection.

Rain during construction can feed mold. Lime Prime will resist rain from entering wood but is vapor permeable. This is absolutely vital to allow moisture below the surface to escape and not cause rot internally. This breathable, non-flammable approach makes an enormous difference for about $0.17 cents a sq ft. and it takes less than a day to spray most medium to large frames.

Regular latex "mold killing" paints often use toxic chemicals in the surface film that seals in moisture below. A non breathable film creates an atrium for mold and rot below the moist surface which turns into a mess eventually. Lime Prime is a non flammable, inorganic mineral coating that remains breathable.  Lime, when properly formulated with other inorganic minerals, works in a unique way in wood, gypsum and concrete. Regular latex paint with chemical biocides will generally fail when coated over moist, mold infested surface. Lime Prime has a pozzolanic reaction on concrete and gypsum where it literally forms into a type of cement coating, reacting naturally with silicates to gain incredible strength.

A good basic first step after flooding is: Cross Ventilation w an exhaust fan, Remove Wet carpets-fabrics, cut out drywall behind baseboards or celings and spraying Lime Prime inside walls, basements, subfloors... starting with this can make an enormous difference after a flood, until the major repairs can be done. Once everything is primed it's a lot easier for professionals to see what else needs to be done. It's breathable and things are able to dry out. Areas that need it can easily be given a second coat. After all repairs are done we use Lime Seal for the best topcoat.

Washing all hard surfaces with Earth Clean - furniture, glass, clothes and such still need to be washed or bleached and dried out. When the building isn't throwing mold spores into the air, keeping a home safe and clean is a lot easier.