Q.
I work in a medium sized call center which holds approximately 250 workers.
A couple of weeks ago the call center was flooded due to a stopped up drain
in the back parking lot and soaked about 50% of the carpet. About half an
hour after the flood was contained we were told we had to stay at work and
continue to take calls wherever we could find a dry place to sit. We have
been working in the same flooded room ever since. A maintenance crew came
in that day to vacuum up the water and set up fans to dry out the carpet but
the carpet stayed damp for 3 or 4 days. Now the entire call center stinks
and some parts of the carpet are black. Is this possibly mold that's
growing? A lot of my co-workers say that they are now coughing and feeling
sick whenever they are at work. The smell along just turns my stomach. No
one in management has even sent an email or memo addressing the
situation. This leads me to believe that there is some type of hazard but
they don't want to bring it up because many people may not come in to work
and the company will lose business. I am very concerned about this
situation and I fear if I make a big issue I will lose my job before I can
find a new one.
A.
The
flooding and
resulting strong mold smell mean that the
carpeting, padding, and inside the adjoining walls, wood furniture, etc.
are likely to be mold infected if they were not completely dried within 24
hours of wetness. Since the company is taking the ostrich approach to mold
danger awareness, the employees would be wise to mold test the air of the workplace areas and the outward air flow from
heating/cooling duct registers for the possible presence of elevated levels
of airborne mold spores, in comparison to an outdoor mold control test using
do it yourself mold test kits available from a large hardware, home
improvement, or safety store. Unresolved
workplace mold can cause severe health problems [much worse than already
being experienced], and it is an employer safety violation of most states'
occupational safety and health administration laws and regulations.
Q. I
have Berber carpet on my second floor due to the hurricane one part of the
carpet in my kids room got wet, and unfortunately the smell does not wants
to go away. the carpet it is dry because of the humidifier but it smell
strong what should I do. [November 21, 2004]
A.
Pull the carpeting and any padding back or off so that you can scrub
repeatedly both sides of the carpeting and padding with Borax laundry
detergent, mixed into water. Borax is a natural mold cleaner and killer.
Fan dry after each washing/scrubbing to get the carpet dry quickly.
You can use a low-cost
Mold Home Remedy Recipes available at
Mold Mart.
Let the fungicide kill mold for about one hour, and then proceed to fan
dry as quickly as possible. You need to be
concerned about airborne mold spores from the moldy carpeting spreading in
air currents to mold cross contaminate your entire house and its
heating/cooling system. You would be wise to use
do it yourself mold
test kits available from a large hardware, home improvement, or safety
store. to
mold test the air of the bedroom, all other rooms, any
attic/basement/crawl space, and the outward air flow from each
heating/cooling duct register for the possible presence of elevated levels
of airborne mold spores, in comparison to an outdoor mold control test.
Q. We had water break in the house
this morning and the carpets are soaked. The insurance company is sending
someone out to pull up carpets and dry them. Is there anything that needs to
be done to protect and make sure we don't have any mold problems in the
future. Especially if they won't pay for new carpet and pad because they
might say it will be ok because it was
dried properly or what ever.
[Feb. 6, 2003]
A. If the carpeting,
padding, floor beneath, and walls were completely dried WITHIN 24 hours of
being wet, you are probably OK. It would still be wise and cautious on your
part to have the home inspected and tested for mold infestation by a
Certified Mold
Inspector. Best testing time would be about a week to 2 weeks
after the flood. Be sure to have floor and wall cavities in the
flooded area
visually inspected with the Inspector's fiber optics inspection device and
mold tested inside the cavities with a air sampling cassettes, or with a
mold culture impactor. You should also test the air in the various house
rooms, basement,
attic, and
crawl space mold tested by the
Mold Inspector for the
possibility of elevated levels of
mold spores. Most homes
have serious, hidden mold
infestation. You might be surprised to
discover that your home has a big mold problem UNRELATED to the immediate
flood that caused you to worry about possible mold growth. If you have
budgetary concerns about the reasonable cost of professional mold inspection
and testing, you can do your own mold testing---using
do it yourself mold test kits available from a large hardware, home
improvement, or safety store.
Mold Test Kit
Mold test kit to test carpeting and padding
If carpeting and/or padding was wet for more than 24 hours, mold
growth has probably already begun in the carpeting and/or padding. One way
to test your padding and carpeting for mold growth is to attach a mold test kit
to the side of a cleaned, rubbing alcohol-disinfected box fan so that the
air flow through the fan comes from across the surface of padding itself
[the carpet having been pulled back] or the carpeting, and then impacts
air [and thus possibly mold spores] directly onto the open sticky surface
of the mold test kit that has been taped to the fan surface. Run this fan
test for 10 minutes, remove and seal the mold test kit, and then observe
the mold test kit for 7 days for how much mold growth has happened.
Serious mold growth in carpeting, padding, floor and wall.
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