Cleaning out After Mold

Suggestions for Cleaning up after Mold

Molds are found everywhere and health effects can be pretty serious especially if one has allergies and asthma. We recommend that people with either of these two health conditions not work at cleaning out houses.

Homes that have received water damage in them should be cleaned out well and disinfected. Homes will then have to wait and be dried out after having water damage, so that mold will not start growing again. Dehumidifiers and heaters work well for drying out houses. This process can take several weeks.

Remove any wet carpet, drywall, and insulation so that the house can thoroughly dry out.

We would suggest going in with a bleach solution or Odor Go (solution in PA)and spraying it on the walls before going in the first time to clean out. This way it will get rid of any mold on top, though mold does is not ever killed. Do the cleaning out and gutting. Then take and spray the walls down a couple times with bleach or this new solution to kill the mold that is under the surface. Let the house dry out.

The product Odor Go is environmentally friendly and safer to use then Clorox. The binational office would be willing to invest in this if we are made aware of how much you would like to have.

Also make sure the area is well ventilated especially when spraying with a solution.

Volunteers should wear rubber gloves, eye glasses (well-fitted), and respirators/heavy duty masks when working with the disinfectants as well as when cleaning out. They should then wash their clothes at the MDS project site (an exception for weekly volunteers washing clothes) so that their clothes are not mixed up with other clothes, etc.

MDS can also purchase rain gear or washable (vinyl-like) clothes for volunteers to wear when spraying down the walls or cleaning up junk/trash.

Volunteers should wash their hands thoroughly and frequently. If several good respirators like model N-95 are neededat projects – then we support the purchase of them.

A couple hints:

1.) Adding 2 cups of Rubbing Alcohol to your bleach/water mix will help the dry out process. The alcohol absorbs the water which is good. The mixture some are using is: .5 gallon of bleach, .5 gallon of water, and 2 cups rubbing alcohol (this is for severe mold).

2.)For Minor mold cleaning use 2 cups bleach, 2 cups rubbing alcohol, and top off the gallon with water.

3.) Ammonia should NEVER be mixed in with this mixture.

Please contact the binational office if you have any questions or would like more information.

Revised January 6, 2006