Mold from Harvey

I am one the Houston, TX Harvey flood victims dealing with the aftermath of Flooding in my home. I have had water in my closet for nine days without any power where I have had most of my tripods, wimberley head, skimmer, and related non camera and lens gear. 

If I have mold on metal and carbon fiber stuff, is  is safe to use after proper cleaning ? Some tell me that the mold never really goes away after three days. 

I have a similar question about my clothes in that closet. I think that my suits are probably ruined because of the exposure to mold. 

I am not sure about my washable clothes like shirts and cotton pants. Are they safe after three washings? 

I have flood insurance so I might get some relief, but who knows. 

I am 74 and really do not want any exposure to future health risks. 

Any suggestions are welcomed. 

Joe  

Very sorry to hear of your flooding. I strongly recommend that you use a professional to attempt the mold cleaning. The air exposure from the mold VOC's can be very toxic. You may want to look at the sites like the CDC & EPA, FEMA, etc. for more information. It seems to me from my memory, that there was some use after Katrina, of a type of gas they would use in the home with the house tented (like they do in the tropics for termite treatments). I don't recall what the gas was though, I'll continue to search online if no one else remembers. But this gas did such a good job that even previously moldy clothes were usable after the treatment. But again check with the appropriate agencies for how to do it properly and safely.

Good luck.

Here is an article about mold treatment in a post flood home. Included is a discussion of tenting a home and treating with chlorine dioxide gas.
http://extensionhealthyhomes.org/Documents/Mold-remediation.pdf

Sorry to hear about situation,thoughts are with you and all those affected.
A simple bleach solution is effective at killing mould,including their spores. More delicate equipment can be treated with hydrogen peroxide. If you have specific questions please message me and I will try and respond (I am a microbiologist and have been in sterilization / decontamination formost of my life).

Good luck

photoman4343 wrote:I am one the Houston, TX Harvey flood victims dealing with the aftermath of Flooding in my home. I have had water in my closet for nine days without any power where I have had most of my tripods, wimberley head, skimmer, and related non camera and lens gear. 

If I have mold on metal and carbon fiber stuff, is  is safe to use after proper cleaning ? Some tell me that the mold never really goes away after three days. 

I have a similar question about my clothes in that closet. I think that my suits are probably ruined because of the exposure to mold. 

I am not sure about my washable clothes like shirts and cotton pants. Are they safe after three washings? 

I have flood insurance so I might get some relief, but who knows. 

I am 74 and really do not want any exposure to future health risks. 

Any suggestions are welcomed. 

Joe  

Joe,
I have no useful information about the mold situation, but just wanted to wish you a quick return to normal life. Good luck.

Good luck with your situation.  I am in Beaumont, 90 miles east of you, but was fortunate not to have any water in my home.   

Thank you all for the kind comments. All I can say to everyone is not to store anything on the floor of a first floor closet.

And flood plain maps are not sole determinants of who needs flood insurance. In Texas, everybody should have especially if they are anywhere near the Gulf Coast. I am glad that I had it. But some of my neighbors did not have it and they got two to seven feet of water in their homes. In Harris County, where Houston is, it is not unusual for 50-60% of flooded homes NOT to be in any 100 year flood plain. You need to know how much water your drainage systems can handle and plan accordingly.

I hope those facing Irma are safe and sound.

Good advice Joe. One other thing to mention is to check and see if your home qualifies for flood insurance. If there have been previous claims and payouts under the flood program then the property may not be insurable. We have some current property owners in the Beaumont, Pinewood, Bevil Oaks area who lost their homes in Harvey because they were uninsurable for flood due to the number or dollar amount of previous claims under the governmental flood program. Another area to check is your windstorm coverage. Not a good situation to have to incur all the rebuilding costs out of pocket.

And always read the fine print and exclusions on your policy, specifically the exclusion for "Acts of God". If they can get out of paying, they will try every means to do it.

Joe

Sorry for your troubles.  Living in a moldy environment is Very Toxic to humans. You may not be thinking clearly.
Get out ASAP.
Good Luck

Hope you get things back to normal quickly! Don't know if you can get it there, but there are anti fungal rinses for your laundry, added to the rinse water available here. Drying things in the sun is also going to be a big help, rather than a clothes dryer. But don't wait for sun, wash and get things dry ASAP. I would wash everything once and inspect to confirm you got the mold out and discard stuff that doesn't look clean after the first wash.

The bigger thing is going to be getting the humidity down to allow everything to dry out and stay dry. You of course have to be careful with bleach in coloured clothing.

You could also try this product for washing clothes, you soak them in it first, it's like an oxygen bleach,

http://www.aussieproducts.com/prodinfo. ... ber=DDNS01 COLOURS

I would think that your tripods etc will come good, as they are not porous, though you'd want to disassemble them all and dry out the internals of the legs and clamps.

I recalled hearing about UV light to kill mold, so I Googled it. This is just one link. It should work on the tripod and other equipment.

http://americanairandwater.com/mold/mold-uv.htm

If you should decide to try it, please inform yourself thoroughly. I have several UV lights that are designed to kill algae in pond water pumped through them, but I know you must not expose yourself to the light emitted by them.

Joe

While carbon is resistant to UV light, the epoxy that holds it together is not. Manufacturers may add a UV retardant to the epoxy or add a surface coating. Mold might infiltrate and damage a surface coating. UV damage often appears as a white milky finish. You should contact the tripod manufacturer to determine what form of UV resistance they use.
  Mold that produces spores are very resistant to treatment. After the mold is killed, resistant spores can regrow the mold. For this type of mold, you wait a short time for the spores to regenerate and then retreat before the mold produces new spores. This complication is why professional treatment is recommended. 

From this article, the UV damage does not affect structural integrity. It only affects surface appearance. The UV light would not be long term exposure like most of the tests for UV breakdown use to simulate exposure to sunlight during outdoor storage. It would be very short term.

http://www.answers.com/Q/What_epoxy_res ... _resistant

Joe

Just seen your post Joe, wish you well in a heartbreaking situation. Hope things are a little better now, and insurance companies are fronting up to their responsibilities.

One thing is important with the decontamination of your non camera/lens equipment is that you don't use bleach (hypochlorite) on any aluminium kit. as the alkali will attack it and corrode it terribly. Hyrogen peroxide would be better - but wear eye and hand protection as it it fierce stuff.

Wish you well for the future,
John Sibley