Many times in areas hit hard by flooding, basement mold removal is an extremely popular service preformed by water damage restoration specialists. Any time you have areas hit by flooding there will be large quantities of homes and furnishings that have been soaked through. Mold will begin growing on just about any surface that has a food source for it. All it takes is twenty four to forty eight hours and a relative humidity of over sixty percent for mold to take root.

Areas hit by flooding in the summer months due to rain or drainage related issues will have mold problems not only in the flooded areas of the interior of their homes but also on the exterior. While living in Indiana, the average humidity levels were over sixty percent on a daily basis from spring through fall.

In addition, our property backed on a creek that was prone to flooding if we got any where near an inch of rain. Also with the water table being really low, less than fifty feet, the surrounding ground was moist most of the time as well. All of these conditions made the area ripe for mold infestations.

We were extremely unlucky in the location of our property in relation to a secondary street that had been added when a local farmer sold part of his farm land to someone to build a home. It altered the pattern of runoff during heavy rains and succeeded in funneling the runoff from the fields north of us down into our front yard and as a result our foundation. The house was built in 1979 and the foundation was not waterproofed. Compounding that problem was that the basement was mostly finished with only a small area left with a bare concrete floor.

A few months after we moved in there was a heavy rain in the spring which dumped over three inches of rain on our area. The creek rose several feet and the ground around our house was saturated. We had two sump pumps and they worked around the clock for two days straight.

It eventually burned the main sump pump out and while I went out for replacement pump water began to seep into the basement at the foundation. I first noticed it in the unfinished area at the front of the house and I could control it with a shop vacuum.

The only problem was that I needed to repair the sump pump. Once that was complete I could spend more attention to the seepage from the foundation. The seepage continued even after the rains stopped due to the amount of water in the ground from being saturated.

Once I had sucked all of the water out of the basement and thoroughly dried the area I forgot about the issue until we noticed a strong smell coming from where I had vacuumed up the seeping water.

Mold had begun to grow because of the high humidity in the basement. I called several well known mold removal companies and told them about my basement mold removal problem. Was told that the bill could be over one thousand dollars depending on how extensive the mold damage was.

Because the foundation was concrete block I needed to find a cleaning solution that could be applied with a stiff brush. Because I was not aware of the issues in cleaning up mold, I made no attempts to protect myself from spores or other toxins that could have been released by the mold.

Even if you have no history or allergies, allergic reactions, or health issues, you should take all precautions to keep from coming in contact with mycotoxins either in the air or by touch when performing basement mold removal.

Make sure you use a face mask, gloves and strong disinfectants when working on basement mold removal. Once the area has been cleaned it will need treated to make sure that the mold does not return.

Any materials that have been contaminated by mold that are not hard and non porous may need to be fully replaced to prevent the return of mold. Painting over an affected area with Kilz will cover the water damage but will only kill fungi but NOT mold.

Mold Remediation Companies