I have a subfloor( actually I had 1 x 2 spaced at 16in OC with
styrofoam insulation between and covered with plywood) installed in my
basement 12 years ago. I installed a carpet on the floor 6 years ago.
Last summer, the basement was flooded through one of the windows. I
had all the carpet wet. I mopped a lot of the water on the carpet and
purchased a dehumidifier which I ran for the rest of the summer. For
the first couple of days a lot of water was removed by the unit.

My question is, should I have removed the carpet and the subfloor to
avoid mold problem ? I intend to run the dehumidifier all summer
again.

Thanks.

wrote in message

My question is, should I have removed the carpet and the subfloor to
avoid mold problem ? I intend to run the dehumidifier all summer
again.

Thanks.

Hard so say. If it is dry and you have no mold, you are OK. If there was
contamination from other stuff in the water, you may have a mess lurking
under the subfloor. Only one way to be sure.

yes. see more at:
http://www.buildingscience.com/resou...ed_to_know.pdf

and see:
http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/flood.ht...et%20Materials

see how to redo the basement in the future at:
http://www.buildingscience.com/resources/basements.htm

wrote:
I have a subfloor( actually I had 1 x 2 spaced at 16in OC with
styrofoam insulation between and covered with plywood) installed in my
basement 12 years ago. I installed a carpet on the floor 6 years ago.
Last summer, the basement was flooded through one of the windows. I
had all the carpet wet. I mopped a lot of the water on the carpet and
purchased a dehumidifier which I ran for the rest of the summer. For
the first couple of days a lot of water was removed by the unit.

My question is, should I have removed the carpet and the subfloor to
avoid mold problem ? I intend to run the dehumidifier all summer
again.

Thanks.

You shoudl have at least rented a carpet cleaner and sucked the water
out of the carpet.

--
Thank you,



"Then said I, Wisdom [is] better than strength: nevertheless the poor
man's wisdom [is] despised, and his words are not heard." Ecclesiastes 9:16

Thanks for the info - very helpful. I did tried to suck most of the
water out and then followed by running the dehumidifier. The
dehumidifier is now a permanent fixture in my basement. The
subfloor is not on my list of renovation this winter, however, I'll
tackle it during the summer.

I lifted an edge and it looks ok, but I know that's not enough. I am
confused by the conflicting info on how dry to keep the house or
basement especially here in a cold climate. Is it 30 % ? 50% ? Why
do we have humidifiers installed in this part of the world if all it
does is help to nurish mold ?

On 13 Feb 2006 03:11:31 -0800, "buffalobill"
wrote:

yes. see more at:
http://www.buildingscience.com/resou...ed_to_know.pdf

and see:
http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/flood.ht...et%20Materials

see how to redo the basement in the future at:
http://www.buildingscience.com/resources/basements.htm

wrote:
Thanks for the info - very helpful. I did tried to suck most of the
water out and then followed by running the dehumidifier. The
dehumidifier is now a permanent fixture in my basement. The
subfloor is not on my list of renovation this winter, however, I'll
tackle it during the summer.

I lifted an edge and it looks ok, but I know that's not enough. I am
confused by the conflicting info on how dry to keep the house or
basement especially here in a cold climate. Is it 30 % ? 50% ? Why
do we have humidifiers installed in this part of the world if all it
does is help to nurish mold ?


I use humidifiers, especially in this cold winter weather. the A/C
works as a dehumidifier in the summer anyway. So overall, you should be
maintaining a similar relative humidity level throughout the year. Home
products and installations should be designed to deal with normal
relative humidity levels. So you should not experience mold growth due
to humidity under normal circumstances. A flooded basement is not
normal though.



--
Thank you,



"Then said I, Wisdom [is] better than strength: nevertheless the poor
man's wisdom [is] despised, and his words are not heard." Ecclesiastes 9:16

Yes, I did sucked as much of the water out as possible before buying
the dehumidifier. The drying was too slow with the carpet cleaner and
wanted to avoid any smelling. The dehumidifier worked great , no
smells at all and the drying was fast too.

Thanks.

On Mon, 13 Feb 2006 10:45:35 -0500, dnoyeB
wrote:

wrote:
I have a subfloor( actually I had 1 x 2 spaced at 16in OC with
styrofoam insulation between and covered with plywood) installed in my
basement 12 years ago. I installed a carpet on the floor 6 years ago.
Last summer, the basement was flooded through one of the windows. I
had all the carpet wet. I mopped a lot of the water on the carpet and
purchased a dehumidifier which I ran for the rest of the summer. For
the first couple of days a lot of water was removed by the unit.

My question is, should I have removed the carpet and the subfloor to
avoid mold problem ? I intend to run the dehumidifier all summer
again.

Thanks.

You shoudl have at least rented a carpet cleaner and sucked the water
out of the carpet.