24/7 Emergency Service
Top Tips for Avoiding Musty Smells After a Water Leak | SERVPRO of Rapid City
5/1/2024 (Permalink)
Trust our team at SERVPRO of Rapid City to provide comprehensive services for a full recovery for all your water damage restoration needs.
You come home from a long day of work and step directly into a puddle of water. Maybe your dishwasher leaked or you left a window open and rain came pouring in, and now you have a serious situation to deal with.
Even if you grab a mop and a bucket to dry it up or soak up the visible water with some towels, chances are that you probably aren’t drying up all of the moisture. Leaving any sort of lingering moisture behind can open you up to much bigger issues down the road, and you certainly don’t want that to happen.
Hiring a professional to help you recover from water damage will ensure that you avoid issues like mold growth, rot and stinky musty odors from hazards like mildew.
Once water has made its way to somewhere in your home where it shouldn’t be, it can cause serious problems for your walls, floors and ceiling. It will leak and seep into the tiniest of cracks or water-permeable areas, and once it gets to these hard-to-reach areas, it can be really hard or impossible to clean up on your own.
If you suffer a water leak at your house, your first instinct will be to grab some towels and clean up the mess. While that will certainly help remove the standing water, you most likely won’t be able to access the moisture that has already made its way behind your walls and under your floors.
To make matters worse, this kind of moisture doesn’t simply evaporate over time. Without access to proper air movement or ventilation, this moisture will linger and continue to cause you problems.
You can expect the lingering moisture to start infiltrating your home’s internal structures. It can swell supporting beams, cause rust to form on metal and can make walls unsteady. In addition, it only takes 24–48 hours for a few mold spores to grow into a huge colony, which means that you could be dealing with serious mold infestations just a matter of days after the initial incident.
One of the most easily recognizable signs of mold or mildew is the odor that they can produce. Mold often smells musty or earthy, so if you notice a similar smell after a seemingly unsuspecting water leak, it’s time to follow your nose. However, that can be really difficult to do if the infestation is protected behind your walls!
If you suspect a mold infestation that you can’t easily get to, it’s time to give us a call. Our water damage restoration team is highly trained on reversing water damage, but we are also trained to handle potentially dangerous mold infestations. We will repair warped walls, address ruined floorboards and track down mold with confidence and with safety in mind.
In addition to the physical restoration, we will also tackle any lingering odors left behind by the mold. Our odor removal specialists will seal off the area by closing vents and turning off your HVAC system, and then we will filter the area to remove all of the airborne particles. When it comes to water damage and the lingering odors left behind, SERVPRO of Rapid City is here to help.
Don’t ignore signs of a water leak. Contact SERVPRO® for a full recovery.