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Hope nobody has been flooded out!
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cdev:
The area I live in has several rivers thatperiodically spead out and although I live in the hilly areas its always horrile to see peoples lives ruied by floods. Maybe we should start a thread about flooded equipment salvage?
Those floods look so nasty, and the waters rose up so fast, no time to get precious hardware out of harms way. Well at least most of the water was probably mostly of the fresh variety.
If any of the affected homes were of the US style gypsum wallboard and wooden studs construction have been flooded, here is a tip to minimize the potential mold problem. When wallboard has been flooded it becomes sodden and its absolutely essential to go aroound knocking a single hole in each wall cavity, ideally two one low one high in each cavity. Then try to get moving on drying it out.Remove gypsum wallboard thats gotten wet. Mold will start to grow, fast after 3 days of 99% humitity and water damage.To prevent it leaving you with a sick building remember this, the toxin formation is directly proportionate to wall cavity relative humidity. So the holes are to allow a little ventilation just so the humidiity in there is not 99% or above. The dangerous toxins only grow when the wall cavities are not merely wet, they will grow when the RH is above 85% or so but the very high RH inside a completely airtight wall cavity will required major face and airway protection for the very worst infestations. Accidentally Opening up such a wall cavity which stirs up mold and makes it sprulat in response to vibration then inhaling the air thats been inside can and does kill people You absolutely need better than the typical n-95 face mask, you need an n-100 or n-99 HEPA resirator, (magenta colo here in the US) that is the right size for your face. You should fit test it properly. You also should be clean shaven. Also wear eye protection and gloves. A completely closed and flooded wall cavity after a few days after flooding will be a real danger. As it will grow very toxic mold inside. It might then get so bad that cleaning it up might be impossible without specialized dry ice blasting equipment. But with the holes the problem will be much reduced. This is an important thing to know in any situation where the US styl home construction is used. Its a very bad way to build homes as far as mold. I could find some science to better explain with an analysis of the macrocyclic trichothecene produced in some different example situations. Gypsum wallboard when it gets wet swells up and creates an almost airtight seal, so the problem can get really really severe. Satratoxin H is around the 60th most cytotoxic substanc known to man. It also is a strong immunosuppessant. It can scar your eyes, skin, and it also will go right through the skin and enter the bloodstream, readily. Treat it with respect and use the proper PPE. Mold can ruin your health.
Also plywood that has gotten wet loses most of its shear strength, it also has to be replaced otherwise it can catastrophically de-laminate.
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