The 24 to 48 hours
The clock starts when the material gets wet, not when you notice.
EPA gives 24 to 48 hours as the window to dry water-damaged areas and items in order to prevent mold growth. It runs from when the materials got wet. A leak discovered three days in has already spent that window, which changes the job from drying to remediation.
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What the figure is and is not
It is guidance about when growth becomes likely, not a guarantee either way. Dry within it and you have probably avoided the problem; exceed it and you have probably not. Temperature, the material and how wet it got all move the actual timing.
It is also why a crew starts extraction at two in the morning rather than at nine. The hours inside that window are the only ones that are cheap.
The leak that was dried and now smells
A smell weeks after a leak that was mopped up usually means the water went somewhere that was never dried: a wall cavity, under a floor, into insulation. Surface drying stops the visible problem and leaves the hidden one, which then grows on its own schedule.
This is the most common way a small water event becomes a mold job. The point at which it was cheap to fix was the week it happened.
Finding it means instruments rather than guesswork: moisture readings through the material, sometimes a thermal camera to narrow down where to read.
Dry means a reading, not a feeling
Material is dry when a meter says it has reached the moisture content of comparable unaffected material in the same building, not when it feels dry to a hand. The difference between those two is where the next round of growth lives.
Ask for the target reading and the daily log. A contractor working to a number will have both; one working by feel will have neither.
Where you are in the window
The right action depends entirely on how long it has been wet.
- 01It happened today. Drying, urgently. Every hour inside the window is worth several outside it.
- 02It happened this week. Assume growth has started somewhere you cannot see. Get it read with a meter rather than looked at.
- 03It happened a while ago and now smells. This is remediation, not drying. Finding what was never dried is the first job, and it usually means opening something.
- 04You rent here. The dates matter more than anything else. Report it in writing today, and include when you think the water started.
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What to ask before you agree to anything
Ask these of whoever turns up. A contractor who answers them plainly is the one you want; a contractor who will not is telling you something.
- 01How long has this been wet, in your reading of the material rather than my account of it?
- 02What is the target moisture reading, and what is comparable unaffected material reading?
- 03Are you opening anything to check the cavity, or reading through the surface?
- 04If growth has started, does your quote cover containment as well as drying?
- 05Will you leave me the daily log when you finish?
- 06What licence do you hold for mold work in this state?
Have this ready before you call
Three facts move the first minute past the formalities: what happened, when it started, and whether water is still moving. These add the detail that decides what gets loaded on the van.
- When the water arrived, as precisely as you can
- Whether it was dried at the time, and how
- Whether there is a smell and where it is strongest
- What the affected construction is: timber frame, masonry, concrete slab
- Whether insulation is involved
- Photographs from the time of the leak, if any exist
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Where these figures come from
Every number on this page is published by someone other than us, and each link goes to their own text rather than to a summary of it.