Water damage?

Hi Izzy,

One of the homes we had experienced a very similar problem. We thought once the water was dried up and the rooms aired out that all would be okay. However, the amount of water damage over several weeks (before the problem was detected) did indeed cause long-term damage. Within a few months black mold started to come alive behind the drywall.  Black mold is really bad because it often goes undetected and most homeowners aren't aware of it - until they start getting sick and make the connection.

If there was a lot of water damage to your property,  I recommend that you contact an environmental engineer and schedule an inspection of the damaged property.   They can determine if mold is there before it becomes a health and financial issue. In our case, we got to the problem too late and had to spend several thousand dollars to replace the bathroom walls, tub and underlying structure because as we learned Black Mold multiplies and spreads quickly.

If there isn't mold then a few coats of kilz will cover up the stain and prevent mildew from occurring.

My Advice: Would be to watch the area and see what happens. That isn't much help I know but my suspicion is you took care of the problem. Mold is not something that grows quickly it is something that grows over time and needs favorable conditions to prosper. From what I am reading you had an isolated more than prolonged incident and therefore I think you caught it in time but it is hard to say for sure. If you have taken care of the source of the moisture I think you will be okay. As far as repair of the area I would ensure that the water did not get into a sheetrock seam. I am assuming that you have sheetrock on the ceilings. If you have plaster you should be okay unless the plaster starts to give way. If the water did spread and get into a sheetrock seam you will notice that there may be a strip about 2 1/2 inches wide coming down from the ceiling (unless they taped with mesh tape). You will have to peel any tape away and repair the area with a new taping and then if you have textured ceilings you will have to retexture the ceiling, prime and paint. With all of that said I hope that your water did not seek out a seam as it often does. If the water did find a seam it may be worth the money to bring in a professional and have them trim back the sheetrock in the affected area and evaluate the situation. This will let you know EXACTLY what is going on on the topside of the ceiling and give you piece of mind. I know that there is a lot of information here and it seems like I should be able to give you a straighforward answer but it is hard to do when it comes to water and water damage as the stakes can be high with the possibility of mold regarding the health of you and your family. If you are truly concerned about the situation and the possibility of mold I would have someone come in that you know has experience in taping & texturing and have them investigate the topside of the ceiling. They may be able to analyze the situation right from the ground by doing a moisture test or by seeing how soft the sheetrock is and may not need to do anything else. This is such a tough thing to say positivly that the water spot is all that is going on however I suspect that your situation has cured itself but I know I wouldn't give it a 100% guarentee. I wish you good luck! Sincerely, James D. Van Raden Owner ~ Paragon Renovations Moorhead, MN www.paragonrenovations.net www.paragonbathrooms.com

Sounds like you did a good job drying everything but if you have carpet I would pull up a corner and just check what's in there. When I was in an apartment and had a similar leak and they had to replace all the carpet.  Good luck! Hopefully some other members will add some good suggestions.

That's an excellent idea! Thank you very much...  

Is there are way to pull up the corner of a carpet without doing much damage? How do I put it back?

Izzy,

Get yourself a needle nose pliers and go to a corner and grab the corner and pull back a little bit.  Then when you are finished you can just tuck it back.

James