To worry all the stuff needs to be moved?

[ourbathroomflooded]

I had another thread earlier about our bathroom having a flood which went through into our kitchen. It is being rectified over the course of the next week. Flooring is being replaced and ceiling redecorated. I am worried about mould growing in the mean time. We have ventilated the house all day and will have the heating on all night. Not staying there tonight so can’t do anything more, really. Unfortunately no access to a dehumidifier till earliest Thursday.

The only areas still feeling wet are a small square on the edge of our living room carpet and a small square of our landing carpet where it meets the bathroom. Tbh they are absolutely saturated and we have peeled them back as they will need to come up.

I am 37 weeks pregnant, we’re currently luckily able to stay with my parents but I have barely slept and can’t stop worrying about the moisture content in the house, the safety of the electrics and whether or not mould will begin to grow. The house is all set up for baby - her swing and Moses basket in the lounge, her pram and car seat ready waiting are in the dining room which although unaffected by the leak is attached to the kitchen, where it’s currently so humid 😫
Her nursery is furthest away from the bathroom and kitchen. The door is shut and the room seems unaffected but it hasn’t stopped me worrying.

DH and my parents are dealing with the brunt of the repairs and all the legwork which is very kind, but don’t seem to understand at all my concerns about the baby’s stuff and think it will be totally fine and that the house will be dry in a matter of a few days. Water was running for about 10 mins if that’s relevant and I know water can do a lot of damage.

Baby is very long awaited and our rainbow. My pregnancy has recently turned consultant led so lots on my mind at the moment as is. I feel sick at the idea, rational or not, that there might be mould we can’t see in the house. I would be worried about her breathing that in or that the fabrics of her bedding were in any way damaged. I just want everything to be perfect for her and safe for us all.

I guess just posting on here for traffic and in the hopes of reassurance. I’ve chewed my friend’s ear off and gone on about it all day but nothing is putting my mind at ease and I just want to drive over there tonight and rescue all the stuff, as impractical and unnecessary as that may be given we hope to be back at the weekend ourselves. I think a lot of it is just hormones and nesting but all the same… urgh.

YABU - the stuff will be totally fine and doesn’t need to be moved
YANBU - I would move things over the next couple days

You can have a dehumidifier delivered next day by Amazon, or are you borrowing one? I think I’d buy rather than wait if possible, it would help your peace of mind.

Borrowing. Might be able to get it tomorrow but by then it’ll be 48h and someone said mould only takes several hours to grow. I’m already on the worry train and not sure what it’ll take for me to relax about it tbh other than a large number of people saying it’ll be fine.

Spoken to them today, trying to decide whether to claim through them as the company who installed our bathroom have offered to fix and replace everything damaged. Insurers have said in any event they wouldn’t be out until Thursday, and that’s not definitely armed with dehumidifiers

If you're ventilating all day and keeping the heating on at night (can you get a dehumidifier delivered sooner or bed / steal / borrow?) then you're doing all of the right things!

Id keep an eye out on walls or skirting boards for any signs on mould but it sounds like you're on top of it - mould can grow quickly so you should be able to see quite quickly if you've got any issues.

We had a similar leak (bathroom, through the ceiling to the kitchen through the light fittings and soaked the landing carpet) - we dried it all out with heaters and dehumidifiers, had zero mould problems. Nothing in any nearby room was impacted, electrics (after drying out!) were completely fine. Hopefully it will be the same for you! 😃

Not sure what you mean. We have contents and buildings insurance. They won’t come out till Thursday as I’ve just explained

No maybe not but it had 4.5 on trustpilot and they are a large well known insurer so we went with them. We’re borrowing because we don’t know whether we want to claim.

This really isn’t the point I’m making. It’s both. We are borrowing from a friend, who we can pick it up from on Thursday. Possibly tomorrow but it’s a long drive which is difficult for me with PGP. The insurers can send someone out to assess damage on Thursday but it sounds like a long winded process and we have multiple tradespeople who have seen it today and said they think it’s fine. My point to posting was that I am feeling anxious about mould in the few days before it’s fixed.

I'm sure your stuff will be fine - if you're ventilating the house and keeping everything warm it should dry out quickly. You can buy a smart hygrometer to measure the humidity remotely if it would put your mind at ease?

Ex plumber here. The company that caused the damage should have got you a humidifier on their insurance/at their cost.

My experience with mould is that it generally takes a few days to start growing, with constant damp, however the insurance team have special cleaners to deal with this. A leak that lasted 10 mins is unlikely to cause major problems.

As you are nervous, could you get help to move the baby stuff to the bedroom you feel is safe?

Thank you for this perspective. It felt like a lot of water but ten minutes isn’t a long time, after all. The only damp areas that remain are two small sections of carpet. Would that room be fine if the door is closed to it and it was nowhere near the leak? As in, no mould could grow there in the space of a few days to a week

Thank you! This is positive to read. Sorry you experienced it too - so stressful

@ourbathroomflooded it's all about the humidity in the house, but yes, closing the door to the damp areas and airing/using the humidifiers will definitely help. If you are thinking about replacing the carpets removed them asap. Generally mould is seen in areas that are subjected to constant water/humidity over several weeks +.

I am so sorry this has happened to you OP especially at your stage of pregnancy. I am not going to get into the rights and wrongs of getting your home dried out as it sounds to me like you are doing everything that can possibly be done to sort it correctly. I honestly would be very surprised if mould formed in your home from this one incident. I can only tell you that I grew up in a house where the roof leaked constantly and rainwater used to come through the ceiling light fittings in several rooms. This went on for years and years and we only had coal fires to dry everything out. We never ever had mould growing anywhere in the house. I think a lot of the publicity about the mould problems in some houses is scary and is causing you understandable anxiety. Please try not to worry easier said than done I know.

Get a carpet cleaner (hire from supermarket/dry cleaner/diy store) and suck up the excess water. Then leave to fully dry. If only a small area is affected it will dry quickly.

And you can hire dehumidifiers from diy store or equipment hire. You do need to be around to empty it though.

Thank you so much this has really eased my mind xx