Georgia Little poses in her office after her lecture on what to do with wood and mold after flooding. 
The Lion's Roar/Tiffany Nesbit

After the recent flood, homes were left behind to rebuild and refurnish. With homes being left unattended and sealed with no air ventilation, some began to grow something unexpected, mold. People do not know that there are various household products and methods that can be used to treat mold from floodwaters on wood and help prevent it from growing back.

On Friday, Sept. 9 at 12 p.m. the chemistry department provided a free seminar to the public announcing information about mold that grows on wood and how to help clean it. It also provided information on how to make sure certain solutions are actually fixing the problem, as opposed to making it worse. The seminar given in Pursley Hall Room 211 was by experimental chemistry professor Georgina Little. Her lecture, “Can Mold be treated by Amateurs?,” answered the question with a yes.

According to Little, mold is very difficult to exterminate permanently, especially in the climate of Louisiana. It is very important to always keep a dehumidifier unit, an AC or a consistent unit to keep moisture levels down in the air. This is important because without a consistent unit, the moisture will keep the mold spores alive and the mold will continue to grow under the surface of wood walls.

“Mold is very hard to completely kill,” said Little. “The mold spores that remain can become active mold as soon as moisture levels return. Keeping moisture low, <15%-20% in wood, is most critical. Use dehumidifiers if possible or an AC unit works okay. Removing surface mold is important.”

Little recommends various household cleaning products to remove the surface mold off of wood. Cloths, HERPA vacuums, buckets or spray bottles can be used to remove mold. Scrubbing by hand or other household cleaners like bleach and detergent can also be used.

“You can try to disinfect and kill the mold with household cleaners,” said Little. “Results show some success with borate solutions, sodium carbonate solutions (washing powder) and products with quaternary ammonium compounds. Many sites recommend bleach, but the bleach must be fresh or the bacterial cleaning compounds dilute.”

According to Little, it is a good idea to get wood and air professionally tested for mold after cleaning the wood. Wood objects and walls may be dry to the touch, but if it is not professionally tested, there might be a high enough moisture level for mold to grow.

Little described the various types of mold that tend to grow in moisture prone areas.

“There are millions of species of mold,” said Little. “Some that we find in houses after floods are Penicillium, Aspergillus, Cladosporium and Stachybotrys.”

Little mentions the only thing that humans in this case have control over is the moisture level, and if that is removed the mold cannot grow.

“Mold depends on moisture, oxygen and food in this case for wood to grow and live,” said Little. “The only way to get rid of it is to get rid of the moisture.”

Little warned the public to be careful of what websites they collect information from. She suggests organizations that are reviewed experts in the field.

For more information, go to suggested sites like LSU AgCenter, Enviromental Protection Agency and Federal Emergency Management Agency.