After flooding, time is what matters most. Fungal growth in wet material develops over days, not weeks.
This is one of the rare cases where what you do in the first hours affects the final outcome more than any later treatment.
That last point is the important one. The urge to "get everything back to normal" after flooding is the single most common reason why mould appears under the new finish a few months later.
Flooding is not an event that ends when the water has been mopped up. What follows is a process, and a fairly predictable one.
This is also the answer to why the work costs more after a month than after two days. Neither the products nor the method change — what changes is the volume that has to be removed.
| Material | Salvageable | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Tiles, concrete, brick | Yes | Must be dried and treated |
| Solid timber furniture | Often yes | Depends on how long it stayed wet |
| Chipboard furniture | Rarely | Swells and loses its structure |
| Laminate | No | The base layer swells irreversibly |
| Mineral wool insulation | No | Loses its properties, becomes a growth medium |
| Plasterboard | Rarely | The paper facing feeds fungal growth |
| Carpet with backing | Rarely | The backing holds moisture |
| Mattress | No | Filling cannot be reliably dried and treated |
The general principle: the more porous the material and the longer it stayed wet, the smaller the chance that treatment will hold. With hard, smooth materials things are usually fine.
The reason is physical. Porous material absorbs water through its full thickness, and fungal spores travel in with the water. A disinfectant works where it reaches, and it reaches the surface and a few millimetres below. The depth of the material stays untreated, which is why the smell and the patches come back from there a few weeks later. This is not a question of product quality — it is how the material is built.
Solid timber furniture can often be dried and kept, provided it has not stood in water for several days. Chipboard furniture swells irreversibly once soaked — it may look normal, but the board structure has broken down and the material holds moisture. We do not consider a mattress or an upholstered item with filling salvageable after flooding, and we say so straight away rather than treating it at your expense.
Disinfecting a damp structure gives no lasting result — the fungus still has both moisture and something to feed on.
Fungal growth needs three things: moisture, a food source and temperature. The food source — paper, wallpaper paste, plaster, dust — cannot be taken out of a wall. Nobody is going to change the temperature of a living room. The only variable you can remove is moisture, and that is exactly why drying is the first step, not the last.
How long drying takes depends on the material and on how much water there was. Timber structures dry faster; a concrete slab and thick plaster take longer, because moisture moves slowly from the depth to the surface. In practice this means anything from a few days to several weeks. The stage cannot be shortened with chemistry: a product acts on micro-organisms, not on water inside a structure.
The end point is set by a moisture reading, not by the calendar and not by appearance. A wall can be dry at the surface and wet inside — this is precisely the case in which people put on a new finish and lift it off three months later. A material moisture reading shows the state at depth, and only then can treatment and, after it, finishing begin.
Building types behave differently here.
We establish how far water has travelled through the structure — always further than you can see.
We take out what cannot be saved, so the structure can be reached.
We dry the structure back to normal moisture readings. This step cannot be shortened with chemistry.
We treat the structure and the room once it is dry.
If a damp smell remains, we carry out ozone treatment.
We confirm the moisture readings are normal and the premises can be finished.
To be clear: we do not do plumbing repairs or redecoration. Our work is inspection, assessment and removal of affected materials, drying, disinfection and odour removal — that is, getting the premises to a state where renovation can safely begin.
If the case is insured, we prepare a description of what we found and what we did after the inspection. A practical tip: photograph the situation before any cleaning — afterwards it can no longer be proved.
If the water came from the neighbours, a report from the building manager on the cause of the incident is useful as well. Our description is a technical document covering findings and moisture readings — it does not replace the insurer's assessment, but it is usually where the conversation starts.
Treatment after flooding from €90. The final price depends on the floor area, the volume of affected materials and whether drying is needed. We set the exact price after the inspection.
Depending on the structure and the amount of water, anything from a few days to several weeks. Concrete structures take longer. A meter tells you when it is ready, not the calendar.
Only once the moisture readings are normal. If you lay a covering over a damp base, mould will appear underneath and it will have to come up again.
That is a matter between you, the neighbours and the insurers. We provide a description of what we found and what we did, which you can use in that conversation.
Describe the situation — we will tell you whether treatment is needed at all, and which one.
Fill in the form — we will call you on the number you provide, ask a few clarifying questions and propose a solution.
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