NOAA figures for Des Moines
Des Moines, about 30 miles south of Ames, is the station nearest Ames in NOAA's engineering weather data. Its elevation is 965 feet. For Des Moines, that data gives a 1% summer design temperature of 91°F with a mean coincident wet-bulb temperature of 75°F, and a 99% winter design temperature of -3°F. It also lists, for Des Moines, a 50-year basic wind speed of 90 mph (3-second gust at 33 feet), a 100-year rainfall rate of 3.5 inches per hour and about 60 freeze-thaw cycles in an average year. All of these are Des Moines figures.
How this guide is laid out
Finding mold can set off a rush of scrubbing and tearing out. Recovery can go more smoothly when each step waits its turn. The sections below follow a rough timeline: the first hour, the first day, the first week, the work itself, the look before closing, the rebuild and the months after. The time labels are markers for the order of things, not deadlines.
The first hour: find the water and stop it
Picture the house in layers around the damp spot. If a shower, toilet or sink is on the floor overhead, suspect its drain, its supply, its seal or its pan. If a window is a few feet away, its caulk, sill or flashing goes on the list. If a furnace or air handler stands in the attic or a closet nearby, check the pan under it and the line that carries condensate away. A wet stripe along the bottom of an outside wall can point outdoors, toward the soil or a downspout.
When a supply line is leaking, closing the valve at the fixture, or the main valve, can stop the flow for now. The lasting repair belongs to a trade: plumbing, roofing, gutters, heating and cooling, or windows, depending on the source. Ask that trade for a note on what it found and fixed. A wall that keeps getting wet can grow back what was cleaned off it.
The first day: dry, protect and photograph
- Once an electrician or your own check says the room's power is safe, close up the windows and start a dehumidifier.
- Soak up puddles with towels or a wet vacuum.
- Get wet rugs, cushions, cardboard and paper out to a dry spot.
- Keep fans from blowing across any visible growth.
- Gloves, eye protection and a well-fitting disposable respirator go on before you spend time in the room; children and pets stay out.
Then make a record while everything is still where it was. Shoot photos from across the room and up close, plus video, of the source, the swollen or stained materials, the growth and whatever belongings got wet. Keep a dated page of notes on what you noticed and each thing you did. If you might file a claim, call your insurer now: ask what it needs from you and whether it wants an adjuster to look before materials come out.
The first week: a written scope, then bids
This is the week to get the problem on paper. Ask for a scope that maps the growth, estimates its reach into the wall, floor or ceiling, names the moisture behind it and lists the removal and cleaning it calls for. Find out who is preparing that scope and what mold jobs they have handled. A scope written by someone who won't be doing the removal may carry less pull toward a larger job.
Send that same description to more than one remediation company and ask each to price exactly what it says. When the bids come back, compare how each one handles:
- closing off the work zone, and the way in and out of it;
- the filtered air machine and how it keeps the zone at negative pressure;
- bagging drywall, insulation and carpet before they leave the zone;
- studs, joists and subfloor that remain, and how they are cleaned and dried;
- the moisture target, who takes readings and how they are recorded;
- what you will be shown at the end.
Put one more question to every bidder: what state license or registration, if any, covers this work, and what is the number? Request copies of its liability coverage and workers' compensation, and find out whose workers will actually be in the house.
While the crew is working
The sealed zone is the crew's space while removal runs; leave the zipper shut and stay on your side of it. A quick end-of-day word from whoever is in charge, on what was bagged and what was cleaned, keeps you current, and pictures of the bare studs show what the wall was hiding. Opened walls can hold surprises. If more turns up than the scope listed, get the added work and its cost in writing first.
Drying, measured
A room that smells better can still be wet inside a wall. Ask who will take moisture readings, at which spots, and how the numbers will be written down while dehumidifiers and air movers run in the closed space. Ask what reading the plan treats as dry, and keep your own copy of the log as it fills in.
Before the wall closes
Before insulation or drywall returns, ask for a walk-through of the open cavity. You're looking for wood that is clean and dry, with nothing growing on it. Take pictures of your own and ask for the final meter readings on paper. Questions about exposure are for your doctor.
The rebuild
Closing the wall, hanging cabinets and laying floor again may be a job for another company under its own agreement. Ask that company which city permits apply and who will pull them, and collect its liability and workers' compensation papers as well.
The months after
- Spring and fall, empty the gutters by hand and add downspout extensions where water lands close to the house.
- When a big storm passes, carry a flashlight through the rooms: ceiling corners, window trim, the bottom edge of outside walls.
- Ask the heating and cooling technician to flush the condensate line and look at the pan on each visit.
- Mount a hygrometer by a light switch you use daily.
- Let the bath fan run until the mirror is clear, and follow its duct to see that it reaches outside.
- Glance into sink bases and behind the fridge and water heater on a regular routine.
- Sleeve exposed supply pipes in cold spaces with foam before winter.
One folder
Every piece of paper from this job, from the plumber's note to the last invoice, belongs in one place: scope, bids, contracts, meter log, pictures, receipts, letters to and from the insurer. Years from now, a buyer's question about the old stain can be answered by handing it across the table.