Mucking 101: Braving The Post-Harvey Clean Up

HOUSTON, TX — Gloves, old clothes and a mask are necessities when it comes to “mucking” homes and removing debris that has more or less become a filthy sponge of contaminated materials, after being inundated with the stagnant floodwaters of Hurricane Harvey.

A lot of what comes out of a home that has been little more than a vessel for 12 inches to six feet of water for any length of time, is almost nearly contaminated with unknown forms of bacteria or chemicals, and it can make people very sick if they don’t protect themselves.

Richard Arterbury, executive director for Oregon-based Ocean Blue Project, saw that first-hand, when he stopped to help residents in River Plantation in Conroe after Labor Day. (Want to get daily news updates and other events going on in your area? Sign up for the free Conroe-Montgomery County Patch morning newsletter.)

Arterbury, who’d been in Dallas to visit his family when Hurricane Harvey impacted Texas, made his way to Houston to help residents with the clean up.

He spent a week helping residents in various neighborhoods with clean up, and mucking homes by removing the soggy and drenched materials from homes to curbsides.

"It was just really shocking to see the damage in my home state," he said.

Before leaving to return home, Arterbury went into River Plantation to help and almost immediately encountered a young girl in her 20s, and asked where he could help.

As he spoke with her, he noticed that she appeared to be getting ill.

“She started coughing, and then kind of started throwing up in front of me,” Arterbury told Patch.

The girl said she’d been sick several days during the clean up, and za he spoke with her, Arterbury said he noticed a strong odor that smelled like a chemical coming from one of the large debris piles along the street.

“There was debris that was drenched in gasoline, or some other kind of chemical, that probably didn’t belong in that pile. It was making people sick,” he said.

While coming into contact with chemicals can cause people to become ill, the more prevalent issue of mold, particularly black mold, can appear if a home that has been flooded has not been cleaned properly.

Brian Joyce, brand manager for Rust-Oleum, said mold will almost always appear after standing water is gone, and can grow on nearly any surface.

“Mold is a living organism, just like plants...It needs water, and it needs heat and sunlight and it needs a surface to grow on,” Joyce said.

The dangers of mold, Joyce told Patch, is that mold spores are airborne and can land on a surface, such as wood or drywall, where they can grow.

Most know that wet materials need to be removed quickly, but there are parts of a home that can’t be removed, such as the studs of the home, which will need to be treated with a bleach-based professional cleaning product such as Moldex, to kill mold spores and the mildew.

Joyce said many people who are doing their own mold remediation will often buy a cheaper product that removes the mildew stains, but those won’t kill the mold and mildew.

Joyce recommends using a cleaner that is EPA approved to kill mold and mildew, and to treat all those areas before beginning the rebuilding process.

“It’s important that consumers understand the difference between those two, and they can tell the difference by looking for the EPA registration number, that is by law, required to be on the front of the product,” he said. “This isn’t something you’d use to clean your bathroom. This is more of a pesticide than a cleaner.”

Joyce said the products for mold killing have been on the consumer market for several years and can be found at most hardware stores.

Home Remediation/Mucking 101:

If your home floods, and you decide to do the remediation,or mucking yourself, it’s important to take certain steps to make sure it’s done correctly:

• Remove carpet, sheetrock and insulation from the home, at least two feet above flood line.
• Do Not Mix chemicals with wet debris
• Use protective measures, such as goggles, rubber gloves, rubber boots, and a mask, preferably one with a ventilator.
• Do not touch your face or eyes when cleaning contaminated materials .
• Always wash our hands, or any other part of your body that has come into contact with contaminated materials, very thoroughly
• Once a surface is cleared of wet materials, clean with a mold killing disinfectant, and allow the surface to to thoroughly dry.
• Mops or buckets used for remediation should be disinfected or thrown away.
• Once the surfaces have been thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, homeowners can begin rebuilding.

Image: HOUSTON, TX - SEPTEMBER 01: Family and friends help clean up after flood water inundated a home as the family begins the process of rebuilding after torrential rains caused widespread flooding during Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey on September 1, 2017 in Houston, Texas. Harvey, which made landfall north of Corpus Christi on August 25, dumped around 50 inches of rain in and around areas of Houston and Southeast Texas. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

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