Air flow
One thing that mold spores need to begin to grow is time. If there is humid stagnant air for a long enough period of time, mold growth is inevitable. If you've lost power and the indoor humidity begins to reach levels above 60% relative humidity, cracking windows to allow a breeze to flow through the house can be enough to prevent any mold growth. Also, if you happen to have a battery-operated fan, now would be a clever time to use it — especially in areas where air flow is limited.
A clean house
This might be surprising to some, but the next necessity for mold to begin to grow is food. Mold eats cellulose-based organic material, and dust and dirt can provide enough food for mold to get its roots in. Dust and dirt also happen to settle in the exact locations mold spores do, which is horizontal surfaces — the top of your baseboards or picture frames, for example. If you keep your house clean, you're removing an easy target for mold growth.
Dehumidify
If you have a dehumidifier and a generator, great: use them if you're able to. For many who might not be so lucky, there are some natural ways to bring humidity down. One easy way is to remove indoor plants. There are also products you can purchase, like rock salt or DampRid, which you can pick up at a hardware store — simple, cheap, and great temporary tricks to keep humidity down.
Water damage
If water does enter your place of residence, it might be worth removing some drywall. For instance, if there are a couple of inches of water in a room that came in from flooding, removing 1–2 feet of drywall on the bottom portion can prevent any further damage. Just make sure you ALWAYS take lots of pictures. You'll want everything you've got if you plan on making any kind of insurance claim — and that includes pictures of damaged items as well.
Before evacuation
If you leave your home or evacuate, shut off the water supply to your house and take before pictures. You never know what condition your house will be in when you come back, and having pictures of what it looked like beforehand can really help if anything goes wrong, especially from a coverage standpoint. Shutting off your water also ensures that any water line going into your house will not have pressure behind it in the case where it cracks or breaks. Having years of remediation experience, we can't tell you how many times a homeowner called after coming home from an extended weekend to find their furniture floating. Trust us, it happens — so it's better to play it safe.
If a storm has already hit
An independent assessment will tell you what's actually growing and where, before repairs close everything up. Call (561) 632-6387 or request an inspection across Martin, Palm Beach, and Broward Counties.
Related resources
Need an independent inspection?
Safe Haven Inspections is an independent assessment team. Get an unbiased, lab-backed report across Martin, Palm Beach & Broward Counties.