Contaminants can run at a very high level where moisture tends to lurk anyway. Whether beneath wall spaces, under paneling, or in the sub floor. The most common of these are Aspergillus/Penicillium, Chaetomium, Mycelial fragments and Ascospores. There may be others. At any rate, the point is to get the microbes out not only quickly, but efficiently. You don't want the unwanted critters to hang around. They love to eat away, infect and migrate to other places in the basement and in the home in general.
Two problematic areas of concern are the carpeting and the drywall. Since, both are porous (permeable by water and air) they can take on heavy loads of contaminants that can sit there and fester to the point of causing the environment and the family sickness. It is quite unfortunate when this happens. And when it gets to this point the best thing to do immediately is to get a professional in there to remove it. Afterwards, it is a good idea to get a proper third party air quality test done to make sure that the matter of contaminants has been dealt with and the environment is now safe to function. A professional mold remediation and removal company is trained to accomplish this.
Many customers spend hundreds of dollars on systems that are supposed to prevent these things from happening. One customer spent $10,000 on a system that was to flush water away from the outside of the home's foundation area. We were there to clean up the mess and get the basement back in order as the process they installed didn't work. Others have had waterproofing services rendered. Only to find out it didn't really fix or help the problem. Should you put these things in place? That is your personal choice regarding them. However, know that when water is rushing, overflowing and inundating a structure, it knows no boundaries. It doesn't know and doesn't care what system(s) you've administered. It's going to do its thing and that is to travel in a T format. Straight across the floor and down any cracks or crevices it finds. And after a while, it will evaporate into the air causing buckling of drywall, wood flooring, wood trim, and anything else porous it can get its grip on.
There is no fool-proof method to prevent it from happening. But, when it does, call the professionals of The CleanUP Guys in Chicago and suburbs to get the job done right!
