People are surprised when I tell them the mold behind their wall may have started with a flood that happened before they ever bought the house. Here's the local history. FEMA's flood insurance program has paid 82 claims in ZIP code 17325 since 1978, about $2.6 million in all. The two big years were 1996, the January snowmelt flood, with 28 claims, and 2011 with 25. Adams County as a whole has 399 claims on record, and those are only the homes that carried flood insurance.
Why an old flood still matters
When a basement or first floor takes water, the visible stuff gets dried with fans and maybe a dehumidifier. What doesn't always get dried is the inside of the wall: the back of the drywall, the insulation, the bottom plate. In an older Gettysburg house with plaster over lath and stone behind it, water can sit in there for a long time, and mold doesn't need much more than that.
Signs a past flood left something behind
A musty smell that comes back every spring or after a heavy rain
Paint that bubbles or peels at the same height along a wall
Baseboards that pull away or feel soft
Stains that line up with an old water line
Allergy symptoms that ease up when you leave the house
Buying an older home in town?
Ask the seller straight out whether the property has ever had water in the basement or a flood claim. If the answer is yes, or the house was a rental or a flip, a mold inspection before closing is cheap insurance. Testing typically runs $300 to $1,000, which is a lot less than finding it after you've finished the basement.
If you've already found it, start with the water source, then the mold. That's how we approach Gettysburg mold remediation: find where the water came from, contain the area, remove what can't be cleaned, and have it tested clear at the end.
Josh "Mold Man" Jacobs, Mold Remediation in Gettysburg, (717) 420-1964