Harris County Texas

Homeland Security and Emergency Management

Hi guys, this is Reggie here with SBP. I want to talk to you guys today about Mucking and Gutting. Mucking and Gutting is a process that we do after a natural disaster, where we rid the house of water damaged materials and belongings.

First, I want to stress how important it is to get to the muck and gut phase. If you put this process off longer the more chance, the more likelihood that it is that you’re going to have more significant damage to your homes. Mold is going to grow faster and it’s going to increase the cost of the repairs.

Before you get started you want to make sure that your utilities are off. You want to make sure that your gas is off, the electricity is off, and your water supply is off to your house. This way you can assure that once you are doing the work, your minimizing the danger that you put yourself into.

So next, you want to clear all your belongings from the house. Anything that’s water damaged, anything that has mold on it, you want to make sure you put it to the curb, so it can be disposed of. Most likely after a flood your going to have mud left over in your house.

It’s important to get rid of this mud because there can be harmful contaminates left in it. Any sewage or just really harmful substances could be left in the mud. So, you want to shovel all that mud out into a wheelbarrow, take it out to the curb and dump it out.

Ok, once you got all the mud and water, you into the gut phase. We start off by removing any water damage trim and your doors and door casing. Any hardwood floors or laminate floors, vinyl floors more then likely are going to have to come up. When it comes to ceramic floors, check for cracks in the tile. Cracks in the tiles allows for the water to seep underneath. If you determine that this is the case, you’re going to have to pull up those floors.

So, after you remove all the water damage floors, you’re going to move on to dry wall. Keep in mind that dry wall can wick much like a paper towel. Water can travel up it. So, to start off with it we to like to remove 4 feet sheets. Removing 4 feet sheets ensures that you’re getting a lot out. You can look behind it and determine the water damage, the mold growth. And also, when you do the rebuild it’ll make it much easier. Dry wall comes in four feet sheets. So, when you go to replace it, it allows you to move faster.

Now you want to remove any water damaged insulation. When you remove your drywall, it is going to be easy to determine how wet your insulation is. It’s very likely that any appliances that are touching the ground are going to be damaged by the flood. You want to remove those appliances from your house.

Especially when it comes to fridges. If you lost power in the flood, its likely that any food that you had in your fridge its going to be toxic. Don’t open it, tape it shut, take it outside to be disposed of.

Before mold remediation there are some very important steps that you want to take.

First, you want to make sure that you thoroughly clean your house. Remove any drywall rubble, any debris that’s left over from muck and gut. Then you want to dry out your house. Increase air circulation through all means necessary, fans and open windows.

For more information on the muck and gut process and lots more visit sbpusa.org.