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My dishwasher leaked in the night of Aug 1, the water went down into the basement ceiling, and went out to the exterior on top of the basement window. I noticed the leak the next morning. There might be water leak before I bought this house one year ago, but I'm not sure.

Multiple fans are now being used to dry the cabinet and the structures in the ceiling, 3 50-pint dehumidifiers and one AC are used to dehumidify the basement room (RH 35%), and one air purifier to reduce the dust in the air.

I wonder if I can DIY the water mitigation or I must hire some professional. My goal is to prevent structural damage and mold. Is air dry enough? Is desiccant needed? I saw somewhere on YouTube a spray is applied after drying. Is it necessary? What spray I shall use?

Here are some photos.

Where dishwasher was installed. Right side is slightly lower than the left. enter image description here

Basement enter image description here

Outside enter image description here

By the window of the basement enter image description here

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Inside of the basement ceiling, around dishwasher, from right to left enter image description here

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bobby_yan
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2 Answers2

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The general rule on water damage is

  1. Make sure no additional water gets in
  2. Dry stuff out
  3. If damaged, do your best to replace it

Most of the problems with water damage are long-term. Wood will rot, mold can grow, etc. Wood can discolor with water exposure. That's normal and does not indicate a problem by itself.

Drywall is a more middle-of-the-road problem. If it's dried quickly, you can usually fix it with paint (put a layer of primer on just to be sure, however). If it absorbs too much water, it will distort and need replacing.

Your ceiling tile is clearly shot. The water softened the gypsum and made it sag under the weight. It will also likely stain. I would highly suggest replacing it.

The mold should go away on its own. There are mold killing products out there if you want to directly knock down any for your own peace of mind, but just remember mold spores live in all air. Ventilation and drying usually does the trick by itself. You can use desiccant products like Damp Rid to hasten the drying if need be, but a simple fan can do the same thing.

Machavity
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Remove all the stuff (like the false ceiling and the wood paneling/drywall) that is wet and can be replaced easily as its a barrier to let the structure dry. The structural wood is wet, and wetrot/dryrot is your worst enemy. dryrot Kind of a misnomer as the fungal spores are active when moist and eat the cellulose in the wood, which is what gives is strength. The wood becomes soft when this happens and will cause major $$.

Stuff that is an alcohol/glycol based fungicide is what you want. I made my own boric acid/borax glycol mix that is way cheaper than what you can buy, but suggest getting Boracare or Lignum. The wood looks like it may have fungal spores already, so the water has woken them up for a feast. Some of the water cleanup people are hacks and some really know their stuff, but you should do something about it.

ChucktheDuck
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