Basement Sub Floor Question

[malamilia]

I have a subfloor( actually I had 1 x 2 spaced at 16in OC with styrofoam insulation between and covered with plywood) installed in my basement 12 years ago. I installed a carpet on the floor 6 years ago. Last summer, the basement was flooded through one of the windows. I had all the carpet wet. I mopped a lot of the water on the carpet and purchased a dehumidifier which I ran for the rest of the summer. For the first couple of days a lot of water was removed by the unit.

My question is, should I have removed the carpet and the subfloor to avoid mold problem ? I intend to run the dehumidifier all summer again.

Thanks.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Hard so say. If it is dry and you have no mold, you are OK. If there was contamination from other stuff in the water, you may have a mess lurking under the subfloor. Only one way to be sure.

[buffalobill]

yes. see more at:

and see: see how to redo the basement in the future at:

[dnoyeB]

You shoudl have at least rented a carpet cleaner and sucked the water out of the carpet.

[malamilia]

Thanks for the info - very helpful. I did tried to suck most of the water out and then followed by running the dehumidifier. The dehumidifier is now a permanent fixture in my basement. The subfloor is not on my list of renovation this winter, however, I'll tackle it during the summer.

I lifted an edge and it looks ok, but I know that's not enough. I am c>yes. see more at:

[dnoyeB]

I use humidifiers, especially in this cold winter weather. the A/C works as a dehumidifier in the summer anyway. So overall, you should be maintaining a similar relative humidity level throughout the year. Home products and installations should be designed to deal with normal relative humidity levels. So you should not experience mold growth due to humidity under normal circumstances. A flooded basement is not normal though.

[malamilia]

Yes, I did sucked as much of the water out as possible before buying the dehumidifier. The drying was too slow with the carpet cleaner and wanted to avoid any smelling. The dehumidifier worked great , no smells at all and the drying was fast too.

Thanks.