Do wet floors and baseboards always have to come up?

Post date: 2022-08-05 09:05:43

Water got into a basement room. Is it a given that the baseboards and floor have to come up, or can we prevent that by acting fast?

During heavy rain this morning some water got into a bedroom and bathroom in our basement. As soon as we noticed we fixed the problem (standing water outside) and mopped up the water inside. It was definitely standing for less than 4 hours based on when someone was last in that room vs when we soaked it up. The water was less than 1 centimeter deep. We immediately set up 5 fans and a residential humidifier in those rooms.

A water remediation company came by today and says we have to tear out any baseboards that show signs of water, as well as the entire vinyl plank floor that we put down last year and possibly some drywall. They say the floor has to go because it's on a plastic sheet (unsure if we could leave it if it were on bare concrete). I'm surprised - I thought they were going to bring in a dehumidifier so we wouldn't have to rip things up.

So is it a given that vinyl flooring, baseboards, and possibly drywall that got we always have to be torn out? Or is there a chance we dried them out quickly enough to not need that?

On a related note, more than 1 person has said that mold behind drywall is fine, like asbestos: it's fine if you don't disturb it. Is that really the case?

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