Sanitizing After Water Damage in the United States

As the home starts over, no, and anyone who says yes is selling. As the home starts over, treatment is warranted when the water carried contamination, when it sat long enough to grow, or when the occupants are vulnerable.

As the home starts over, an EPA registered product matched to the surface and the situation. To put this behind you, the common classes are chlorine based, quaternary ammonium, hydrogen peroxide based, phenolic and botanical thymol.

On the way back to normal, chlorine based products are cheap and fast but harsh on finishes and metals.

On the way back to normal, it is the period the product has to stay visibly wet on a surface to work, stated on the label.

On the way back to normal, no. On the way back to normal, most product labels do not list fogging as an approved application method, and the label is the legal instruction.

To put this behind you, no, and this is the most important limit to understand. As the home starts over, porous material that absorbed contaminated water still leaves the building, because product cannot reach through the material to what is inside it.

As the home starts over, not at all. For a clean slate, it adds moisture instead of removing it. For a clean slate, drying is a separate stage with air movers, dehumidifiers and daily readings, and a treated surface that stays wet will grow again.