Food contamination/blood soaked wood????

[Jagno]

During and following Hurricaine Rita my freezer was pulled open. When the mandatory evac was lifted 2 weeks later I came home to what appeared to be a mass murder in my house from meat, seafood and poultry that literally exploded from the heat. I have been cleaning blood and mold for a week now. The problem is that this blood soaked into my wooden floors, cabinets and seems to have settled underneath a few walls. Even with peroxide I can't seem to get that smell out. Any ideas or suggestions? My main concern right now is bacterial contamination. How would I get this tested and who does this type of testing?

[zoeyann]

My suggestion tear out whatever you can. I know this may not be entirely possible right now however because I just can not tear out my walls with nothing to put there right now and we are just living with it (even though I know from what was outside I can not imagine the inside). So what ever you can not tear out clorox and lysol like everyday. Even if you can not get all of the mold out of the inside of the walls it will help somewhat with the smell. Febreeze will also help. And the sooner you get the furniture out the better. And keep antihistimines on hand as well as antibiotic cream. My kids and I have been in doctors offices for resiptory and skin irritations on a regular basis. This is not expert advice it is just the best I can do.

[Rob Beaux]

There have been studies done on wooden cutting boards. It has shown that any residue left behind is affected by the wood with some sort of antibacteria properties. So the bacteria are gone if the wood has been cleaned normally.

My advice is to clean it as well as you can and change out what is easily done. The blood has lots of iron in it asn will stain some woods black. Especailly woods that are high in tannins like walnut or oak. You are probably not seeing blood but rather the wood stained. There is a product called "wood bleach" that can be used to remove the stains. However it will remove all the color from the wood.

My advice is to post your question on this site http://www.woodcentral.com and someone there will be able to help you better as to where to get the products needed. I am a wood worker and the forumns on that site will help you more than what I can remember about the issues with wood stains.

[wayoutfront]

During and following Hurricaine Rita my freezer was pulled open. When the mandatory evac was lifted 2 weeks later I came home to what appeared to be a mass murder in my house from meat, seafood and poultry that literally exploded from the heat. I have been cleaning blood and mold for a week now. The problem is that this blood soaked into my wooden floors, cabinets and seems to have settled underneath a few walls. Even with peroxide I can't seem to get that smell out. Any ideas or suggestions? My main concern right now is bacterial contamination. How would I get this tested and who does this type of testing?

Call you insurance company and see if you have coverage for that..

before you tear out stuff take photos...

[bevgo]

many years ago they used turkey blood to stain furniture, especially dark wood. Some antique furniture was done with this. I have a Victrola that I got when I was 18--long time ago-lol- thet was stained with blood. Wood bleach will help some but will not remove all the stain. The good thing is once dried the bacteria dies. The smell on the other hand penetrates everything porus such as cloth and sheetrock and will remain for a while. The febreez suggestion was a good one but you may have to use is many times to totally eliminate the smell. Of course the bacteria causing the smell may be trapped under the floorboards and may not be dried out yet. If you cannot tear out then it is just a waiting game.

Good luck!