Mud Out: Finding Help After A Flood

Mudout

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Mud-out is a term used by volunteer groups to describe cleaning up a house after flooding. You may hear different disaster relief teams refer to it in different ways. Some groups will refer to it as muckout, others will say flood recovery or debris clean up, and you’ll see it written as mudout, mud out, or mud-out. (To not offend anyone and to drive our editor crazy, we’ll use a mixture of all of all the variations!) The teams will come in, clean out the flood damage, and leave you with a clean slate to restore your home.  

Baptist Disaster Relief is one of the largest volunteer groups that use mud-out to describe the flood recovery process. Their volunteer teams are hard to miss with their bright yellow shirts! P.S. Check out the backs of their shirts to see what state they come from. It may surprise you how many states have responded! Samaritan’s Purse (orange shirts) uses the term mud-out too. Team Rubicon (gray shirts) refers to it as muck out.  

Is mud-out only for mud?

Unlike the name suggests, mud-out does not simply mean scooping mud out of a home. Mud-out encompasses most of the flood recovery process. It is a dirty job. 

Fun Fact: I’ve done disaster relief and mud-outs for almost 10 years. Germany (just this past year) was the first time I moved any significant amount of mud. The flash flooding picked up a lot of sediment and pushed about 8 inches of mud into everyone’s basements.   

What can a volunteer mud-out team do?

A mud-out team can remove contaminated contents from your home and bring them to the curb, or dumpster if you have one. Teams can complete most of the demolition and manual labor that needs to be completed before you can renovate your home. Having this done by a volunteer team can save you thousands of dollars.

Most of a mud-out involves removing items FEMA and the CDC list that you can’t clean sufficiently.

These include:

  • Furniture
  • Appliances
  • Tile
  • Carpet
  • Nails
  • Drywall
  • Insulation
  • Kitchen cabinets
  • Ceilings
  • Bathrooms

Other services 

  • Spray to kill mold (Shockwave)

What can’t a volunteer mud-out team do?

While you can always check with organizations, most can’t provide these services: 

  • Repair structural damage 
  • Work in a condemned or structurally unsound building (holes in the floor can be okay)
  • Remove debris from the site

Many nonprofit and volunteer organizations respond to communities damaged by flooding. The amount of damage by the flood and media attention will often determine the number of volunteer groups that respond. 

How do you get help from volunteer mud out teams?

There are several ways to sign up for help. Religious organizations often work through the local church. Try reaching out to your church staff and see if they know of teams in the area.

About three to seven days in, as the organizations become more organized, they’ll often have a public number or website set up to take new work requests. 

Some communities host a MARC (Multi Agency Resource Center) within one to three weeks after a disaster. This is a group of multiple agencies that come together to help others after disasters. Some organizations that may be at a MARC include Red Cross, Salvation Army, Baptist Disaster Relief, FEMA (later in the response), and state emergency management. If the resource you need isn’t here, someone that knows who you need probably is.

Once you’re on the mud-out list…

After you’re on a mud-out list, someone from the team may come out to assess your home before the full team shows up. They will determine if they can work on your house. If they can, they’ll have you sign a paper allowing them to work on your property and releasing them from liability.

You can sign up for help from several teams. Volunteer organizations can seldom promise to complete a job. They work hard and fast to finish as many as they can, but they don’t always make it to each one.

When a team has cleaned your home, call the other teams you signed up with and let them know another group finished it. This makes their list more manageable and keeps it up to date. Some cities will run the complete operation off one comprehensive list.

What are the advantages of getting mud-out help?

Mud-out teams will get you to a great restarting place. Homes will often be “taken down to the studs” during a mud-out job. They will not restore your home to its original condition, but it will be clean and ready to rebuild.

Volunteer flood recovery teams can save you thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars in repair costs.

After extensive flooding, paid recovery teams won’t have enough staff to help everyone who needs it. Volunteers can provide additional manpower to the affected community.

Once a team completes the job, a contractor should be able to come in and start replacing the insulation, drywall, and other items without having to clean up anything else. 

Are there disadvantages?
Mud-out teams are made up of volunteers ready to help. You’ll get a mix of extremely experienced help and first time volunteers. Volunteers aren’t perfect.

Despite their best effort, miscommunications can happen, pipes can break, and countertops can crack. However, that happens to anyone, even the professionals.

Why does my house need to be “taken down to the studs”?

building after mud out
A building taken “down to the studs” by a volunteer mud out team

A team will remove all the drywall, nails and insulation and leave only the studs. When a house floods, the drywall is saturated with water and contaminants. The studs and insulation behind the wall will hold on to the moisture and cause mold.

Drywall and insulation removal allows the studs to be exposed and dry out. The team can also clean the studs with mold killing products (like Shockwave) to prevent future mold regrowth. 

Why do I need to clean up everything?

When a home floods after a natural disaster, the water is not clean water from your faucet. It is also not just rainwater. This water has come from lakes, streams, and rivers. When these flood, they pick up contaminants from other areas. These contaminants may come from sewage plants, farmland, cow pastures, manure pits, and chemical plants.

Mold can hide behind cabinets and walls. Removing them allows everything to dry out properly and keeps things from molding in the future.

Should I just wait for help?

No. Being on a list doesn’t guarantee help will make it to you. Many things can affect help from reaching your home. Enlisting enough volunteers can be difficult in some responses, or there could be too many homes for the organization to get to in a reasonable amount of time. 

If you are able-bodied, begin the cleanup process as soon as possible. Volunteer teams typically prioritize their list. Teams will place the elderly and handicapped first on the list. If you can do the work yourself, start with what you know needs to be done. Look for more information on this below.

What comes next?

After the team removes the water damage from your home, the rebuild process can begin. Some disaster relief teams help with rebuilding. However, only a small percent of homes will be worked on by a volunteer rebuild team. Rebuilding requires skilled labor, construction materials, and a lot more time and attention to detail. 

Before you start the rebuild process, take a moment to consider if your home is likely to flood in the coming months. Is another hurricane on the way? Was a levy breached during a flood and expected to take a while to be repaired? If the answer is yes, you may want to hold off. Listen to local experts. 

Is this a scam?

Disasters create a perfect opportunity for scammers. Volunteer teams will not ask for money or donations. Be wary of anyone that comes individually saying, “Oh, I work with them and they want me to…” If they don’t have the right logo and ID, check into the story more. 

If something seems off, go with your gut until you have more information and can make a better decision. 

Where do I start after a flood?

We are working on a flood recovery article. You can join our email to be notified when it comes out. For now, here are some flood clean up articles to get you started.

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CDC Floods
EPA Fact Sheet: Flood Cleanup – Protecting Indoor Air Quality
CDC Clean Up Safely After a Disaster

Cleaning up after a flood involves a lot of work. You need to have the right equipment and know how to clean up correctly so you do not have problems later. The CDC provides a lot of recommendations. We will cover these throughout the flood recovery article. 

A New Phase

As mud-out and recovery teams move into the area, it can be a sign of hope after a long week of dread. The process takes time. Unfortunately, the process will involve a lot of ups and downs. Recovery is challenging, but one step at a time, things will become just a little more normal. 

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