Dear George, will KILZ kill the mold?

Dear George,

I had a water leak for 2 1/2 months. There was mold on wood-work and drywall. They sprayed KILZ on the drywall and replaced the trim. They tell me that will kill the mold. Is this true? This water leak was from my air conditioner. Should ducts be checked?

Signed,
Wondering

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Dear Wondering,

It is hard to make an accurate analysis without actually seeing the property. I would think that the first thing to do is to repair any and all leaks and completely dry and clean any areas where water accumulated or was trapped; Remove damaged construction materials and then do the final repairs. If drywall is moldy, I would generally say the damaged area needs to be replaced–mostly because mold does not grow only on the surface of materials but grows into the drywall structure itself. Unless this is referring to some other product, KILZ is simply a primer that resists the growth of mildew, but its best use would be to cover clean, new drywall as a preventative, rather than a cover-up.

I would agree also that, yes, your ducts should be checked–and anywhere else the water could have permeated.

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