How Long Does It Take For Mold To Grow After Water Damage. To be able to prevent mold problems after a water incident, you need to know not only how long it takes for mold to form, but also how quickly it can affect your household items and materials: Typically, mold begins to grow and spread throughout your home within three days of the water damage.
But generally, it can take 24 to 48 hours for mold to begin to grow in your home. If you want to act fast enough to prevent mold from spreading after suffering water damage, you need to understand how growth works and the speed at which it can spread. You also need to consider the availability and amount of ingredients needed for mold development.
The microorganisms that turn into mold colonies are always in the air around us, so mold growth will start quickly—within 24 to 48 hours of water exposure.
Mold does not take long to grow, so the sooner you can dry up the water, the better you can prevent unwanted growth. There is some conflicting information out there about how fast the mold can take hold and begin to grow. Under ideal conditions (optimal temperature and level of humidity), it takes 24 to 48 hours for mold to germinate and grow. How fast can mold grow?