A Story From the Field: The Downstairs Music Room in Khun Thanakorn's Home

Khun Thanakorn is an office worker who has loved music since his school days. He lives in a two-storey townhouse in the Sena Nikhom area of Chatuchak with his wife and their ten-year-old daughter. The small back room on the ground floor has been turned into the family music room. Foam acoustic panels line the walls and the floor is carpeted. There is an upright piano his daughter practises on every evening, three acoustic guitars and two electric guitars hanging on wall hooks, an amplifier, a cabinet full of spare strings and sheet music, and the wooden case that holds his wife's very first violin.

On the night the rain kept falling for hours and the canal drains could not keep up, water rose in the soi faster than anyone expected. Khun Thanakorn managed to carry the amplifier and the electric guitars upstairs, but there was no way to lift an upright piano weighing a few hundred kilograms in time. Water entered the music room to about knee height and stayed for four days. The piano's legs and lower body stood in water, the carpet soaked through, and the lowest row of acoustic panels filled up like sponges.

When the water finally receded, the room that had been the family's favourite corner smelled so musty that they had to hold their breath. The carpet had turned dark under a thin layer of mud. The bottom acoustic panels were speckled with greenish-black mold. The lower panel of the piano had swollen, and several keys stuck down when pressed. The acoustic guitar hanging lowest had water marks on its body, and a damp, stale smell rose from the violin case the moment it was opened.

His daughter stood looking at the piano and asked, "Will I still be able to practise in time for the end-of-year recital, Dad?" Khun Thanakorn could not answer yet. He did not know whether to start with the instruments or the room, or what he could safely do himself and what needed an expert.

Why a Home Music Room Is One of the Hardest Rooms to Recover

Music rooms are designed to control sound, and many of the features that make them sound good are exactly the ones that make them hard to dry and easy for mold to colonise.

• Acoustic materials soak up water and humidity. Foam panels, sponge and fabric-wrapped wall treatments absorb a lot of water and dry slowly, giving mold an ideal place to grow.
• Carpets and soft flooring hold the mud inside. A flooded carpet keeps mud, germs and moisture locked in its fibres and in the underlay beneath.
• Music rooms are often sealed. Rooms built to keep sound in usually have few windows, or keep them closed, so air hardly moves and humidity lingers longer than anywhere else in the house.
• Instruments are made from moisture-sensitive materials. Wood, felt, leather, glue and metal parts can all be damaged by water and by days of high humidity.
• Cases trap dampness. Instrument cases lined with velvet or plush easily collect moisture and musty smells.
• Electrical equipment is in the room. Amplifiers, extension leads and cables that sat in water must be checked by an electrician or audio technician before anyone uses them.

Recovering a music room is therefore two jobs. One is the instruments, which need assessment and repair by qualified technicians. The other is the room, which must be clean, dry and disinfected before any repaired instrument comes back.

How Floodwater and Humidity Affect Different Instruments

Every instrument reacts to water in its own way. You do not need to become an expert, but understanding the basics helps you describe the damage to a technician and explains why quick, careful action matters.

Upright and grand pianos. A piano is a large wooden cabinet full of felt, cloth, glue and thousands of small moving parts. When the lower body sits in water, the wood can swell, felt can absorb moisture, and keys may stick or respond slowly. Metal parts may begin to rust. Even the parts above the water line can be affected by days of very high humidity in a closed room. Only a piano technician can judge what can be dried, adjusted or replaced, which is why the first call should be to them rather than to a general repair shop.

Acoustic guitars, violins and other wooden string instruments. These are made from thin, carefully shaped wood held together with glue. Water and sudden changes in humidity can cause swelling, warping, lifting bridges, loosened joints and cracks as the wood dries too quickly. That is why heat and direct sunlight are so harmful: they dry the outside of the wood faster than the inside.

Electric guitars and basses. The wooden body may cope better than an acoustic instrument, but the electronics inside, such as pickups, switches, potentiometers and output jacks, can corrode. A technician will usually want to inspect and clean the electronics before the instrument is played through an amplifier again.

Amplifiers, pedals and other electrical gear. These carry real electrical risk if they are powered up while moisture remains inside. Leave them unplugged until a qualified audio technician or electrician has checked them, however dry they look from the outside.

Cases, gig bags and accessories. Plush-lined cases and padded gig bags hold moisture and odor long after the instrument has been taken out. Strings, cables, picks and sheet music that sat in floodwater are usually not worth saving and can be replaced cheaply.

Seeing it laid out this way also makes the division of work clear. Each instrument goes to the person who knows it best, while the room that held them all is cleaned, disinfected and deodorised so the instruments return to a healthy space.

What a Musical Family Is Up Against

Health. People spend long stretches in a music room, breathing deeply while they sing or play wind instruments. Mold spores and musty air in that room can bring on coughing, sneezing, a blocked nose and allergy or asthma symptoms. The floodwater and mud that flowed in may also have carried germs from the drains, with risks of diarrhoeal illness, skin infections and leptospirosis during clean-up. Gloves, boots and a good mask matter.

Cost. Many instruments are expensive, and some carry sentimental value that no price can capture. Mistakes made in the first days, such as blasting a guitar with hot air or plugging in a damp amplifier, can make the damage much worse.

Time and plans. A child preparing for an exam or recital, a parent who teaches lessons at home, or a musician rehearsing for a gig all lose something when the room is out of action. Every week of delay is a week of lost practice.

Joy at home. A room that used to fill with music every evening becomes silent and smells stale. That sense of loss is often heavier than people expect, especially for children.

Valuable Instruments: Send Them to Technicians, and Here Is What You Can Do

To be completely clear: WHD does not repair or treat musical instruments. A piano should be assessed by a piano technician. Guitars and string instruments should go to a luthier or guitar repair technician. Amplifiers and electrical gear should be checked by an audio technician. WHD looks after the room: walls, floor, ceiling and empty cabinets, making them clean, disinfected and free of musty odors.

What you can do straight away

• Switch off power to the music room at the breaker, and do not plug in any amplifier or electrical equipment that was in the water until a technician has checked it.
• Photograph every instrument and the condition of the room as a record.
• Move guitars, the violin and other small instruments out of the flooded room to a shaded, airy place that is not too hot.
• Open damp instrument cases and leave them open in the shade rather than shutting them.
• Call a piano technician quickly so they can advise on how the piano should be moved or protected.

What you should not do

• Do not dry wooden instruments in direct sunlight or with a hot hair dryer, which can crack or warp the wood.
• Do not spray disinfectant or alcohol directly onto an instrument.
• Do not open up the piano or force stuck keys yourself.
• Do not power up amplifiers or effects pedals that were in the water, even if they look dry.

Technicians can tell you which instruments can be repaired, which need parts replaced, and how to dry them without damaging the wood. For a piano that is hard to move, the piano technician should assess it first. Then the family, the technician and our team agree whether it will be moved out or fully wrapped and protected while the room is treated. Our team never fogs or ozone-treats the instruments themselves.

Make a Quick Instrument Inventory

A short list makes it much easier to arrange the right technician for each item and to track what has gone where.

• Piano: how high the water reached, whether keys stick, and any swelling in the lower panels.
• Acoustic guitars and string instruments: which ones touched water, any lifting bridges, swelling or cracks, and whether the cases were wet.
• Electric guitars, amplifiers and pedals: which items were submerged and which stayed dry, so the audio technician can prioritise.
• Accessories: cables, stands, sheet music and spare strings. Many of these are cheap to replace and can simply be discarded if they were soaked.

Put a small label on each instrument with the date it left the room and the technician it went to. When the room is ready, you will know exactly what is coming back and when.

A Practical Order of Work for the First Week

1. Day one: cut the power, check safety, photograph everything and move the portable instruments out.
2. Days one and two: contact the piano technician and the guitar or string technician, and arrange for the amplifiers to be checked.
3. Days two to four: pull up the soaked carpet and underlay, remove the waterlogged acoustic panels, shovel out the mud and open the room to dry.
4. After the room is clean: book a survey for disinfection fogging and ozone treatment, timed around the piano technician's advice.
5. Before reinstalling: fit new flooring and acoustic panels only after the room has been treated and is properly dry.

This order protects the instruments first, treats the room second, and avoids covering hidden mold with brand-new panels and carpet.

Why the Usual Fixes Fall Short in a Music Room

• Pouring bleach on carpets and acoustic panels. It does not reach mold deep inside foam or carpet underlay, and the fumes are unpleasant and irritating in a closed room.
• Running fans all day. Fans help with drying, but they also spread mold spores throughout the house.
• Burning incense or spraying air freshener. The room smells better briefly, but the mustiness returns because the source is still in the carpet and walls.
• Sticking new acoustic panels over the old ones. Mold and moisture stay hidden underneath and soon spread into the new panels.
• Bringing repaired instruments back too soon. If the room is still damp and full of spores, repaired instruments are at risk of damage all over again.

The Solution: WHD Treats the Music Room With Disinfection Fogging and Ozone

Once the instruments have been moved out or protected as the technicians advise, and the soaked carpet and panels have been removed, the music room is ready for WHD's disinfection service and ozone treatment service.

Disinfection fogging uses CHEMGENE HLD4H through an ultra-low-volume (ULV) fogger. The fine mist reaches walls, corners, the floor, the ceiling and cabinet gaps, reducing germs left on surfaces by the floodwater.

Ozone treatment uses a professional ozone generator in the sealed room. It helps deal with mold spores in the air and on surfaces and breaks down the odor molecules trapped in a closed space, which is the main problem in most practice rooms.

Our step-by-step process for a music room

1. Site survey. We check the flood line, visible mold, and the condition of the carpet, acoustic panels, walls and ceiling.
2. Coordinating around the instruments. We confirm every instrument has been moved out, or that a piano which cannot be moved has been wrapped and protected as the piano technician advised.
3. Strip-out and clean-up advice. We advise removing soaked carpet and panels, clearing mud and drying the room.
4. Disinfection fogging. We fog the walls, floor, ceiling, empty cabinets and every hidden corner.
5. Ozone treatment. We seal the room and treat it at a controlled dose and duration for its size. Electronics and ozone-sensitive rubber items are removed or covered beforehand.
6. Ventilation. Doors and windows are opened and the room is ventilated thoroughly before anyone re-enters.
7. Re-check. We check the smell and former mold spots and advise on humidity control before the instruments come back.

10 Reasons to Disinfect and Ozone-Treat Your Music Room After a Flood

1. It removes the musty smell trapped in a closed, poorly ventilated room, with our ozone treatment service.
2. It reduces germs on floors and walls touched by floodwater, through our disinfection service.
3. Fine mist reaches corners, the ceiling and cabinet gaps that are hard to wipe.
4. It reduces mold spores before repaired instruments return to the room.
5. It helps singers and wind players breathe more comfortably while they practise.
6. It helps children get back to practice sooner and more safely.
7. It uses CHEMGENE HLD4H for surface disinfection.
8. We plan with the family and the instrument technicians so the instruments are never affected.
9. It stops the musty smell spreading from the music room to the rest of the house.
10. You receive long-term humidity advice for the room. Read more about ozone odor and chemical residue removal.

Keeping the Music Room Healthy for the Long Term

Instruments and music rooms share the same enemy: humidity that stays high for too long. A few habits protect both.

• Run a dehumidifier during the rainy season and keep an inexpensive humidity meter in the room.
• Choose acoustic treatments that can be removed and cleaned, and leave a small air gap behind them.
• Raise cabinets, amplifiers and cases off the floor where possible.
• Store spare instruments in their cases on higher shelves, but open the cases from time to time to air them.
• Have a simple flood plan for next time: who moves which instrument, where it goes, and how the piano will be protected.

A Word From the Family

"At first I was going to dry the guitars with a hair dryer myself. I'm glad the team told me to take them to a technician first. The piano technician came, looked at the piano and helped us plan what to do. Once the room was fogged and ozone-treated, the musty smell was gone. My daughter asks every day when her piano is coming back."

— Khun Thanakorn (a story from the field), Chatuchak

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can WHD ozone-treat my guitar or piano?
A: No. WHD does not treat instruments. Guitars, pianos and other instruments should be assessed and repaired by qualified technicians. Our team treats the room and its surfaces only.

Q: The upright piano cannot be moved out of the room. What happens?
A: The piano technician should assess it first. Then we plan together whether it will be moved or fully wrapped and protected while the room is treated. Our team never fogs or ozone-treats the piano itself.

Q: Do soaked carpets and acoustic panels have to be thrown away?
A: Materials that absorbed water and have deep mold, such as acoustic foam and carpet underlay, usually need to be removed and replaced because they are very hard to dry completely.

Q: Can the family stay at home during ozone treatment?
A: The treated room must have no people, pets or plants inside. We will assess whether other parts of the house need to be kept clear, and the room must be ventilated properly before re-entry.

Q: When can the instruments come back into the room?
A: When the technicians confirm they are ready, and the room has been fogged, ozone-treated and ventilated. A dehumidifier helps keep the room at a suitable humidity level afterwards.

Q: The amplifier looks dry now. Can I plug it in?
A: No. Always have an audio technician or electrician check it first, because moisture left in the circuits can be dangerous.

Q: Do you serve areas near Chatuchak?
A: Yes. Send us your location and a short description of the room, and we will arrange a survey for Chatuchak and nearby districts.

Get Your Music Room Ready for the Music to Come Home

Talk to the WHD team about disinfection fogging and ozone treatment for your home music room or practice room in Chatuchak and nearby areas.

Book Ozone Treatment – Click Here

See Disinfection Service – Click Here

Call 065-556-6294 · LINE @whd268 · Email worldhealthdisinfection@gmail.com

Related Links

• Residential ozone disinfection
• Ozone odor and chemical residue removal
• Master Ozone Generator
• All articles

Health reference: World Health Organization (WHO): Floods · Department of Disease Control, Thailand