There are 3 important steps to preventing mold growth in your home.
1. Detect it
2. Remove the mold
3. Remediate the water source
Detect it
If you smell mold, you have mold. The first thing is finding the source of the smell. Once this is located and narrowed down to a relatively easy to inspect spot then you are ready for step two.
Remove the Mold
Removing mold can be very messy and even dangerous if there is a large amount of it. Areas of heavy mold growth over a few square feet should be removed under containment or at least by a mold professional. It is possible to clean mold off of surfaces that are not porous such as glass and plastic, but porous materials will not be possible to clean to a mold free level. Materials such as drywall, cloth, leather, shoes, basically any organic materials at all will not clean very easily. If these materials cannot be put in a deep cycle cleaning machine like a washer then there is little hope all the mold will be removed.
Remediate the Water Source
The removal of the actual source of the water is the primary goal in preventing mold growth. If the source of water is removed or cut off the mold will not continue to grow. It is true that mold will still remain alive after the water is gone but it will not continue to grow. This is also why removal of molded materials is so important. Many mold removal and mold remediation companies do not perform this crucial step and the mold only returns.