Flood Clean-Up and Restoration Process: 3 Facts You Should Know
It seems flooding is becoming the new normal in some areas of the United States. In the last eight years, large flooding events have increased in frequency, and climate change experts warn the trend will continue.
If you’ve experienced the damage that flooding causes, you don’t need anyone telling you how serious it can be. Hopefully, you never have to go through the restoration process after a flood.
But, if you do, the following facts about flood clean-up will be helpful.
1. Prompt Clean-Up Is Essential
Floods vary in levels of destructiveness and level of danger to you and your home. Still, in all cases, it is essential to begin the cleaning and restoration process immediately. The CDC recommends starting cleaning up and drying your home within 24-48 hours.
Addressing Mold From Flooding
Mold eats away at organic material, including the wood and other materials in your house. If left untreated, the structural integrity of your home is at high risk. Mold spores can spread in the air and are dangerous to your health, as well.
The early you can safely start cleaning up the mold the better since it can start growing within 24 hours at a minimum. Mold is dangerous for both you and your house. It grows and spreads in moist environments, so it’s necessary to dry your house as soon as possible.
Not only do you need to dry out your home, but you also need to make sure the source of the moisture is addressed since the mold will continue to grow as long as new moisture appears.
Once the water is removed and you’ve followed the below steps, you can fight the spread of mold by using standard cleaning equipment such as mops, sponges, soap, and bleach.
If the area is small enough, using these standard household products can effectively kill the mold. But you have to make sure to get all areas affected and stop any new moisture from appearing.
Removing Standing Water and Wet Items
We started with talking about mold since it appears so fast, but before you can even address that, you’ve got to get the standing water out. If it’s more than a few centimeters you’ll need to use a wet-vac to suck it up and remove it.
Otherwise, you might be able to mop it up with towels or push it out with a mop.
You should also run all of the air conditioning units, fans, and dehumidifiers that you have available. All of these will help to remove moisture from the area, whether it’s on the ground or in the air.
You also need to remove all wet items from your house. All wet carpet, furniture, clothes, papers, books, and anything else that got wet needs to be taken care of.
If it can’t be dried out quickly, you’ll likely need to throw it away. Mattresses and other porous items should be thrown away since they take so long to dry. Remember, any leftover moisture will lead to mold.
Wear Protective Equipment
While you are cleaning up it is important that you keep yourself safe. At a minimum, you should wear protective gloves, eyewear, and a mask to cover your nose and mouth. If possible, an N-95 respirator is better. Good, solid footwear is also important, with waterproof boots being best.
2. Hiring Professionals Is The Best Option
Since the damage from flooding can be so severe and can become much worse if not treated thoroughly, it is best to hire professionals to clean up. Severe water damage threatens your whole house and health, even potentially your life, so it’s best not to risk it.
We offer a water damage restoration service that quickly and professionally mitigates flood damage to your home. In addition to removing the standing water and any wet furniture, it may also be necessary to remove parts of your drywall, flooring, insulation, or other parts of the house.
Many people are not comfortable taking on this type of work. It’s also very possible that you wouldn’t know where to look for additional water damage that isn’t immediately visible.
Hiring a professional service will help to avoid any lasting damage from the flood that may occur if the area isn’t completely cleaned up originally. Secondary damage can occur if there is water or moisture that is missed.
3. Future Mitigation Should Be Part of The Restoration Process
Though it might not be your first thought when you’ve had a flood emergency, there are things that you should do to mitigate the damage from future floods, as well.
For example, if the flooding was the result of faulty pipes or cracks in your foundation, you should fix those. If you don’t have a sump pump installed in your basement, install one.
These types of measures may help to avoid smaller floods.
The location of your house is also something to consider. If your property is in a low area prone to flooding, the chances are that it will flood again. Though it’s not an easy decision to move, it might be an important step to avoid bad flooding in the future.
The best time to get flood insurance was before the damage, but the next best time is right now! If you don’t have flood insurance, look into getting coverage to help the financial loss in the future.
Contact Us
If you’ve been unfortunate enough to need assistance with the restoration process after a flood, please contact us. We can answer any questions you have about the next steps to take and provide price quotes for the cleanup process.
Severe water damage requires professional attention. Protect your health and your home from further damage by hiring our professional water damage restoration service.
We hope you don’t experience a flood, but we’re here to help if you do!