Flood Damage

Whenever your house or business floods, it causes damage. In fact, flood damage can rapidly set in. Cleaning up that damage or trying to restore the affected area can be an incredibly difficult proposition. The water can seep into the walls and actually affect the structure of the building itself!

Flood Damage Contaminants

Flooding can also carry with it the dangers of contaminants. Pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, and fungi are hazards you may have to deal with when confronting flood damage. Moreover, just in terms of physical damage, your highly prized possessions, not to mention your carpeting, walls, appliances, furniture and more can be utterly ruined if water has covered them.

Flood damage must be cleaned up and repaired if you are to restore the affected area. The very first thing you should do is call your insurance agent. You need to know if your insurance will actually cover the cost, or if you will have to foot the bill yourself. You should always take photos of the flood damage.

Flood Water Extraction

Of course, you will want to remove as much water as you can, but you should be aware that often, it takes professionals to really extract water and dry a location out thoroughly. Many times it takes industrial strength fans and heaters to dry out hard to reach areas, and many people just don’t have the correct equipment to do all of this themselves.

Bleach is commonly used during this task combined with hot water and industrial cleaners. Of course, this is because, during a flood damage cleanup, you want to be sure that you are killing all germs that could cause sickness.

Any porous items you have such as carpeting, bedding, clothing or rugs should be taken outside and allowed to dry as much as possible in the sun. You should immediately open all windows and turn any fans you may have. A dehumidifier should be put to use as well. You should always use a breathing mask and wear gloves when handling items that have been covered in water.

The bottom line is that cleaning up flood damage is necessary, but not easy. You can take steps yourself to help minimize that damage, but we recommend that you contact professionals when you want to restore your location to the condition it was in before the flooding occurred.