Delaying or failing to remove water from an accidental leak or flooding can lead to extensive mold growth and structural damage. The first signs of water damage might seem trivial. But water damage may weaken your structure, rot floorboards, ceilings, walls and floors or lead to secondary mold damage. By addressing problems immediately, you could save your possessions from damage, spare yourself costly repairs, and even keep your insurance premiums low.
Common water-damage scenarios:
- Temperatures drop below zero, causing your water pipes to freeze and burst. Your floor is now covered in 6 inches of water.
- Water leaks from your backyard pool or sprinkler system, ruining your manicured lawn and flooding your basement.
- Your washing machine overflows, flooding the basement or toilet overflows flooding your bathroom.
- During a heavy rainstorm, water leaksthrough your roof. The roof is damaged, as is furniture.
- A nearby lake or river overflows its banks, causing a flash flood in your living room.
Stop the water leak or water flow as soon as possible. Call CARPETBUSTERS/CB RESTORATION to remove standing water, dry the area, and protect your property from further water damage. We will remove water-soaked items to a dry, well-ventilated area, extract water from carpeting, wet rugs, while drying your structure furniture and possessions to protect them from loss using commercial drying equipment and monitoring the drying process.
1-877-71-FLOOD
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Once a building has been exposed to a large volume of water, either floodwater or rainwater, steps must be taken to dry the building out, assess damage, and plan for repairs and restoration. This information sheet discusses concerns and procedures for helping structures to dry out. Flooding may be quick, but drying out a building is a time consuming effort. Allowing natural ventilation and evaporation to work is better for the building than the using heated forced-air or air conditioning systems. The rapid drying out of a historic building using hot air power drying systems can cause irreparable harm to significant features of the building.
Before starting to dry out your building, make certain to address health and safety concerns. Safety must come first; do not endanger yourself, your family, or other occupants. Assume all power lines are live. Do not trust the fact that power may be off all over the neighborhood; turn off the power to your house. Check for the odor of leaking LP or natural gas and turn off these services. Be aware that floodwaters may be contaminated with sewage or animal waste and present a health hazard. During clean up, protect eyes, mouth, and hands, and use disinfectants to wash hands before eating. If you are uncomfortable when entering your house and have any question regarding personal safety, do not go inside, but have a professional make an assessment.
Make a photographic record before you begin to clean up the damage. Documentation of the damages will be beneficial when negotiating with insurance adjusters.
Make temporary repairs to roofs and windows to prevent additional water from entering the building as you work to dry it out. Plan on temporary repairs lasting a minimum of six months. Temporary repair options include the use of tarpaulin, 30- or 90-pound felt paper, or plywood covered with tarpaper.
Water saturation affects a building in three ways:
- Water causes direct damage to materials. Wallboard disintegrates; wood can swell, warp, or rot; electrical parts can short out, malfunction, and cause fires or shock.
- Mud, silt, and unknown contaminants in the water get everything dirty and are unhealthy. Floodwater is more damaging than rainwater.
- Dampness promotes the growth of moisture-related mold, mildew, and fungus that leads to dry rot.
Efforts to promote natural and controlled drying out of the building should start at the attic. If the insulation is wet, remove it and dispose of properly. After being wet, most insulation is ineffective, but it will continue to hold moisture for a long time and will create high moisture conditions which will damage metal, masonry, and wood.
Remove any water soaked items stored in the attic for treatment. The weight of water soaked boxes can cause cracking in the plaster ceilings of the floor below. Open windows and vents to allow fresh air to circulate. If your electrical system is safe and you have an attic fan, turn it on.
As you enter rooms, inspect ceilings carefully. Wet plaster and sheetrock are very heavy and can be a hazard. Be aware of bulging ceilings that may hold trapped water. If rainwater has collected in the ceiling, the rainwater will find it own route into the floors below. Collect water in buckets by poking holes at the edge of the bulging ceiling to release the water.
Plaster responds to drying out much better than sheetrock; however, durability depends on the plaster mix, the original application, the degree of water saturation, placement, and the type of lath used. Plaster over metal lath is likely to require replacement. Wood lath may expand if saturated, causing the plaster keys to break. Check for loose plaster and plan to reattach it using plaster washers. Plaster ceilings can be temporarily shored by using 2x4s nailed together to form a “T”, then wedging the top of the “T” to press plywood against the ceiling.
Most plaster walls can be saved if damaged by clean rainwater. Drain water that may be held within the wall cavity by removing the baseboard and drilling holes through the plaster or sheetrock several inches above the floor. Use cordless or hand drills to avoid electrical shock and be careful to avoid wiring within the walls. Remove any insulation if wet via the baseboard removal and allow the wall cavity to dry out thoroughly.
If sheetrock has been exposed to water for less than two hours, it can probably be repaired. If the sheetrock was exposed to floodwater for more than two hours, it will be saturated by contaminated water and require complete replacement.
Open windows in all rooms, even if there is no evidence of moisture retention. If the windows are swollen shut, remove the inside stop bead to free window sash. The use of window fans will help draw fresh air through the building, helping to dry out wall cavities between interior and exterior walls.
Wash down wood features, including trim, doors, mantels, and stairs, to remove mud and silt. Mold and mildew can be cleaned off using a weak solution of Clorox and water or commercially available disinfectant. Historic wallpapers require specialized treatment. Any features removed during the clean up should be labeled and saved for later reinstallation. Many significant features, such as trim, have been lost due to owners or contractors acting in haste to clean up.
Remove wet carpets and furniture from the house. Drying out these items in the house only adds to the moisture level within the house. Remove sheet vinyl or linoleum flooring to allow for maximum evaporation.
If wood floors are coated with mud, wash down with fresh water. Floorboards may begin to warp as they dry, but further drying may bring the boards back to their original shape. The use of weights or shoring on the wood floors during the drying process may lessen the occurrence of severe warping and buckling. Remove vapor barriers and insulation from beneath the floor to allow for complete air circulation. Do not use heating, air conditioning, or other forced air to promote drying of wood floors. Rapid drying can promote cupping of the floorboards as the top surface dries out faster. Drying out floorboards may take several months.
If the duct work has standing water, wash it out with clean water. Replace electrical receptacles if water levels reached high enough to cover them.
If your basement is flooded, do not rush to pump it out. Draining the basement while the surrounding ground is saturated may create uneven pressure on the basement walls and floor resulting in cracking or collapse. Once water surrounding the house has drained off, lower the water level in the basement by two or three feet, mark the water line, and wait overnight. If the basement water level rises, then it is too early to fully pump out the basement. If the water level is stable or lower, then pump out another two or three feet and again check the water level overnight.
Water-damaged household furnishings including textiles, books, photographs, paintings, and furniture should receive proper treatment to minimize damage and ease repair and restoration. In general, wet mud should be rinsed off objects with clean water before air drying, but consultation with a conservator for specific guidance on the treatment of historic objects is strongly recommended.
Remember that air circulation is the key to completely drying out a structure. Heaters or air conditioners should not force the drying process. If you force your building to dry too quickly, additional damage to the building elements will occur.
For further information regarding water-damaged buildings, consultation with the State Historic Preservation Office and reference to the following publications are recommended:
- Treatment of Flood Damaged Older and Historic Buildings, National Trust for Historic Preservation Information Booklet No. 82, 1993.
- Repairing Your Flooded Home, Federal Emergency Management Agency and American Red Cross, ARC publication 4477, FEMA publication 234, August 1992.
- After the Flood: Water Damage and Your Historic Building (videotape), Historic Preservation Information Service, University of South Dakota, 1994.
24hr Disaster Clean-Up Recovery 1-877-71-Flood FAMILY OWNED & OPERATED BUSINESS WHO CARES ABOUT HELPING OUR CUSTOMERS WITH ANY OF THE FOLLOWING DAMAGE.
CARPET BUSTERS / CB RESTORATION WWW.FLOODSUPPORT.COM 1-877-71-FLOOD 24/7 Emergency Service PA DE NJ MD
We are a family owned business. We are not a National Franchise, and we care about our customers. We understand the emotional, financial, and physical strains that fires and floods can cause on a person’s life. We are here to help you through this difficult time. We will get your home back in order, deal with your insurance company directly, and bring some peace back to these hectic times. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you need us, we are there.
Preparing for a flood is very important, but you should also prepare for handling the aftermath of the storm. Flood damage is a like a time bomb, and to prevent mold or structural damage you must do everything you can to quickly and concisely and as soon as possible. To help you learn how to handle this situation, we’ve put together this list of what to do after a household flood.
1. Do Not Re-Enter After leaving the flooded home, do not re-enter until trained emergency workers tell you it is safe. Floodwaters can harm or damage the foundation of your home and make it an unsafe structure to reenter.
2. Take Caution When Eating Don’t eat or drink anything that has been in contact with flood water. Flood water can and usually does contain unsanitary materials and residue which is not safe to ingest.
3. Remove Water Blockage If you put sandbags or other blocks around your home to keep water out, remember they may also be holding water in after the flood. If the structure is safe, open windows, doors, and remove blocks to let some water out. Only approach or touch flood water or flooded areas in proper attire, (gloves, mask, boots, water proof jacket, goggles, etc).
4. Flood Insurance If you had flood insurance, don’t move or touch anything until you’ve contacted them. This is because they must come and observe and assess the damage in it’s original state. Also be sure not to throw out anything that should be checked by the insurance associates as well.
5. Take Pictures As hard as it is, having thorough documentation of the flood is likely to come in handy. Go throughout the home and take pictures of any and all flood-damaged areas. Check ceilings, walls, and floors diligently to make sure you don’t miss a thing.
6. Watch The Kids! It is imperative not to let children play or touch anything that floodwater has. Even if the floodwater resigns from an area, that area still has infectious bacteria that are dangerous to you and yours. Be sure to sit children down and thoroughly discuss and explain the dangers of floods, floodwater and the aftermath.
7. If You Must Leave If for any reason you need to leave your flood-damaged home (to go to a hotel, friends, or get something to eat) be sure to secure the house before you leave. Lock all windows and doors, and try to cover up and holes or unstable structure. Although it’s regrettable, looters have been known to target flooded areas for undamaged materials in unsupervised homes.
8. Call A Professional 1-877-71-Flood www.floodsupport.com
If you’re unsure about the water damage to your home or have water still residing in the basement or other area, call in some help. Water damage specialists can help you with a multitude of things from assessing damage, to removing water, to cleaning up the mess it leaves. Your insurance may even pay for this work as it’s preventive work that could save them money
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