Modern home and city technology have greatly decreased the frequency of flood damage. Unfortunately, flood damage is still a lot more common than we would like. In fact, there are studies that have found that over the next several decades, we will probably lose more than $30 billion in damages due to flooding!
In fact, it is likely you will experience a flood loss at least once in your life. However, know what to expect and what you can do to prepare, will help save you thousands of dollars and a painful experience.
So what can you do when flood damage occurs to minimize the total damage as much as possible? Read on to learn all about the most important things to do when it comes to flood damage!
The experts at any flood damage company will tell you about the importance of minimizing developing damage. You may think that by living in a very dry climate, like Arizona, your home will dry out very quickly on its own. However, that is rarely the case.
Often, moisture gets trapped in areas that don't easily allow it to escape. It can be days and weeks after the initial leak, that you begin to notice the extent of the damage. Most noticeably it will be begin to smell and stains or bubbles may appear on your walls and cabinets.
At this point, it requires more steps to mitigate the water damage than had it been addressed immediately. Because of the delayed response, often the insurance carrier will deny to cover the claim, leaving you to cover a potentially significant expense out of pocket.
Most restoration companies, like Quik Stop Restoration, offer free inspections. We recommend the best financial course of action, i.e. is this something you can handle on your own or if it is better to consider making a claim on your insurance. By doing a free inspection up front, you can potentially save yourself thousands of dollars and whole lot of heart ache.
If your home experienced a backup of sewage from a drain or toilet, this water contains microbial contaminants like E.coli. Similarly, storm water that has come in from outside also contains these contaminants.
It is important to that you don't come into contact with this water even if it appears clear. Call a trained professional that knows how to address type of loss. Specialized personal protective equipment is required to interact with these type of contaminated materials. We can work to treat and restore affected belongings in a safe manner.
The first part of the water restoration process is getting rid of the water. Most likely you won't have inches to feet of standing water. If you do, we can use an extraction unit or sump pump to quickly remove the water from the home.
However, in most cases there will be less than inch of standing water in your home. You can use towels or a wet mop to remove a considerable amount of the water before a restoration company arrives. Doing this immediately can help to lessen the amount of damage and required time to dry out your home.
If there is additional standing water that needs to be removed, that will be addressed upon arrival.
Once the bulk of the water is removed, we will use specialized fans and equipment get as much dry air circulating in your home as possible. You may want to open up all the windows to accelerate the drying out process. This can also help to lessen the amount of time needed to dry the home.
Whether you see any damage or not, you should take plenty of pictures. There may be subtle signs of damage that are not apparent to the untrained eye. Showing them to an expert can help them to detect where you might have problems.
You should take plenty of pictures of both the inside and outside of your home. You should focus on the areas that are obviously damaged by flooding. On top of that, it might be a good idea to get general pictures of the whole home.
If working with insurance having pictures of unaffected materials can help to give the adjuster and idea of what the damaged area looked like before it flooded.
Additionally, if you had personal property like clothes, rugs, electronics or furniture that were damaged, it can have significant impact in the amount of your claim. Some items may feel like they're not very expensive. However, each inexpensive item can add up to a significant amount overall. Taking pictures of all of these items will help the adjuster to judge the true value of damage lost.
Unfortunately, you are also going to have to worry about mold. If you do not do a sufficiently deep job of repairing your flood damage, your home will probably have mold problems for years to come.
Mold is a lot bigger problem than many people realize. Mold can cause asthma and other respiratory problems, especially for children. On top of that, mold can develop extremely quickly after flood damage. In fact, you may have mold damage as quickly as a single day after flooding.
The most important thing you want to do is avoid as much mold development as possible. We do this by trying to dry out the carpeting, drywall and other materials in your home as soon as possible. If done properly you can avoid mold growth all together. We can also prevent future mold growth by applying anti-microbial solutions.
We hope that some of the ideas in this short article about what to do with flood damage have been helpful for you. Sooner or later, everybody is likely to run into some kind of water damage problem in their home. Being a capable homeowner often comes down to being prepared to manage such problems when they come up.
To learn more about managing flood damage or to find experts to help you recover from flood damage, feel free to reach out and get in touch with us here at any time!
