Cleaning Up Water Damage in Your House

Water damage is something that a lot of us are going to have to deal with at some point in time. Whether it is a leaky roof or a bursting pipe or a flooded basement, it is likely that we will have to go through the process is cleaning up said damage.

Hurry to Fix The thing to keep in mind about water damage is that it is very destructive, and that the time

available to take care of the problem is limited. In a short amount of time, water can ruin a lot of things and can lead to mildew and mold. Therefore, time is going to be of the essence as you try to deal with water damage. The first thing to do in any of these situations is to make sure that the source of liquid is not able to keep adding more to your troubles. If it is an interior issue such as in the case of a loose or broken pipe, shut off the water. This will cut off the flow and allow you to fix it as you take care of what needs to be cleaned up. If the problem is located outside of the home, do everything you can in order to stop the flow in order to allow cleanup to happen. The sooner that a problem is cut off from a supply of fluid, the sooner that things can be attended to.

Cleaning Properly Next, be sure to remove everything possible from the area that has been affected. Everything from furniture to decorations to books will need to be removed from the area as soon as possible. If you move fast, you may be able to save some of the things that have gotten wet. As has been mentioned, two of the most important things to be on the lookout for are mildew and mold. Mildew and mold can grow rapidly when things have gotten wet, and do especially well when there is carpet or drapes or clothing. Get everything out of the room and make every effort to dry it off with fans.

You are also going to want to pull up the carpet and padding form the floor if it is in the location affected. Roll these up and use shop vacs and industrial fans to dry them out. Time is short, and this needs to be done quickly. Moving quickly will hopefully allow you to dry everything out before they are destroyed.

Leaving the Good That leads us to one of the sobering parts of dealing with water damage; namely, getting rid of what cannot be saved. Sometimes there is a need to throw things out that are beyond salvaging. Getting rid of these items is essential, because they represent a health risk. As such, it is important to be pragmatic about what can be saved and what cannot be. All of these options should help very much when dealing with water damage as it comes up. These disasters happen in circumstances often outside of our control, but it is possible to deal with them.

Photo Credit: Kurrs, WalterPro