Home Remodeling Crash Course: What I Learned the Hard Way

Whether you're dealing with a serious flood or a relatively minor one, one of the things that remain constant is the challenge of cleaning up afterwards. There are many challenges that you'll encounter during your storm damage restoration efforts. Removing the water from your home or basement will only be the first of these challenges. Once this is done, you'll also have to figure out how to salvage the items that were exposed to water.

Removal of Water

No cleanup or restoration can start until you've gotten rid of the water in your home. Sometimes, the amount of water may be more than the drains can handle. If you have a septic system, you may also not want all that water going down the drain.

If you have a pump, you can use it to suck the water out and direct it to a place outside the house. A pump should be able to get rid of much of the water. If the flood was caused by a leak or sewer backup, correct the problem to prevent more water from coming in. If the damage and flooding is the result of a large storm, you should contact a storm restoration team to help make the process easier. 

Drying the House

Once you've removed the water, the next challenge will be drying the house. A flood can leave you with wet floors, furniture, walls and rugs. If these are not properly dried, you'll still be faced with the same issues associated with water such as rotting wood and mold.

Items such as rugs and furniture should first be removed. If the flood takes place in summer, you can put the water-logged items outside to dry. Removing these items will also make it easier to dry out the rest of the house.

Drying out the floors and walls could require the use of rugs, heaters, dehumidifiers and fans.

Assess the Damage and Salvage What You Can

Once your house is dry, you'll need to assess the extent of the damage caused. There are certain items that will be beyond help the moment they're exposed to water. However, there are many other items which can still be restored to their previous state even if they've been under water.

Quite often, homeowners don't have the expertise to assess what can be salvaged. You may want to bring in an expert to identify which items can be salvaged. You'll also need to have your walls and floors looked at so the water damage restoration process can be complete.