Is there a water damage situation in your home? Maybe it’s because of a broken pipe, overflowing river or snow storm, it is important that you take necessary precautions and ensure that you do not add up to the damage due to lack of knowledge.
Before this, we would ask you to call up a water damage restoration company and ask for their immediate help. In case, you have no idea about which companies are available in your area, you can use our service provider finder for this. Just choose the category as water damage restoration, pick the location and find out about the available service providers and call them to fix an appointment.
While one of your family members does the calling, you must read what you should do until the water damage restoration help arrives.
Things you should do
- Identify the source of water and turn it off.
- Turn off the power supply for safety.
- Open the doors and windows for adequate ventilation.
- Use ceiling fans and dehumidifiers for good air circulation around the area.
- Gather the loose items from the floor and keep them at a safe level.
- Open the cabinet doors, drawers and luggage for faster drying.
- Remove wet fabrics and hang them in open.
- Spread out the books and papers for drying.
- Wipe off the excess water from the furniture.
- Try to remove standing water as much as possible.
- Grab some towels and start removing the excess water.
- Remove colored rugs from the wet carpet.
- Consider removing the wet carpeting (only if you are familiar with the right technique). If it’s not possible, place an aluminium foil between the furniture and the carpet.
- In the case of water damage from flood or sewage, consider all the equipment touched by water as contaminated.
- Keep the children and pets away from such objects.
- Call up a water damage restoration expert if you’re unsure about what to remove and what not.
Things you should not do
- Don’t use your household vacuum for drying. It isn’t powerful enough to serve that purpose.
- Don’t use electrical equipment while the floor and carpet are wet.
- Don’t lift off the carpet by yourself (unless you know how to do it properly). That can cause severe shrinking.
- Don’t use ceiling fan if the ceiling is wet.
- Don’t move in the rooms that have sagging ceilings.
- Don’t leave any furniture on the carpet or it will cause stains.
- Don’t use electrical appliances till the floor and walls are completely dry.
These are some things that you should do (and not do) until water damage restoration help arrives. Be careful while dealing with possibly contaminated water. Try to stay away from the affected area as much as possible and leave everything to the professionals.
Water damage is a situation which requires immediate attention, and therefore, you must get into action rather than panicking and wasting time. This post can help you learn how to start flood clean-up and water damage restoration while you’re waiting for the water damage restoration service to arrive.
