Cleanup And Restoration Recommendations For A Water Damage Disaster

Disasters can come in many shapes and sizes, but when you are dealing with a flood or water damage, you can be left handling water damage along with bacteria, mold, and other contaminants that may be present in the water and flooding. Because you are working against the clock to restore your possessions before mold begins to grow, it can make the process stressful. Here are some recommendations to help you clean up from a flood disaster within your home.

Understand What You're Dealing With

Not all water leaks and resulting water damage inside your home are the same. Some water leaks come from a freshwater pipe in your home that has cracked or is leaking and saturates all the surrounding materials. This can result in damaged materials you will need to replace, but it does not do the extent of damage that water from a dirty source does. Some home flooding originates from dirty water from a sink or even worse, a toilet. If you get sewage in your home, it poses a biological hazard and needs to be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. 

And in a similar situation, you may have flooding in your home from an outside water source, such as a storm surge in a hurricane or a flash flood in your neighborhood. When you have water enter your home from outside, it can contain all types of contaminants, from vehicle fluids from the roads and other vehicles to sewage from overflowing drains and everything in between. So with this in mind, determine where the flooding is coming from so you can properly clean up the damage that comes from the moisture and all contaminants involved.

Clean and Restore

Once water has invaded your home and saturated all your possessions, you will want to try to save as much of them as possible. Some items, such as carpet and the underlying padding, may not be worth the effort to save and adequately clean, but there are some items you will want to restore. 

For example, important documents will need to be salvaged after a flood. If they are wet, place them in the freezer until you can hand them over to restoration professionals to remove the moisture and salvage them. This is the same for photos, books, and heirloom furniture, as examples. A restoration professional has a unique cleaning process to remove toxins and moisture and also prevent mold growth. They can use this on fabrics, upholstery, wood, and other important items you need to restore and protect from flooding damage.

Contact a water damage restoration company to learn more.