Restoring Your Home After A Flood
Whether you experience three inches or three feet of water in your home from flooding, flooded basement, heavy melting ice, or maybe a burst pipe, the event is always devastating. First, you’re struck with panic over what to do and where to start. Then you’re consumed by disappointment at the sight of your damaged belongings. Next, assuming the flooding is instantly manageable and action can be taken, you snap into repair mode just to get things under control.
Knowing you are in for grueling times, but fueled by pure adrenaline, you run around, shutting off water, electricity and gas feeds, filling buckets and hoisting them to a dry spot for disposal; vacuuming up water by the gallon, pumping out water with a sump and hose. Once the floor is in sight, if the flooding was minimal, you grab paper towels, washcloths, hand towels, bath towels, bed sheets, rags and anything else in your home to soak up as much of the remaining water that you can.
Flood and Water Damage Services
Once you’re down to damp floor, it’s back to the indoor/outdoor vacuum, and then blasting every fan you own or could buy at the hardware store at high speed. You do this for hours and hours, hoping to draw out moisture and dry the area. And don’t forget you’ll need to run a dehumidifier for weeks until the last ounce of moisture dries up. And this is a best-case scenario.
Pumps, vacuums and towels can only do so much. If the water is deep and standing for even a short time, home-made methods will do very little to resolve long-term issues because flooding brings many inherent dangers. After the water recedes, you may be left with shovels full of mud in your home — and that mud contains most of the germ-born health hazards associated with flooding. But that’s not the only danger: Attempting flood restoration on your own can also put you at risk for electrocution and structural hazards.
Other risks come from outside. If you also have floodwater around the outside of your home this could cause other dangers. Although your natural instinct is to rush to pump water out of your home, you should delay this if you have standing water around the outside. The water outside creates a force against your home, and by removing the water inside your home, you also remove the equalizing pressure, which may put your home at greater risk for structural damage.
Restoring Your Home After A Flood – Should You Hire a Professional?
Restoring your home after a flood is a complicated process. Depending on the severity of the flood, you may have to deal with structural damage, electrical damage, and potential health hazards. Before you begin a DIY flood cleanup, ask yourself these questions:
Do you have the expertise?
Flood cleanup involves more than just pumping out the water and letting things dry out. During the cleanup process, you will need to manage the weakened structure of your home, mitigate health hazards from bacteria and mold, and decide what can be saved and what must be thrown away. Only then can you begin the flood repair work to make your home livable again.
Do you want to do the work?
Flood cleanup is dirty, often dangerous work. After the crisis of a flood is over, do you want to face the job of cleaning dirty water and mud out of your home, sorting through your belongings and deciding what can be saved? The emotional impact of flood cleanup can be significant, and can interfere with other aspects of your health and life. Hiring a professional to do flood damage cleanup is an investment in your mental and emotional well-being.
Do you have the time?
Time is crucial in a flood damage cleanup project. The longer your belongings sit in water, the worse the damage will be. Can you take several days or weeks off work to clean water and mud out your home, then dry and restore your belongings?
Remember your homeowners insurance covers sudden and unexpected damages and not maintenance related damages. If there is a pipe burst you will have a better chance to argue for payment if you have done your part well. Why take chances when you can have the experts on your side to make sure it cost you little, if any for the entire process?
If your home or business is ever the victim of a flood or water damage you need a professional Restoration Expert with extensive training and experience drying a wide range of different structural materials and contents. When you hire a professional Minnesota Water Damage Restoration Company, you can focus on getting your personal life back to normal and know that the flood damage in your home is taken care of.
