Water Damage 101: Things to Do Before Help Arrives
Just your luck—it’s 80 degrees outside and yet your house is flooded with water. Without much of a warning, a pipe might have burst or the drain probably just decided to back up. Understandably, you and the rest of your household could be feeling panicked, or angry, or confused, or perhaps a little bit of all of these.
If we can guess it right, there are probably a gazillion questions running in your head. How can you get rid of all this water? Where is all this water coming from anyway? Should I just start carrying all my stuff out?
Of course, all these are very valid thoughts and questions, and we’re here to cut through all the noise in your head and help you out. The first thing that you need to do is: call the pros who specialize in water damage right away.
Naturally, you need to give them time to gather their bearings and make their way to you. Your job then is to mitigate further water damage by tackling urgent matters at hand. Here is a list of to-do and to-don’ts right after flooding.
To-Do:
1.Mop up extra water around your house
Blot it out or mop it out—the idea here is that you should try to lessen the amount of water there is in your house as soon as possible.
2. Take out wet upholstery and cushions
Just remember that wet items are heavier than usual so if you could work as a team in your household, that would be best.
3. Remove colored items from your carpeting
The last thing that you need right now is the added stress of seeing your favorite white fur carpet be stained with some brightly colored rug that you’ve used as a carpet topper.
4. Protect your furniture
You can do this by placing an aluminum foil or woodblock between your wet carpet and furniture leg.
To-Don’t:
- Don’t leave your wet items on the floor
Save yourself from future problems by removing items from your floor right away.
2. Don’t use your home vacuum
We know just how tempting it might be to simply start vacuuming all the water off of your floor, but this could lead to more problems.
3. Don’t use any appliance
Don’t turn on any appliance until you’re sure that the wiring in your house has not been flooded.
4. Don’t stay in rooms where the ceiling is sagging
Your house is a hazard zone, so keep yourself and your loved ones safe.
We know that you’re a little confused and a lot flustered at the moment. However, rest easy in knowing that a water damage restoration team is now on the way. If you follow the to-do and to-don’t list properly, you won’t have to worry so much about irreversible damages in your house.
.