Water damage is a terrible occurrence that can lead to millions of lost revenue. People without backup plans may end up wasting time and money fixing the problem and repeating mistakes that led to the damage in the first place. The best remedy is to use professionals who understand the source and the conditions to address to ensure no repeat of the incident.
If you are reading this after the unfortunate event of water invading walls, appliances, furniture, and other places in the house, then you can follow tips outlined in subsequent paragraphs.
Find Out the Source
You should first identify where the water is coming from and seek to stop the flow. Flood waters may be hard to control, but you can try and see whether the entry point is one or several areas in your fence or walls. For busted pipes, you can tell by checking the water flow.
However, if the pipes are inside walls or buried in the ground, then it might not be easy to pinpoint the leakage unless you pull the tubes out. Wait for the professionals to come as you might mess things by trying to solve the issue on your own.
Switch off your Electricity at the Mains
The water leaking and flowing in an uncontrolled manner is very dangerous because it can cause short-circuiting and lead to fires. Switching off the electricity will make it difficult for you to see if you lack sources of natural light in a building. You should think of coming with emergency lighting options and also think of additional power to use for pumping the water out or vacuuming it from the spaces between your walls.
Let Professionals Assess the Damage
Avoid trying to be a know-it-all person. You need qualified people for water damage restoration to check the damage and identify the affected areas, the implication of the loss, and the way forward for fixing the problem. You should also direct your questions to the technician inspecting so that you have a sufficient debrief of the situation. You need to be involving yourself with the assessment strictly to avoid assumptions and generalization that might hide other lingering disasters.
Clear all Standing Water
After verifying the water damage, you will need to clear the water to permit repairs, and you can do a good job when you use the appropriate tools. For instance, wet and dry vacuums will work when you are dealing with shallow spills, but you might need a water pump in case your basement is flooding.
Be careful and separate debris from the water because you do not want to let go of specific items that might be valuable to you. Power cables, receipts, money, and other things might be floating in the water. Other contaminants might also mix with the water. Everyone working on the site should be having protective clothing.
Take Time Before Refitting Anything
You must give your floors and walls time to dry. Moreover, anything removed from the room or area because of water damage needs several days of air drying before reuse. Thus, even though you might return some appliances into the room the next day, give them several days to drain all remaining moisture before attempting to reuse them. You should also inspect the damage on these appliances before reusing them.
