Choosing My Contractor
What Should You Do In The Immediate Aftermath Of A Flood?
Diego Rojas
Warmer weather usually means fun family vacations and days at the beach, but summer is also storm season in many parts of the country. With over 15 million American homes at risk of flooding, many families will find themselves cleaning up from one of these devastating disasters over the coming year. Knowing what you should do can help save you money and get your life back together.
Whenever you're dealing with water in your home, the most critical point will be the immediate aftermath. If you want to save your belongings and minimize your restoration costs, you'll want to take these four steps as soon as possible.
1. Get Your Safety Gear
Floods can be dangerous, even after the initial waters have receded. Floodwater will almost always contain numerous contaminants, including sewage, vehicle fluids, and potentially even more harmful chemicals. Before you go back into your home, you'll want to ensure that you get your hands on the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).
The CDC offers some guidelines, but you should have heavy gloves, long pants, and a good mask at a minimum.
2. Identify Your Flood Line
The flood line is the maximum extent of the water that entered your home. You can usually identify this level by looking for a line of dirt and debris along your wall. In general, anything below the flood line and at least several inches above it will not be salvageable. If you're going to be performing any work yourself, take some pictures of this line to show your insurance company later.
If you're trying to get a head start on repairs, you can safely throw away most items below the flood line. Any drywall that came into contact with water (and likely several inches or more above the flood line) will also require removal.
3. Ventilate the House
Drying a flooded home without heavy-duty equipment is challenging, so you want to bring as much fresh air into your home as possible. Open your windows and run as many fans as you can. The more wet items you can remove, such as flooded drywall or carpeting, the more quickly your home will dry out. Use dehumidifiers in any areas you cannot easily ventilate, such as basements.
4. Contact Professionals
Unless you have experience in demolition and building, recovering from a flood isn't something that you'll likely be able to tackle on your own. Taking the steps above will help you salvage as much of your home as possible, but you'll want to contact a professional restoration company as soon as you can. Working with experts is the fastest and safest way to get your home livable again.
For more info, contact a restoration company like Manta Construction & Restoration.
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By the time I finally finished saving money for my new home, I knew that I wanted something special. I didn't want to buy a starter home, and I really didn't want to deal with fixing up an older place. Instead of scouring the market and dealing with real estate agents, I decided to work with a general contractor to start building a place of my own. However, I didn't choose my contractor willy nilly either. I spend hours interviewing and researching various construction firms until I found the business I wanted to work with. This blog is all about working with contractors, so that you can make better construction decisions.