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With a flooded basement and a whole water-damaged mess on your hands, it can be difficult to know what the next steps are. In most cases, you will probably need a professional water damage restoration company to take care of the cleanup and restoration for you. However, if there is only a small amount of water confined to a small area, you may be able to do a DIY cleanup job.
If you take this route, here are six basic steps for DIY water damage cleanup from our restoration experts at Bostonian Cleaning.
First things first, you need to make sure you are safe. One major hazard after a flood is that the water may have damaged your electrical systems causing an electrical current to run through the floodwater. To ensure this doesn’t happen, you should first shut off the power to your home. If you can access it, use your circuit breaker to do this. If you cannot access your circuit breaker, you may call your electrical company and ask them to shut off your electricity for you.
Once you are sure you are safe, the next step is to begin removing the standing floodwater from your home as soon as possible. It’s essential that you do this as fast as you can since the longer the water remains in your home, the more permanent the damage will be. This is when having a sump pump comes in handy if flooding occurred in your basement or crawlspace.
Once the standing water has been removed, you will also need to dry out any of the remaining moisture. Failing to do this will allow water damage and mold to continue spreading throughout your home. An easy way to speed up the process is to open all your doors and windows to increase air circulation throughout your home.
Anything that was damaged by the flood, should be removed as quickly as possible so it can begin drying out. Leaving any items in standing floodwater increased the chance that they will be permanently damaged beyond repair.
The first step for salvaging damaged materials is getting all the moisture out of them. Next, you will need to clean and sanitize them. Although, it may not be possible to do this on your own in some cases and you will still need professional help.
A flood can leave behind quite a mess. Removing the water isn’t enough to address the damage. You will also need to thoroughly clean and disinfect any parts of your home affected by the flood.
The process for DIY water damage cleanup is pretty simple, but the implementation is sometimes anything but straightforward. If you run into any complications, don’t hesitate to give us a call at Bostonian Cleaning so we can help you restore the damage and get back on your feet.
