Flood damage can be a serious matter for your home. Flooding can lead to structural damage to your home that makes it unsafe to live in. It can cause health problems from mold in addition to injuries from chemicals or hazardous electrical equipment. Flooding can also destroy your furniture, keepsakes, and other property. Experiencing any water or flooding damage to your home can be devastating, but the good news is that you can get your life back after a flood. It’s important to be aware of how you should handle flooding to keep you and your family safe.
After a Flood, What Are Some Steps to Handling the Flood Damage?
The first steps that you need to take are to make sure that your home is safe to return to, and this will depend on the amount of flooding. A small flood due to a broken water line in your home won’t cause as much damage as a natural flooding incident in your area. You’ll also want to make sure that you’re staying safe in the next steps by protecting your health. Wear protective gear, such as gloves, boots, and even waders. Throw out any food that may have gotten wet from the flooding.
You’ll also want to document the damage as is before doing anything else. This documentation will be essential to provide to your insurance company. This step can be an excellent time to contact your insurance company to go over your coverage and what happened. Your agent can help you to understand what needs to happen next with your claim. If you’re located in a region that’s been declared a disaster area, you can contact FEMA or your insurance company to find out if you’re able to access any additional services.
Once you’ve documented the damage and gotten the okay after talking to your insurance company, it’s time to remove the water. A sump pump, wet vac, and fans are all tools that you can use. Next, you’ll want to deal with the mold with mold remediation.
A final note here is that you’ll want to secure your home, especially if you’re unable to live in it at the moment. This step can prevent further weather damage or damage from people that could get into your home.
What Are Some Examples of Flood Damage?
There are numerous examples that can happen with flood damage. Here are just a few to give you an idea:
- A weakened structure from structural damage
- Rotted wood inside the home
- Ruin hardwood flooring and carpeting
- Water damage to baseboards and walls
- Problems with electrical systems
- A loss of electronics, keepsakes, furniture, and more
- Mold growth inside the walls
These are just a few examples of the problems that can come from flooding, and often, much of the damage may be hidden. That’s why it can be so important to have an expert examine your home.
How Can We Prevent Flooding or the Worst of the Damage?
There are a few things that you can do to prevent flooding and damage in your home. The first is that you can look around your house for potential flood hazards. Your plumbing can sometimes cause flooding issues, so you want to make sure that all of the hoses and fixtures you have in your home are in great condition. A splitting plastic tube on the back of your refrigerator or washer can cause a lot of damage if not caught quickly. A fixture that has a connection that’s faulty can be another potential cause of flooding in your home. Keeping an eye on this can be beneficial.
Another way to prevent the damage becoming a real problem is to install water detector sensors in your home in areas where water can be a problem. These sensors let you know if they detect water. So, having one in your basement, kitchen or bathroom can tell you that water has been sensed in the area and lets you get to it before it becomes an even more significant issue.
Of course, with a natural flood that overtakes your home, there’s often not much that you could do to prevent it. If you know that flooding is a possibility in your area, it can be a good idea to seal your keepsakes in a waterproof sealed box for storage. You may also want to consider storing these items up high rather than in the basement, garage, or first floor. If you know that a flood warning has been issued, it can be ideal to try to put up as many items as possible and prepare your home.
What Types of Repairs Can Be Done?
After the flood damage is done in your home, the first steps forward are going to include assessments that determine how severe the damage is and whether repairs are possible. In many homes, restoration will mean repairing or replacing the damaged materials, such as drywall or flooring. There may be some circumstances where repairs aren’t possible, but this is only with very severe damage.
After a flood, it can feel as though you’re never going to get your home back to what it had been before the flooding happened. An excellent contractor with experience in handling damage after fires and floods can be very beneficial in the restoration process. If your home has water damage from flooding, contact us today to discuss your situation.
