A Guide To Water Damage Clean Up

Water damage clean up is one of the most important things you can do in the event of water damage in your home or business. The devastation can be severe; it can ruin walls and ceilings and damage valuables beyond repair.

When a homeowner is faced with it, they may feel extremely overwhelmed. They may not even know where to start in cleaning it up. However, although water damage clean up is time consuming, it is not impossible.

With some knowledge of techniques and a lot of hard work, your home and many of your valuables can be saved. Before you begin your water damage restoration, find out where the flooding came from.

How to begin cleaning

If you have left a faucet on, turn it off immediately. If the water is coming from your roof, you will need to stop it the best way that you can. If none of these are the case, you may have a hole in one of your pipes and you will need to turn off the water supply to your house before you can clean it.

You may need to use a basement sump pump to remove standing water. This will make the process much easier and quicker.

Next, make sure that your drywall and floors are not ruined, and that your home is not structurally damaged. If it is, you may need to have it fixed by a professional. If it is not, you may be able to do a lot of the work by yourself.

The first thing that you need to do is get air moving through the house by opening windows and turning on fans. Next, turn on a dehumidifier to take the moisture our of the air.

Once these are going, the next step in water damage clean up is to pick up any items that have gotten wet. If they are not valuable, you may want to throw them away.

Important paperwork can be copied and then thrown away. For all other items, place them in a frost-free freezer until you can speak with a professional who deals with water damage.

After all surfaces are clean, use a wet/dry vac to clean up as much water from them as possible. It can be used on carpet, furniture, or wood or tile floors.

For wood, dry it further with a fan or a dehumidifier. Then check your drywall. If it has not swelled and the seams are not separated, dry it with a fan. If you do not get things dry, you will have to get rid of mold and mildew later.

You do not want that musty basement smell everywhere in your house!

Otherwise, you or a professional will need to replace it. In addition, any ceiling tiles that have been damaged will need to be replaced. Water damage clean up is a big job, but it does not have to be overwhelming.

By following the above advice, you have a step-by step process to follow. As a result, you should be able to fix the problem before it causes any additional damage.

Restoration

Once the water is cleaned up and the source has been dealt with, you can get to the work of restoring your house. There are many very good basement waterproofing products available to help you.

A high quality floor paint can really make a difference in the appearance and atmosphere of a basement.

A few of the more popular paints are:

Rust-Oleum EPOXYShield Basement Gray Floor Coating. This is available from almost any good paint store and costs around $48 a gallon. Expensive, but very high quality paint.

Epoxy Shield Basement Floor Coating Kit is another good choice. It sells for about $53 per gallon.

Concrete stain is also becoming more popular. It is water based and can be sprayed on. In addition, many types of designs can be done with it.

Quikrete Basement & Concrete Floor Paint is a great choice. It goes for about $25 a gallon.

Boat deck paint is also a good solution. Because it's mixed with sand, it creates a non-slip surface and lasts a long time. In conclusion, painting is a great way to finish basement floors. It is cheaper than other types of flooring and easy to apply. In many cases, it can be done by the homeowner himself.