Property

How To Cope When Your Home Floods

Flooding in Cedar Rapids, IA

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As well as the cost of owning a property, your home is somewhere that you have a great deal of emotional investment. When things go wrong around the home, it can be very distressing. This is never truer when it comes to dealing with water damage.

Water can cause all kinds of havoc to your home. Everything from a small build-up of moisture to flooding throughout your property can be a massive headache. 

Dealing with the damage caused by water will be very stressful, but knowing how best to deal with the situation will give you a plan of action.

Flooding can occur for many reasons. It can be caused by severe weather or leaks in your plumbing or heating. When your home floods, watching your possessions get soaked can leave you with a sinking feeling. 

If flood damage has affected your property, you will need to act fast to fix the problem. The first thing to do is to stop the flow. If the water is getting in from outside as a result of rain or storms, then you will need to sandbag any external doorways.

If your problem is a burst pipe, immediately turn your water supply off at your stopcock. 

The next thing you will need to do is to turn off all power to your property. Water and electricity are not a good mix, and if water has managed to get into your power sockets or appliances, it could cause a fire. If you need to stand in the water when disconnecting the power, consult a trained electrician first. 

Take plenty of photos. You will need to provide documented evidence of the damage that has occurred at your property should you need to claim with your insurance provider. 

Once it is safe to do so, you should move any valuable items that you may want to preserve. If you have an upper level to your property, you can move items upstairs for safekeeping. 

Water will need to be removed from the property as quickly as possible. If the flooding is due to natural causes, you will need to wait until the flooding outside has subsided first. Once you can, use a pump to remove as much water as possible. When you are left with just a small amount of water that might have soaked into the carpet, use a carpet shampoo vacuum cleaner to suck up as much of the remaining water as possible. You will need to keep emptying the vacuum as you go.

Any electrical items should be allowed to dry in the air thoroughly. Consult the manufacturers guide before attempting to use an electrical product after it has been affected by the flood, as it may be recommended to dispose of it.

Following a flood, there may be several knock-on problems. Damp and mold can cause a large number of issues. Often where water has been allowed to soak into the wood or plaster, it can be tough to dry again. If these form part of the structure of your home, you will very likely need to have these replaced. Dehumidifiers will be required to take out the residual moisture within your property, and you will need to monitor for signs of mold as time progresses. 

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