How to Clean Up Your Property After Flood

When flood strikes, water wreaks havoc on your property, your valuables, and overall health of inner environment. Flood water brings a lot of contaminants with mud. Even an inch of water can ruin all the expensive items at once, such as wallboard, carpeting, furniture and appliances. If the flood is deeper or storm is more severe, it may cost even more by damaging items like air conditioner, heater, ducts, private sewage, roofing, and utilities, wall systems as well as foundation. Cleaning up is a long-haul and difficult process after flood.

Although we don’t recommend DIY flood cleanup, if you feel like you can take it all on your own, the only thing we can do is help you with useful information. So, here we go – how to cleanup your property after flood.

Content Table:

Call Your Insurance Company
Disinfect
Air Dry Furniture & Households
Shut Down the Electricity
Inspect and Clean Appliances
Clean Up the Carpeting
Summary

Let’s dive in!

Call Your Insurance Company

First of all, call the insurance agent if you have home insurance which covers water damage. Same goes if you have flood insurance. They will tell when adjuster will get in touch with you. Take enough videos and pictures of damage and list it. Keep complete records for claim process, income tax deductions, and applications for disaster help.

Disinfect

Shovel off all the mud using hose or garden sprayer from hard surfaces. Then, disinfect and scrub the surface using heavy duty cleaner or hot water. Use chlorine bleach to kill germs. In kitchen, disinfect metal utensils, silverware, pans and pots with boiled water. Don’t use chlorine bleach here as it reacts with metals. Clean the cupboard and rinse the counters with chlorine bleach before you store dishes.

Air Dry Furniture & Households

Take rugs, bedding, furniture and clothing outside to air dry ASAP. Remove moisture through dehumidifier or air conditioner or open windows for ventilation. Circulate air inside the house with fans. Brush off the items outside if mildew and molds have been developed. Remove mildew from ceilings, and walls and vacuum floors and wash out using disinfectant. To avoid breathing spores, wear a protective mask.

Shut Down the Electricity

It is very important to shut off the electric systems and inspect and repair through the electrician before turning it back on. Dry out the wiring completely, even behind the walls. Convenience outlets, switches, entrance panel, light outlets, and junction boxes may also have mud.

Inspect and Clean Appliances

Appliances are more vulnerable to get odors, stains, gritty deposits and silt deposits and should be cleaned, serviced and sanitized. If you run appliances before proper cleaning, it could severely damage the equipment or shock you. It is very important to look for professional cleaning services for TVs and radios, electronics, dryers, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, and dishwashers. It is important to hand clean the hard exterior. All the metallic appliances must be grounded well to avoid electric shock. Dirt or mud in adapter or grounded outlet may damage the grounding system.

Clean Up the Carpeting

Clean up and dry the rugs and carpets instantly. If your carpeting is covered with contaminated floodwater coming from sewage, discard it off. If carpet was sunk under water for more than 24 hours, better if you discard it. Use disinfecting carpet cleaner in soiled spots with broom. To remove odors and mildew, rinse with 1 gallon water and 2 tbsp bleach. Don’t use it on nylon or woolen carpets. Dry out the floor and carpet properly before you replace the carpet. You cannot clean the padding, so it is better to replace it.

Flood Damage Restoration Las Vegas

Quite a bit of work, is it? Unfortunately, flood damage repair is no easy task. There is a lot of nuances and you’ll likely just end up throwing in the towel after a few hours. It’s just too hard, especially if there’s a lot of water. And not to mention that it’s also dangerous.

Better leave this work to professionals who do it for a living – professionals like the ones from our group. Precise Water Damage Restoration of Las Vegas works with the go-to flood damage experts so if you feel like you can’t DIY or simply don’t want to risk your health, call us for flood damage restoration in Las Vegas.

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Precise Water Damage Restoration of Las Vegas

Monday, March 6, 2023