Properly Handling Water Damage Situations

When you discover that your home is flooded or afflicted by water damage, it can be highly devastating to see your possessions wet, dirty, and, many times, damaged. The thought of cleaning up after a situation like this can be extremely overwhelming. It’s hard to know where to start and how to dry everything to avoid bacteria and mold growth. Thankfully, you can rely on professional water damage restoration teams to work on this with you to make the recovery process more manageable. The key is calling professionals as soon as possible. The longer your home sits in the water and debris, the more damage it will sustain.

Water Damage Restoration – Pineville

Knowing where to begin may be challenging if you have never dealt with water damage. With so much to do, determining how to handle the situation from the get-go properly may make you feel lost. To minimize the amount of damage that your home could have, act fast and take these steps. 

Contact Insurance

Before you do anything, you need to call your insurance provider. Do not even perform simple tasks such as opening a window or moving furniture. Your insurance provider will be able to tell you the first steps to take to ensure that you can get coverage from this disaster. Be sure to take lots of pictures and videos so your provider can see the full scope of the initial damage. 

Contact Water Damage Restoration Company

After contacting your insurance provider, you will want to get in touch with a professional water damage restoration team to assist you with the cleanup. Your insurance may be able to help you with this step and find a team for you. Either way, you will need this team over to your home quickly to minimize damage. The company will send a crew with the right equipment and tools to remove all traces of water and dampness from your home, furnishings, and furniture. Such specialists also have the knowledge and expertise to deal with mold and mildew, which will start flourishing the moment your home is touched by water.

Go Through Damage

Everything that had touched water will need to be physically examined. Some items can be rescued and restored, while others are beyond repair. The things that require careful checking are furniture, carpets, cabinets, and flooring. Typically, saturated carpets and furniture are discarded, as it would be next to impossible to dry and reuse them. Water damage restoration companies can also help you with this determination, as they have expert knowledge of what can be brought back to life and what is best left to the trash. 

Why Do You Need Professionals To Help With Water Damage?

Water can and will affect everything in a home, including the structural integrity of the building itself. There is no limit to what can be damaged and will need to be replaced or restored. Drywall can crumble and deteriorate, the subfloor can warp and split, and the foundation and concrete can crack. Water present in the foundation will weaken the entire structure unless taken care of promptly and correctly. 

Even worse, water will inevitably attract mold growth within the first 24 hours. No matter the amount of water, mold will always grow and cause issues. Unfortunately, it can cause health problems such as allergic reactions and asthma attacks. Mold will compromise anything near water. If the mold is not immediately taken care of, rampant mold growth could take over a house and, in extreme cases, cause the structure to be condemned.

The best thing you can do for your home to avoid huge problems like mold growth and structural instability is to contact professionals to do the job for you. Hidden water damage is far too typical, even after you feel you have dried everything up. Professionals at Restoration 1 of Greater Charlotte will be able to eliminate this risk and bring your home back to the way you remember it.