Dealing with water damage requires urgency because you don’t want to wait for some materials in your home to become the perfect breeding ground for mold or bacteria and do harm to your wellbeing.

After you’ve gone through the shock of water damage, whether big or small, it is important to react quickly and do what you can to try and help salvage whatever you can.

In order to find out more how to deal with this disaster I sought help from professionals; Risk-Free Serv gave me a good piece of advice on how to properly react and what measures to take.

Type of Water

There are three types of water that might do damage to your home. Regular water you use every day, gray water or dirty water from toilets, sinks, washing machines or in any way water already used, and black water from sewers, rivers, or any other contaminated source which can be very harmful to your health.

You can deal with clean and gray water yourself and it is recommended to use safety equipment, but black water should be dealt with by professionals who possess the right equipment and expertise to help preserve as much of your belongings as possible and keep you safe and healthy in the process.

Mold

Yet another unwelcome guest that very usually follows up disasters like floods. Once everything is over and you start dealing with the damage, it is crucial to check damaged areas of your home, remove a damaged part, put it in a plastic bag, and throw it away.

Note that it might take up to 24 hours for mold to appear and disregarding it can be dangerous as it can be harmful. Other areas like attics, space beneath the floors, or simply the inside of walls can achieve good conditions for mold to grow.

The best way to deal with it is to contact water damage and mold professionals and let them perform a thorough investigation and once they are sure that mold is not present, you may resume the restoration.

Dry It Out

The next step is to dry everything out as soon as possible. This depends on the amount of damage and particular areas affected by the flood. It is recommended to open all doors and windows to let the airflow, you can combine that with fans to strengthen air circulation.

Use dehumidifiers and vacuum cleaners to mechanically remove as much moisture as you can. If you can’t obtain good enough equipment or you need the help of professional water damage restoration services, which will provide quality of the service and takes less time to get everything done. 

Ceilings First

If you notice that your ceiling was damaged it is best to deal with that first because you don’t want gravity to do even more damage. It can sometimes be hard to locate the source of the leak and it might sometimes be required to remove a large chunk ceiling and investigate to see where the leak is coming from. If you hire professionals they will check if there was any damage to the structure and inform you of the steps you need to take.

Dealing with Wood

Wood is something that most likely would have to be replaced due to potential risks of mold growth and rotting. If you have wooden floors then you need to replace all the damaged boards and make sure you clean thoroughly beneath. If your home consists largely of wood you need to be extra careful when you want to replace structural components and try not to cause additional damage.