Priority:
- Even if power has not been restored in your area, turn your power off at the main breaker.
- Turn your gas off at the meter.
- Remove all your personal contents of each room that has be affected.
- Much of the furniture made out of hardwood can be saved if dried out thoroughly and cleaned shortly after it has been wet.
- It is important to protect your home from further damage so you might want to resist the urge to begin cleaning and disinfecting your personal items until you have removed all the materials needed from your home to minimize further damage.
Materials to remove:
- All the sheetrock that has been exposed to the water, plus we recommend due to the nature of how much the material will soak up moisture to start removing the sheetrock 12 inches above the water line.
- All the insulation behind the wall coverings and again we recommend to begin 12 inches above the water line.
- Carpet, pad and any laminate flooring.
- Most vinyl floor coverings should be removed. On occasion we have found some industrial floor tiles that have been glued on concrete surfaces that weather flooding well, but for the most part vinyl floorings should be removed.
- Hollow core doors
- Paneling (It is often best to take the whole sheet of paneling off, you may find depending on the quality of the paneling used you may be able to save some if not all of it.) Plus there maybe sheetrock behind the paneling.
- Cabinets (If your cabinets are made out of plywood there is a good chance you can save some or all of your cabinets, but in order to get to the material that must be removed you will need to remove your cabinets from the wall.)
- Any wall tiles that have been installed onto sheetrock. If your ceramic tiles have been installed on a cement backer board you should be fine to leave it. That is if you can access any insulation that may be behind the wall that is tiled.
Materials worthy of saving:
- In our experience we have found most of the hardwood and ceramic floors that have been properly installed can be saved.
- Cabinets that have been built out of plywood or solid wood.
- Wood trim, baseboards and crown molding.
- Walls that are plastered are often very hardy and can be saved, it will take more time for them to dry. But after drying if the plaster hasn’t separated from the wood laths you will be able to repaint. (Be sure to check that plastered walls have a way to drain any water collection inside the walls. Also if there is batten insulation you may need to remove enough plaster to remove the insulation.)
Once all the water-affected items have been removed the critical task is to dry your home out.
- Open the windows and doors if the humidity level outside is lower than what is inside.
- Fans are very helpful to circulate air
- Open all closets and cabinet doors so the air can circulate those areas.
- You may want to use desiccants where getting air to circulate is too difficult like closets.
- For example cat litter made of clay.
- Dehumidifiers work very well.
- Work to restore power to the air-conditioning units, which will help greatly to drying out your home.
Suggestions for the use of bleach.
- Diluted bleach can be a very helpful in the cleaning of your flooded belongings, but remember it is a very toxic product and care needs to be used.
- In treating for potential mold spores, we recommend you consider a product like Mold Blaster. This can be purchased at your local hardware store.
- Avoid reintroducing water into your homes especially in areas that are constructed with wood stud walls, when cleaning your areas to prevent the development or spread of mold.
