Water damage to your home, whether a consequence of a flood, of excessive rain or of an issue that could have been prevented, such as a burst water pipe, is among the most devastating events that you will ever have to face on your property and also one that needs to be tackled in a timely manner. Here are the steps of water damage remediation.
Call Your Insurer
The first thing to do when you notice the damage is to call your insurance provider for assistance and advice. Your agent or broker will tell you exactly what to do and they can also help you find a suitable water damage removal company to handle the mitigation process in case of extensive water damage.
Ensure the Safety of Your Home
If the water damage is limited to one room, such as a bathroom flooded by an overflowing toilet or by a damaged plumbing fixture, you can ensure the safety of the place by disconnecting only the circuit that provides electricity to the affected area, but if the damage is more extensive, such as a flooded basement or multiple rooms affected, the safest way to act is to disconnect the gas supply as well as the electricity in the entire house. When the damaged area is safe to enter, document the damage – take pictures of the damage and also record videos to be able to attach the evidence to your insurance claim later.
Decide Whether You Need Professional Clean-up
You can clean the dirt caused by a small form of water damage on your own, but the best way to proceed in the case of extensive damage is to call a professional Phoenix water damage remediation company. You can either hire a company recommended to you by your insurance representative or you can search for professional company to handle the process for you.
If you choose professional water damage restoration, the team that will arrive at your address will check whether the area to be cleaned is safe indeed, then they will install and turn on their high-capacity pumps to extract any slurry and contaminated water. When the water has been removed, they will remove everything from the room (if the ponding water in the area allows it, this step might be handled prior to the extraction phase) and they will continue drying the space with professional tools, such as high-capacity ventilators and various other methods to remove as much of the lingering moisture as possible.
Even though modern water damage mitigation technologies are very efficient, you cannot expect to be able to immediately move back into your home that was under water not long ago. The excessive moisture might take very long to evaporate completely and if your home has been damaged by a flood, professional cleaning might be necessary for the walls, the floors and of everything that has come into contact with the potentially contaminated water. To avoid the appearance of mold and mildew, you might need to remove the drywall, the insulation and the flooring in the affected rooms, but you can make a decision about those tasks only after the water removal is complete and your space is safe to enter again.