Flood water damage
Heavy flooding due to torrential rainfall or a burst pipe can devastate a property's interior. This is mainly because items become submerged underwater for a while, leading to water absorption by the house's structural elements. One has to then either try and completely dry the items or replace them with newer ones.
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Most things also lose structural integrity, leading to a danger of the house collapsing. For example, items like wood can warp, swell, and even buckle under water damage.
Others, like soft furnishings, drywall, and composite flooring materials, absorb water like a sponge, resulting in mold and fungal formation.
Water Removal
Once the source of water damage has been contained, it's time to try and do water removal from the property. All the items that can be salvaged, like furniture, furnishings, personal articles of clothing, appliances, and others, must be removed from the premises and inspected for water damage.
Carpet and Carpet Pad
Most houses have a layer of carpet padding and a carpet on top of it on the flooring. However, in heavy flooding, the duration the rug becomes submerged underwater determines the amount of water absorption. Therefore, most carpets would be unusable after being underwater for so long.
There would also be much dirt and other debris mixed in the flood water, clogging the carpet fibers and making it very dirty. So, in the first instance, the ideal thing would be to remove the carpet and its padding layer and put it to dry out in the sun to ultimately try and remove water from it.
Sometimes, machines squeeze out all the water from the carpets, leaving them to dry out. Once dry, a heavy brushing must be done to remove dirt and debris and see if it looks usable.
The type of contaminants in the flood water would also determine if the carpet can be saved or not. For instance, sewage water contains a lot of harmful bacterial content, which is non-sanitary for human health. If the carpet has been submerged in this kind of water, then the ideal thing to do would be to discard the carpet and the carpet padding entirely instead of attempting water removal.
The moisture and dampness in the carpet and padding will soon start to smell as mold and bacterial buildup begins. This microbial buildup is another reason why replacing the carpet, and its padding is advisable after floodwater damage.
Moreover, the carpet padding becomes brittle when it has been dried out after being wet for some time. This can happen when the padding has absorbed a considerable quantity of water and is then allowed to be dried out. So once traffic movement commences on such padding, it will break down quickly and need to be replaced.
Homeowners should try and replace carpet and carpet padding in the event of flooding, no matter the type of water and the duration of water exposure. This is best advised for health and sanitary reasons.
Why American Restoration Professionals?
American Restoration Professionals are a complete service water damage, fire damage, mold remediation, and disaster restoration company in Brockton, MA. Their team of IICRC-certified professionals treat every disaster as a personal one and ensure individual attention and care to every case. They believe in a quick response time and offer excellent restoration services, backed up by a satisfaction survey to ensure the services are on point and up to par.
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They guarantee a 30-minute response time and accept all insurance claims to provide speedy redressal of all disasters. Call American Restoration Professionals at (617) 945-4510 or email us at services@americanrestorationprofessionals.com to get a speedy response to your troubles.
