Which Flooded Items Can I Save?

Fire Damage Restoration

 

You may not be very sure what you can save after a flood wreaks havoc on the interior and exterior of your home, but there are some definite things that you can save and things that you will have to throw away. 

 

Certain items that have been soaked in dirty flood water for many hours will probably not be salvageable.  Wooden shutters, aluminum, wooden blinds, things made of vinyl, and etcetera can usually not be saved.  Metal items will corrode and wooden items tend to warp over time, since it is porous and soaks up water easily.

 

Any pillows that were in the flood water need to be thrown out, since it will be hard to get rid of all the dirt from the material.  It will also be difficult to completely disinfect them.

 

When you purchase a disinfectant, you should make sure that it is approved by the EPA and that it has a registration number somewhere on the label.  This will assure you that the cleaner meets the EPA’s requirements.  Having the correct disinfectant for the task at hand is also important.  Some disinfectants are only effective on hard surfaces.

 

Before you begin washing your clothing and other fabrics, you should make sure that the water is safe to use and it not contaminated.  If the tap water is safe to drink, it is safe to wash your clothes in.  You also might want to make an effort to sanitize your washing machine before you use it.  You can do this by running some detergent and bleach through the washer using the most water it can handle.

 

You can use a water hose to get rid of mud and dirt that is still on the floors of your home and on the furniture.  Dried mud and dirt can be scraped and shaken off of most textiles.

 

When you are dealing with water damaged furniture, you have only a few options.  If Flood water reached the fabric, it may be stained and if they were in the water for more than a few hours, the silt and dirt that was in the water probably got through both the fabric and the padding.  Unfortunately, padding will retain water and allow mold to grow.  The majority of the time, your best bet will be to simply discard the upholstered furniture altogether.  Restoring this furniture will mean stripping everything down to the frame.

 

If water gets through the finish on some wood items, it will mildew and the joints in the wooden frame of the item may also become loose. 

 

Mattresses or box springs can be saved if they have come into contact with only a minimum of clean flood water (such as broken water pipes), but mattresses that have been come into contact with dirty flood waters cannot be due to the biological and chemical hazards that exist in them.  You should not use a mattress that has a musty odor after it dries, since this means that mold is present.  Have this item sanitized by a professional.

Houston Water Damage Restoration
water Damage Restoration
Flooded Water Damage Repair

Standing Water in the Yard

Miami Hurricane Flood Cleanup

The only thing more unsightly than a yard with no grass is a yard that is covered in patches of standing water. Having standing water in your yard or around the foundation of your home can be a pretty aggravating thing, but there is something that you can do to remedy this situation and will probably not cost you an arm and a leg.

Most of the time, problems with standing water in the yard can be attributed to the yard having uneven elevation all over it. Some parts may be lower than others and will retain water after a heavy or even sometimes a light rain. The simple solution to this is to fill in these lower areas with soil and plant grass over them to hold the new soil in place. Planting grass over it is not only necessary to look good, but also serves the practical purpose of making sure the soil does not just wash away over time.

The other option is to have a drainage system installed in the yard. Call your local building commission first and make sure that you have permission to take on such a project, even if you do own your house and the land it is on. Obtaining a building permit may not be easy and it might take you a few weeks to get one, but it just depends on where you are living at the time.

Dig a ditch in your yard starting at the point you want to drain water from and end the ditch where you want the excess water to be deposited. Slant this ditch downhill about 6 inches for every 100 feet so that water does not simply collect in the pipe and stand there. Lay a small amount of gravel throughout the length of this ditch and put a PVC pipe over it. Cover this with more gravel and cover it again with soil. The gravel will help direct ground water toward the drain’s end. Put some wire mesh or a sink strainer over the highest end of the pipe to keep debris from getting into it. You do not need a strainer at the other end.

If you have somewhat of a sense of humor and like the idea of a small pond in your yard, consider putting a goldfish pond in one of the spots where water likes to collect. Digging it out and keeping it aerated for some fish might add a pleasing effect as long as it is located in the right place.

Miami Fire Damage Cleanup
Orlando FL Water Removal Emergency Service
Nassau County Wet Basement Drying

Well Water Sanitation

Orlando Flood Damage Clean Up

 

There are thousands of people in the United States that have to rely on well water instead of a city water system for the water that they both bathe and drink in.  While there are some filters that you can have installed onto your well to rid the water supply of rust, soil, or other particle debris, there are not really any filters currently that disinfect your water and rid it of bacteria that may be growing in it, such as E. coli.  Cleaning the water yourself manually, though, is always an option by simply using unscented chlorine bleach.

 

Most people chlorinate their well water to disinfect it after some kind of repair has been done, after the well has not been utilized in a long time (like with a summer or winter home), to get rid of bacteria living in it, or to remove hydrogen sulfide buildup. 

 

Before you start the process of cleaning your well water, you need to get enough water put back in jugs or buckets in your house to last the occupants of it for at least the next 24 hours.  The water system in your home should not be used during this 24 hours period at all.

 

You need to use an unscented bleach for this job.  This will have around 3 to 5 percent of sodium chlorite.   You will need to use a different amount in your well depending on how deep and how wide your well is.  If the well is under 50 feet in depth and about 6 inches in diameter, you will need to use between 3 and 4 liters of bleach. 

 

Your water supply should not smell like chlorine after the 24 hours is up.  If it does, you will need to wait longer for the chlorine to be flushed from the system.  You should not drink the water until it no longer smells like bleach.

 

If you notice a significant change for the better in the quality of your water supply after you finish this process, but the issue returns in the next couple of weeks or longer, the process will need to be repeated and you should probably add a bit more bleach to the water.  Repeat the process until the results last or seek help from a professional.  It will be worth it in the long run when you do not have to worry about the safety of your home’s water supply.

Queens Water Removal
Elizabeth NJ Wet Basement Flooding Emergency Service
Queens Water Removal

Draining Water From Your Yard

Houston Water Removal

 

Standing water in the yard is a very unattractive feature of a person’s property not only due to its aesthetically displeasing characteristic, but also because of the potential water damage that it can cause to the property if there is enough of it in the right area.  The owner’s first instinct to fix this problem is to try and plant things in the area where the water tends to build up, but this will not typically work.  Any plants that are put in an area that floods from time to time will drown and die.  Getting rid of the standing water on your property is not too difficult most of the time, since the problem usually lies simply with the elevation of the part of the yard that is affected the most.

 

If it is a problem with the elevation of the flooded area, then all you really need to do is add soil to that area and make it level with the rest of your yard.  This will keep the flooding at bay as long as the water builds up as a result of heavy rain.  Plant some grass over it both to hide the soil and to keep it in place.

 

Installing a drainage system is also an option, but you need to contact your local building commission and be certain that you will be allowed to build a drainage system.  Building permits can be tricky and you need to make sure that your building project is on the up and up before you start working on anything.

 

Digging a French drain is not very difficult to do.  Dig a little ditch in your yard and lay a piece of PVC pipe down inside it.  Cover it up with gravel and this will direct the water anywhere you want it to, like a city sewer or ditch.  When you dig it, you need to be sure that the highest point of the pipe is in the area that you want to drain and that the lowest point is where you want the water to drain to.  You need to make the pipe slant downhill 6 inches for every 100 feet.  To keep soil from getting in the pipe, you should install a strainer over the end.  A simple sink strainer capped over the end could work for this or a piece of wire mesh.  A strainer at the lower end is not needed.

Manhattan Water Damage Repair
Elizabeth NJ Wet Basement
water Damage Restoration

Child Mold Exposure Symptoms

Emergency Water Damage Restoration

If your home contains almost any kind of mold, your children and pets are probably going to be the first ones that show symptoms, especially if they have any allergies or respiratory conditions like asthma or become sick easily. If you notice your child having any trouble with his or her respiratory system and cannot seem to find the cause, checking your household for mold growth might be a good idea.

The symptoms of mold exposure are typically very similar to allergy symptoms, so you may initially mistake them for the symptoms of the child’s allergies. Your child’s pediatrician may claim that it is just seasonal allergies, but in reality, it may be your home that has the issue. Persistent respiratory symptoms like sneezing, hoarseness, rhinitis, eye irritation, and blocked noses can occur as well as dry coughing, productive coughing, and sometimes wheezing. Skin symptoms such as itching and redness also tend to arise in certain uncovered areas of the body, which suggests that the child has touched the growth.

Other symptoms like fever, joint pain, headaches, and excessive tiredness have also been reported. Your child also may show an intolerance to certain foods like mushrooms, bread, and cheeses, while older members of your household may show intolerance to things like wine and beer. Children that are in high-exposure mold conditions such as where the toxic mold Stachybotrys are concerned can exhibit things such as hemoptysis and nose bleeds.

Children in homes containing mold may also show more intolerance to things like cigarette smoke or household chemicals that emit vapors into the air.

If your child does not have any known allergies and they are showing these symptoms with no readily apparent cause, have your home tested for mold by hiring a professional or performing a do it yourself test.

If your home does have mold growth, your child needs to be removed from the area as soon as possible and relocated until the growth is removed. You should realize that even dead mold growth can cause allergic reactions and that until it is removed, your child’s health is at significant risk.

Any items in your home that have become moldy, especially if it is children’s toys such as stuffed animals or bedding, will need to be thrown away. Do not allow children to play with items that have been exposed to flood waters or mold growth.

Westchester County Water Damage Repair
Elizabeth NJ Water Damage Repair
Manhattan Water Damage Repair