If your home has experienced flooding, it’s important to act fast. Not only will standing water damage, decay, and rot everything it touches, but it could pose serious safety risks for you and your family. Whether the water is in a basement or spreading across your main floor, you need to know what to do.
Here are the first actions you should take when experiencing any type of flooding in your home.
What’s the Cause?
If possible, you’ll want to stop the source of the flooding. For many people, it’s a case of excess rain or melting snow causing water to pool in their basement. If that’s your situation, you can’t exactly turn off the clouds or sun. You can however check to see if your gutters are properly attached and doing their job.
If it’s melting snow, you might be able to grab a shovel and move whatever is left away from your home. If the flooding is the result of a burst pipe, you should turn off your water right away.
Watch Out for Electricity
Even an inch or two of water can pose a serious safety risk. Especially if you have a power strip or any other electronic device on the ground. If you can reach the circuit breaker safely, turn the power off. Otherwise, call an electrician and get assistance.
Remove Important Items
Once things are safe from electrical dangers, you can remove any important items from the flooded area. The longer they remain in the flooded area, the more likely they’ll be permanently damaged. Even if it’s not touching the water, the moisture could cause damage.
With quick action, you can hopefully save anything of value.
Contact Your Insurance Company
Flooding isn’t something that is always covered in home insurance policies. Even if it is, it can be highly situational. If you’re thinking you won’t be covered, it still doesn’t hurt to reach out to your provider. Flooding repairs can be costly. Additionally, valuable items might have been lost.
Take Pictures
If you do have insurance coverage, you’ll want to document everything immediately. This includes taking pictures of the affected area, as well as any items that were damaged. A video walkthrough can help as well.
Contact an Emergency Repair Service
If you have flood protection, you may have to wait for an adjuster to visit before repairs can take place. Whether you have coverage or not, you’ll want to get the water removed and your home repaired as quickly as possible.
The longer the water sits, the more your home will become damaged. It will also increase the likelihood of mold and mildew.
Flood repair isn’t something you should try and perform yourself. Properly removing water and moisture is a multi-step process best left to professionals. For water damage restoration in Springfield, Ohio and the surrounding area, contact Reliant Restoration today!