Flooding can be devastating for your home, and it’s no fun to deal with either. The repair process needs to start swiftly though. Here’s how to go about it.
Make Sure It’s Safe to Return
All floods are unique, and the damage they cause varies from case to case. If the flood you experienced was bad enough to force you out of your home, you should make sure it’s safe before you return. You first need to check for any visible signs of structural damage to the property. If you can see any warping, cracks or holes in the property, you shouldn’t risk entering it. Get professional help if you’re concerned about the structural health of the property.
The electrical supply to the home also needs to be cut before you enter it. As you should know, water and electricity don’t mix well at all! Go to your fuse box and switch off the main electrical supply to the home. To see where you’re going when you enter the property, you’ll need to take a flashlight. You don’t want to be tripping and falling in there. It’s also important to prepare yourself for what you’ll find before you go inside. Seeing your home and possessions damaged can be difficult.
Call the Insurance Company
As soon as the flood hits, and you’re safe, you should make sure that you call your home insurance provider. If the flood has caused comprehensive damage to a lot of home in your area, the phone line will probably be busy. But don’t give up just because you’re not getting a response. You should keep calling until you get through because it’s important that it gets reported as soon as possible.
Not all types of flood damage are covered by home insurance policies. If you live in an area that is prone to flooding, you should always make sure that your home insurance covers flood damage. You should ask them what your next step should be. They might be happy for you to get going with the repair work. But in some circumstances, they might want to send out their own inspector to look at the damage to your property in person.
Dry Everything Out
Before you go ahead with drying out the home, you should make sure you take plenty of photos of what the home looked like when you first returned to it. This has to be done because your insurer will want to see evidence of the damage before they cough up the cash. So, don’t put yourself in a difficult situation by fixing things before your insurer has seen the damage. When that’s done, you can start to try out your home and its contents.
It’s not an easy or pleasant process but it has to be done as swiftly as possible. Within 48 hours, mold will start to grow, and that can cause severe damage to your property. Take as many wet possessions out of the home and dry them somewhere else. If you can’t manage to dry everything out and aerate your home, then it may be worth contacting professionals offering mold remediation in Manchester, NH (or elsewhere more relevant) to come and deal with any potential mold outbreaks that occur in the weeks following the flooding. In the immediate aftermath, once everything has been taken out of the property to dry, you’ll want to get professionals in to dry the floors, walls and carpets so that you can be sure it’s been thoroughly dealt with. Failing to dry out the structural parts of your home can lead to problems with stability in coming years due to wood rot.
No one wants to have to go through this process. But it’s important to act quickly and carefully when your home floods.
