Cleaning up a Flooded Home: The Laymen's Guide

There are several important things to be kept in mind while treating a flood damaged home. It's not just a home to be cleaned up; it needs more attention about all of the small yet harmful things within the house. All these points are briefed below.

Steps toward clean up:

Check out if the home is out of danger from building fall down, fire or any other major hazards. If you have time and connectivity, it would be best to contact your insurance agent immediately, if any. You must take a snap of the mess before cleaning it up.

Keeping accurate records of all expenditures towards clean-up and repair bills would be wise. They may be supportive in claiming insurance. If you don't have enough idea about cleaning up a flood damaged home, contact a person having some knowledge in this field.

Important things to be checked and repaired while cleaning up:

Electrical Systems: Make sure that electrical connection to the building is disconnected before entering the home. If the connection from the service line couldn't be disconnected, confirm that the floor isn't wet enough to have an electrical surcharge throughout the building. Once you are inside your home, disconnect all utilities from the connection line.

Have protection for yourself: Exposed body parts like hands and feet must be washed frequently in order to avoid any sort of infection or skin erosions. It is recommended to wear thick, cotton clothing covering maximum portion of the body. Rubber gloves for hands, hard sole shoes covering till knees, goggles and a mask with HEPA filter are mostly used on such situations. This will protect you against contamination and particles.

Floor Coverings: Fibrous and porous flooring materials can't be washed completely. So, they must be tossed. In case of wooden floors, the subflooring needs to be dried properly; otherwise it would be damaged from fungal and bacterial attack.

Wet Insulation: The walls must be checked by an electrician to confirm if the insulation is safe to operate or not.

Household Appliances: Submerged appliances can be tilted slightly to let the water out of it, but only after the electricity or fuel source is turned off or disconnected.