Avoid These DIY Water Removal Mistakes Every Homeowner Makes!

Sharing is caring!

Prompt, efficient water removal after a flood is vital for homeowners, ensuring that the home is safe and hygienic and ready for occupation, and to ensure water damage doesn’t get worse over time! While fast water removal is vital, it’s also best left to the pros. Inefficient water damage cleanup increases the risk of mold growth in the home as well as added damage to building materials and interior surfaces.

Before starting water removal, it’s vital that a homeowner disconnect all power supplies and electrical sources and stem the source of flooding. Steam cleaning and disinfecting carpets and other surfaces is vital, as is mold remediation after cleanup.

While it might seem like an easy task to remove water after a flood or fire, water damage cleanup is more complicated than many homeowners realize. If done incorrectly, a water-damaged home is at greater risk of mold and mildew growth, as well as damage to its framework and building materials.

To ensure your house is secure and safe for reoccupation after a flood, plumbing disaster, or fire, note some vital information about water removal and water damage cleanup, as well as mold remediation services. You can then discuss your options for repairs with a water damage cleanup company near you and ensure your home and family, or your business and its occupants, are safe!

What Is Water Damage Restoration Service?

To better understand common mistakes to avoid after a flood or other disaster, you might note some details about professional water damage restorations services. You might then appreciate why this work is best left to the pros and why it’s often more complicated than homeowners realize!

• Before any water damage restoration services, it’s vital that all electrical sources in a home or business are shut off. Homeowners often know to shut off the circuit breaker to the flooded area of the home but might not realize that water traveling behind walls and underneath carpeting might conduct electricity to other areas as well! A professional water damage cleanup company ensures power to the home is disconnected until they’re certain it can be restored to unaffected areas.
• Powerful vacuums remove standing water from flooded areas quickly and easily. A homeowner might try a wet-dry vacuum to remove standing water but note that this equipment is heavy and cumbersome, especially when full of water! Homeowners also often fail to empty a wet-dry vacuum correctly, allowing for dirty water to splash around a laundry tub or other receptacle, creating more of a mess. A professional water damage restoration contractor ensures dirty water is contained and removed properly, without splashing and splattering or creating another mess in the home.
• A sump pump also removes standing water but this equipment is also difficult to use properly. Pumping dirty and unhygienic water into a bathtub or laundry tub also creates added health concerns if those basins are not cleaned properly after water removal services.
• Water from an outside flood or plumbing disaster is often full of bacteria and other harmful contaminants. A simple dust mask and household rubber gloves are often insufficient protection against these health hazards. Professional water damage restoration contractors ensure they have proper protective clothing and a breathing apparatus, so they don’t breathe in unhealthy residues while cleaning your home.
• Carpeting, drywall, and wood framing absorb water rather quickly, which is why it’s vital that areas underneath carpeting and behind walls are tested for humidity levels during cleanup. Homeowners often neglect to extract floodwaters from underneath carpeting and its underlying padding and from behind walls, increasing the risk of eventual mold and mildew growth in the home. Professional water damage restoration services often pull up carpeting and padding, to ensure proper drying or to note if water-damaged padding needs replacing.
• To ensure all excess water is removed, a professional water damage cleanup crew might use dehumidifiers in a space, extracting water from the air so it doesn’t settle back into carpets and other surfaces!
• As drywall and wood framing absorb water, these materials often become soft and crumbly. Drying them is often insufficient; professional water removal services ensure that damaged material beyond repairs are replaced as needed.
• Sanitizing is a vital part of water removal services but a step many homeowners overlook! Carpet fibers and drywall absorb germs and bacteria and these contaminants are often left behind as water is extracted. Professional water damage cleanup services include sanitizing of surfaces, ensuring they’re safe and hygienic and harmful contaminants don’t become airborne after cleanup.

What Is Mold Remediation and When Is It Needed?

There is a difference between mold remediation services and mold cleanup; remediation refers to preventing something before it occurs. Mold remediation services include monitoring a water-damaged home or business for the risk of mold growth, ensuring that you decrease that risk as much as possible, and addressing mold growth as it occurs and before it has a chance to spread.

A mold remediation services company typically checks humidity levels during water removal and cleanup services. Those humidity levels are continuously monitored, to ensure an area is as dry as possible, thereby reducing the risk of mold growth. Proper sanitizing including steam cleaning carpets also kills developing mold spores underneath carpeting and behind walls.

As it’s often impossible to stop mold growth completely, mold remediation services ensure developing mold spores are killed as quickly as possible and before mold can spread throughout any given area. Mold remediation services are vital after any significant flood or fire. However, if mold has developed along walls or in other parts of a structure, you then need mold cleanup services!

How Much Does Water Extraction Cost?

As every flood is different, the cost of water extraction is also different from property to property! On average, a homeowner might pay anywhere from $150 to $500 for water damage cleanup after a plumbing disaster or outside flood, and commercial water damage repairs might be more expensive as commercial buildings are often larger than residential homes.

Whatever your water extraction costs, it’s vital that you invest in this service as needed, and as quickly as possible. Drywall, carpeting, and other materials absorb more water the longer you wait to call for water extraction. The more water absorbed, the more likely it is that these materials will be damaged beyond repair and the greater the risk of mold and mildew growth!

As floodwaters often contain germs, bacteria, and other contaminants, it’s also vital that these be removed and surfaces sanitized quickly and efficiently. Moving back into your home or opening the doors of your business before the structure is clean and hygienic can mean long-term health consequences and potential liable for a business owner! Your water extraction costs are then an investment in your health and the safety of your house or business.

What Are Fire Restoration Services?

Fire restoration services and water damage repair are similar; in some cases, you might need both water removal services and fire repair services! Large amounts of water are often used to put out a house fire and, like floodwaters, that water doesn’t just evaporate and might increase the risk of eventual mold growth in the home.

After any needed water removal services, fire restoration includes replacing materials damaged beyond repair. Carpet cleaning services remove fire suppression foam as well as residual soot and ash from flooring. Fire cleanup services wash away smoke stains from ceilings and walls while odor neutralizing services remove the smell of smoke and any lingering mildew smells.

How to Avoid Water Damage in the Home

Note a few tips for avoiding otherwise unnecessary water damage cleanup and repairs in your home:

• Pay attention to area flood warnings. If your home is in the path of a flood, place rolled-up towels along the bottom of entryway doors to keep floodwaters out of the home as much as possible.
• If your area is prone to consistent flooding, invest in a sump pump and learn how to use it correctly before floodwaters arrive.
• Clogs and other damage lead to burst pipes and flooding, so invest in regular plumbing maintenance as needed. Have plumbing pipes inspected every year for cleanout and repairs.
• Ensure waterbeds, aquariums, and other water features in the home are in good repair.
• Keep a home’s roof in good repair. A collapsed roof or sagging sections allow in water and moisture, leading to water damage inside the home.

Related Questions

How long does it take to repair water damage?

The extent of damage to a house or business affects the time it takes to repair water damage. Fire restoration cleanup and mold remediation services also increase repair times. Most flooded homes or businesses typically require anywhere from 3 to 6 days for full water damage cleanup and repairs.

How can you tell if your house needs water removal services?

While large floods are obvious, a home might need water removal services if you notice stains on the ceiling and along the bottom parts of walls. A musty, mildew smell in the home also typically indicates water damage. Insects are often drawn to standing water so a pest infestation might indicate a plumbing leak, as does the sound of water dripping or rushing behind walls.