What to Do When You Find Water in the Home

6/29/2017 (Permalink)

What to Do When You Find Water in the Home

A strong storm that sweeps through quickly and violently, a tropical storm or hurricane, days of steady rain, or even just a backed-up sewage system is all it takes to cause water damage in the home or in the business. Finding water in the home or finding water in the business is devastating, especially when it’s not something anyone predicted in advance. Flood damage from strong storms and natural disasters is almost easy to predict for many who live or work in low-lying areas near bodies or water or along the coastline. It’s when water damage occurs without a storm to assist it that home and business owners begin to worry. Dealing with flood damage is easier for many because it’s an expected issue often realized days in advance.

Dealing with damage from water or from other sources is a little more stressful. Flood damage requires calling insurance, finding out what steps to take, and handling things as they come. With other forms of water damage, homeowners and business owners are sometimes unsure how to proceed. Anyone who finds water in the business or at home should follow these tips.

Water in the Home

When someone finds water in the home, it’s scary. It could be from a leaking pipe, a burst pipe, or the septic or sewer might be backed-up. It might be an array of things, and it means calling for professional help. Finding water in the home means calling a professional restoration company immediately. Leaving water in the home without drying it properly can cause extensive and very expensive damage if it’s not handled immediately. Restoration services help with water cleanup, with the drying process, and with the mitigation process. This helps homeowners learn how to prevent and handle water damage at home.

Water in the Business

When business owners find water in the business location they run, it can mean shutting down, losing money, and losing work. This is an expensive problem before any restoration or mitigation is handled. Water cleanup in the business must happen immediately, and drying the building out is the only way to get people back to work. Professional restoration and mitigation helps move the process along faster, allowing flood waters or other damage to go through the drying process more quickly and efficiently.

How to Handle Water or Flood Damage

Professional restoration and mitigation is required, but there are other steps to take before water cleanup occurs. Business and/or homeowners must call their insurance companies to speak with an adjuster. The adjuster will come out to assess the damage to the claim process can get started. Once it’s started, everything then changes for the better. Now it’s time to begin the water cleanup process with the pros.

While waiting on restoration services to arrive, be sure the electricity in the building is completely shut off. Standing water and electricity are a dangerous combination. Simply taking a power outage into consideration is not good enough as you never know when it might come back on. It’s also important to look for dangerous animals in the water. Snakes and even alligators in many areas in the south aren’t scared to enter a home or business following a flood in which they were displaced.

It’s imperative home and business owners are careful when it comes to flood waters, damage, and other forms of water damage in and around their buildings. It’s not always safe, some water is toxic or filled with bacteria, and many people end up hurt trying to clean up on their own. Safety first is always the answer, and that means calling for professional help when necessary. Water from floods, sewers, pipes, or anywhere else poses a dangerous threat to anyone who is unfamiliar with handling this situation adequately. It requires care and thorough cleaning. Missing even one area of moisture in any building welcomes mold, mildew, and many other issues that cause more expensive repairs down the road.
Visit http://www.SERVPROnorthweststarkcounty.com for more information on water damage.