Water damage repair services in the aftermath of residential flooding with wet carpets, hardwood floors, and bathroom tiles are necessary to provide complete restoration of home or office to pre-flooded conditions.
These initial simple steps can be taken to ensure the safety and protection of your family members and the successful clean up and repair of all damaged areas and items within your home.
- Locate the source of flooding and turn off all valves. You might have to turn off the main valve that opens and closes the water for your entire house or business until the exact source can be located.
- Shut off power at the breaker box to any affected areas until a trained professional can determine the extent of water penetration into drywall and electrical wiring and outlets.
- Keep children and pets out of area and contact a water damage repair specialist to determine what type of water is involved and begin the water extraction and removal in affected areas. The faster the standing water is removed the less flooring, walls and sub-structure are exposed to these damaging conditions.
There are three types of water that can invade your house or business requiring special attention for each. Once the source of water is identified and shut off and the type of water is determined repair to water damaged carpet, walls and furniture can begin.
The three types of water are:
- Fresh Water: or sanitary water. This water can come from a broken pipe inside the structure of your home or a washing machine, sink or bathtub overflow. With this type of flooding carpets can usually be saved and the cost of repair can be minimal compared with water damage from other sources.
- Grey or Brown Water: or unsanitary water. This water can originate from a water heater, dish washer overflow or toilet overflow with urine present. Special care must be taken to disinfect and clean all affected areas due to bacterial concerns.
- Black Water: raw sewage, sea water, or any water that comes in contact with the ground is considered black water. This is highly unsanitary and water damage repair must only be performed by a trained professional. Anyone with cuts or open sores should avoid coming in contact with this type of water.
A good response time to begin repair should be within 24-48 hours after the water damage event takes place to prevent the growth of mold. Extraction of excess water should take place at once. Carpets must be removed from their tack strip and the pad discarded. Furniture must be raised up with Styrofoam blocks to keep additional moisture from further damaging wood and related materials. The floor underneath the carpet should be treated with an anti-microbial spray along with the backside of the carpet, walls, furniture, upholstery and drapes. Environmentally safe products such as Microban are commonly used to inhibit the growth of mold and mildew in these circumstances.
After water removal is performed several types of equipment are needed to be brought in to finish the drying process and further complete repair to the water damaged areas of your home or business.
- High-speed air movers or specialized fans: these fans dry out the surface area of your carpets, tiles, cabinets, wood floors, walls and ceilings. Depending on the amount of water and square area affected will determine the amount of fans needed and the duration for the dry out. Usual dry out time can be 2-3 days but each situation is different and specialized care is always needed.
- Dehumidifiers: crucial to eliminating the high levels of moisture in the air. This equipment removes high humidity levels and is able to dry out sub-flooring and the structural integrity of your home or business such as wall studs and ceiling joists.
Drywall may be dried in place if there is no swelling and the seams are intact otherwise several methods are used to repair water damaged drywall such as drilling small holes in the base of the drywall to release any standing water and circulate air in the walls cavity. Base boards are often removed also. Again a specialist is able to identify and proceed with the best methods for each flooding occurrence.
Call us today and consult with one of our water damage repair professionals to successfully restore your home or business with the least amount of stress and strain on you and your family.
We provide water damage repair throughout Dallas and Ft Worth and the surrounding areas, including Arlington, Plano, Frisco, Richardson, McKinney, Addison, Southlake, Keller, Flower Mound, Colleyville, Grapevine, Lewisville, Trophy Club, Hurst, Euless, Bedford, Haltom City, Cedar Hill, The Colony, Denton, Carrollton, Watauga, Burleson, Weatherford, Mansfield, North Richland Hills, Westover Hills, Irving, Mesquite and Garland.