Tips To Saving Items Exposed To Water
By: Ken Needles
When you have flooding in the home, if it is minor, just a couple of inches, it can still be a big mess to contend with. Carpeting, draperies, furniture legs, and appliances can all be affected. Any other things sitting on the floor like dog beds, magazine holders, shoes, and almost anything else that you might just drop on the floor or have sitting in the floor for whatever reason, can be damaged by water.
Of course, some of the things can be dried out with no problem if the water was caused by plumbing with clean water coming into the home. If the flooding is caused by a natural disaster, even if it is only a few inches, this can be an entirely different matter. The water from a natural disaster like flooding from rainfall runoff or a river or stream going over the banks, this kind of flooding can be really nasty. It can be filled with all sorts of debris like mud, silt, chemicals, and even sewage. Some of the things that this stuff touches might be better thrown away if it can not be cleaned adequately.
If you have electronics that have gotten wet because of being immersed in water, usually people will think they are ruined. Now if the immersion occurred because of natural disaster flooding with all the nasty debris floating in the water, chances are they could be ruined. If the water was clean from something like a sprinkler system in the home going off or water being spilled on it, or because it was dropped into water for some strange reason, there could be hope for the restoration of some electronic or battery operated items. If the power was not on when they were wet, chances are they can be thoroughly dried out and may work fine.
If your carpeting gets flooded, do not attempt to pull it up yourself even if you have removed most of the water. You might wish to consult with or call in a water damage specialist to find out exactly how to handle this to avoid shrinking the carpet or possible mold issues. The same is true for hardwood floors. Just because the water has been mopped up, if the floors were flooded long enough, they might very well need to be dried professionally to prevent warping and buckling.
If you are not sure how or if certain items can be salvaged or restored when they have been damaged by water, call a water damage professional. They can advise you over the phone if it is a minor issue or they will come out and access your water issue and give you an estimate for cleanup and repair.
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