Protect Your Home From Water Damage

9/18/2020 (Permalink)

When you don't know what to do, call your local SERVPRO to help get you back to preloss conditions.

It’s 5pm, and you get home from a long day at work. You decide to go down to the basement to grab something from the freezer to make for supper. You get to the bottom and, smush, water everywhere!

What do you do? Say some choice words and think “Ugh, not today.”

In this case, call your insurance agent to let them know you have a claim to call in, then investigate where the water is coming from.

Water damage does not always come from a heavy rain or a storm. It can come from a broken pipe, an overflowing toilet or sink, a crack in the foundation where water may have been pooling. Once you know where the water is coming from, you can begin the steps to stop it and mitigate the damage.

If the water is indeed coming from a pipe or overflow, it is important to know where your water shutoff is in your home or business. Emergency Ready Profiles are available, and it’s a handy tool to know where it is and how to shut it off.

Once that is done, immediately call a restoration and cleaning company, like SERVPRO. Unless you have a water shop vac and a few air movers and dehumidifiers, it may take you awhile to clean it and we want to avoid mold at all costs. Mold growth can happen within days of the water damage, hence why mitigation is essential. The restoration company can do moisture readings and determine what is needed to dry the space, and get you back to where you were before the damage. They can also determine if any drywall or insulation will need to be replaced or removed to dry. This all happens while working with your insurance. Any reconstruction that may be needed will need to be done by a company that specializes in that but luckily, SERVPRO utilizes a company that can do those things.

It never hurts to do maintenance on any pipes or check on the water shut off, but in the case that something happens and you have water, those are some steps to take towards mitigation!