Waking up to see that the basement in your home is flooded can be a huge problem. It could be due to rain, a leaking pipe or even a storm. The thing is, it needs to be cleaned up as soon as possible to minimize damage to your home.
What should you do? Where do you begin? This blog post sheds light on how you should clean up a flooded basement:
Stay Safe
Before you even step into the basement, it is a good idea to kill the power.
You may need a wooden rod or mop to turn the switch off. Also, make sure that you have rubber boots on to avoid contact with water. If you don’t want to deal with electricity trouble, call over a professional electrician to help you out.
Put On The Right Clothes
You will need to take a dip in the mess and your clothing needs to fit the task. Put on an old shirt, waterproof gloves, boots, and a face mask. There are a lot of bacteria, germs, dirt and debris floating around. You don’t want to accidentally ingest, come into contact or inhale anything down there.
Drain It Out
Due to the extensive flooding, your basement now has a microclimate of its own. You don’t want to drain all the water quickly. According to physics, this will create high pressure from the outside, causing the walls to cave in. Go slow and mop up the extra water gradually.
Clear Everything Out
Before you move onto drying your basement, move away all objects. Furniture, rugs, and boxes need to be moved quickly. If there is carpet down there, call in a carpet cleaning services to save you the trouble.
Once everything is moved, it is now time to act fast; not too fast to cause high pressure on the outside, and you don’t want to go too slow to give time to bacteria to grow. If you have any windows, flip them open to make up for airflow. Gather all the fans you have in your home and move them to the basement. Avoid using any electrical appliances that have been underwater for long periods.
Dry It Out
As the room starts to dry out, bring in mops and other cleaning essentials. Start off by cleaning all the walls around and then get down to the floor. Touch up all areas that may have come in contact with the mess.
Follow these steps to clean up your flooded basement. Run dehumidifiers and fans for longer periods to avoid the musty smell and bacteria growth.
Do you have a flooded basement and don’t know what to do? Get in touch with us to learn more how we can help.