Home flooding can affect just about anyone, regardless of whether they live by a body of water.  Heavy downpours can fill the lower level of your home with rainwater, or even cause city water systems to overflow through your piping and onto your floor.  Standing water will ruin your carpet, hardwood, or anything else that it touches, and it can quickly become unsanitary and hazardous to humans as well.

If your home has flooded, you should contact a home cleaning and restoration company as soon as the rains have subsided.  You may think that you will be able to handle the water damage cleanup on your own, however in most cases professional assistance is required.  Water damage sets in fast, so it is important to hire someone who knows what to do and who can do it quickly.

Restoring your wet carpet after a flood or water damage can be a big job, but hiring a professional instead of attempting it yourself can get the job done right.

What you can do

There are, of course, a few preliminary steps that you can take to minimize your water damage cleanup cost.  After your home has flooded, your natural reaction will probably be to go through it and collect all of your most important paperwork and possessions.  This is a good first step, as it’s important to get what you don’t want ruined out of the water as soon as possible.  Removing your important possessions will also clear the way for when the professionals come in, and it will make it so you don’t have to worry about telling them what you want saved and what you don’t.

What you should leave to the pros

After removing all of your paperwork and your personal possessions, it is best to sit back and let the professionals take care of the rest.  You might be tempted to start water removal and carpet cleaning on your own, however to do so properly one needs a professional-grade toolset.  Most home cleaning appliances, like shop-vacs and steam cleaners, aren’t powerful enough to handle flood damage, and if you use a vacuum cleaner that isn’t designed to work on water you could get electrocuted.

Despite professional cleaning methods, it’s often the case that water damaged carpet cannot be restored to its original quality.  If this is the case, your carpet will need to be removed and replaced.  If you were tempted to handle carpet cleaning on your own, you will probably be tempted to try carpet removal too; however, carpet removal is actually the most hazardous part of water damage cleanup and should most definitely be left to the professionals.  When a carpeted room floods, hazardous bacteria begins growing immediately, and if you remove water damaged carpet on your own you will be exposed to this bacteria.  Such exposure can make you very sick and even land you in the hospital.

Professional cleaning crews have specialized methods for carpet removal, which include safety gear and proper disposal.  Due to its hazardous nature, most cities will not allow you to simply haul water damaged carpet out to your curb.  Professional restoration companies will properly package your carpet, haul it away, and ensure your health and safety.

About Vince Sandri

Vince Sandri is a content writer and blogger with more than 12 years of experience. His expertise is in creating content related to disaster restoration, including information about preventing and reacting to natural disasters like flooding, water damage, fire and smoke damage, mold growth, storm damage and more.
Vince has been the main contributor to RestorationMasterFinder.com since 2014. Over that time, he has written numerous service pages and blogs for disaster restoration providers featured on RestorationMasterFinder.com. Vince has done extensive research and covered a wide range of topics relating to disaster restoration to help homeowners, business owners, and property managers better protect their property. He understands the problems that disasters like flooding, fire, smoke, and mold can cause as well as the best ways to respond to these issues to limit the damage.
Vince completed his Bachelor of Arts degree at Aurora University and his master’s degree at DePaul University. He has been writing SEO website pages, blogs, and press releases since 2012. Vince is also a musician and can be seen playing in the Chicago, IL area.