You return from a hard day’s work to see your home turned into a mini water park—probably due to a burst water main or backed up drain. Panic sets in. Your first action is to locate the main water stop valve and turn it off. It is often placed in your basement near the front foundation wall, the water heater or crawlspace if there is one.
What’s next? Here are five essential tips for drying out after major water damage:
- Extract – obviously, you should first try to get out as much water as possible. You could get a cleaning company or do it yourself (you can rent the equipment). The objective is to remove water from floors, carpets, and furniture with the aid of vacuum pumps and extraction units.
- Remove – wet carpet and furniture. You can restore the carpets after drying except when the flooding was due to a sewer backup. Then it has to be discarded. This is no easy task and is best handled by professionals.
- Evaporate – the structural components of your home will be thoroughly soaked with water. It’s critical you dry them out quickly to prevent the growth of mold and bacteria. You can make use of fans, but the industrial air movers used by professionals are more powerful and will get the job done faster
- Dehumidify – the process of evaporating excess water will raise the humidity levels in your home. You should remove the excess moisture in the air with the aid of industrial dehumidifiers. If you live in a dry climate, opening the doors and windows will speed up the process.
- Heat – you can increase the temperature of your homes to speed up drying since warmer air helps dry things out faster. However, once the temperature gets up to about 80 degrees, turn on the A/C as warm air will hold more water. Repeat this process till your home is completely dry.
After drying out your home, it is crucial you disinfect the area to stop mold and prevent bacterial growth. Ideally, this should be handled by professionals with industrial strength disinfectants and tools to help restore your home to its original state.