Insight To Help You Clean Your Home After Water Damage
Water damage inside your home can be destructive to your home's structure and interior and can also put your family at risk of mold exposure. For this reason, it is important to clean up after water damage immediately to prevent further damage and health problems. Here are some tips to help you remedy a moisture damage situation in your home along with the help of an emergency restoration services contractor.
Repairing Wall Damage
When water has run down your home's walls from a leak above, or the wall material has been saturated by standing water upon your home's floors for any length of time, replacement of the wall materials may be likely. Most drywall, once it has become wet, will begin to lose its integrity and break down in structure, requiring it to be removed. Drywall also traps and holds in moisture, causing the material to host mold growth.
Cut out and discard any wet drywall to replace it with new sheeting. If there is evidence of mold growth on the surface or interior of your wall, be sure to bag up the moldy sections you remove to prevent further spreading of the mold spores into your home's air. It is recommended you hire a professional mold remediation company to remove any mold-covered materials if the area of mold covers ten square feet or more.
Remove the wall baseboards and set them outside to dry on a flat surface. The baseboards can usually be dried out and placed back in your home as long as they are not permanently warped.
After you have removed the drywall, inspect the insulation within the wall for saturation. Remove and replace the insulation if it is batting insulation, as it absorbs moisture and can allow mold growth. Look for any mold growth upon the wall joists and clean them with a home cleaner containing bleach.
Remedying Carpet Saturation
If your carpeting has become saturated, use a shop vac or a carpet cleaner to remove as much water as possible, then place fans on the area to dry it out. If there is evidence of mold growth upon the carpet's surface, you can usually clean it to remove the mold. Mold growth within the carpet padding will necessitate the removal and replacement of the padding. Cut the padding out in sections and bag it inside heavy-duty trash bags to contain the mold spores.
To clean mold from the carpet, combine a cleaning mixture of one cup of disinfectant cleaner to the water in a carpet cleaner solution bucket and spray it onto the carpeting. Let it sit for up to 20 minutes, then use the carpet cleaner to pull up the water and the mold. Continue drying out the area with directional fans, a dehumidifier placed in the room, and your home's heating system running.