How to Dry Out Your Home After Water Damage
When you spill a cup of water, you can easily and quickly wipe it up. However, if you have a hundred gallons of water in your home, it’s not as easy to resolve. In fact, it’s typically recommended that you only attempt to dry your home yourself if all the following are true:
- You can definitively identify the source of the water
- The water is from a one-time event
- The water has been in place less than 24 hours
- The water is from a clean source
- Water isn’t soaked into ceilings and walls
Otherwise, it is recommended that you contact water damage restoration professionals to handle the situation. If you think you can handle the situation yourself, follow these steps.
Stop the Water Source
The first step in getting your home dry is stopping the source of water. If it’s coming from burst pipes, turn off the water at the main cutoff. If it’s coming from a broken roof or window, you might need to wait until the rain stops to complete even temporary repairs. If you’re unable to identify and stop the water source, you should contact a water damage restoration company at once.
Remove Standing Water
After you’ve stopped the water source, you should try to remove standing water. You can take one quick picture that shows the height of the water to provide comprehensive documentation to your insurance company once you file a claim.
You can try to remove standing water with whatever tools you have on hand. A wet vac or drainage pump can suck up a lot of water to get rid of standing water. Lacking this, you should use buckets, mops, towels, and other items that can get the standing water removed as quickly as possible.
Caution: if water has reached the level of outlets or electrical equipment that is plugged in, shut off all the affected circuits before trying to remove water. Again, if you have this much water, it’s best to let water damage restoration professionals handle it.
Document the Damage
With the standing water gone, you can take a moment to document the water damage. Take pictures of all waterlogged items as well as the walls and ceiling. This can help you get compensation from insurance for the damage.
Assess Wall and Ceiling Damage
Now it’s time to examine the walls and ceiling to determine the extent of damage. Drying walls and ceilings can be complicated and if it’s not done properly, it can lead to mold, structural weakness, and potential collapse in the future. For this reason, you should have this assessment performed by a professional water damage restoration company who can ensure it is done correctly.
If you see wet areas in the ceiling or on the wall, you will want to determine if there is water behind it. Poke a small hole (about the size of a finish nail) in ceiling areas where you expect water. If water comes out, move to the other side of the joist or stud and create a new hole until you have determined how much water remains behind the wall or ceiling. This only works if you don’t have insulation in the wall or ceiling, which can hold moisture and keep it from flowing.
Alternately, if you have a moisture sensor, you can use this to determine the amount of water behind the drywall or other material.
Again, if you have significant water behind the wall or ceiling, it is strongly recommended that you get professional help with drying.
Remove Waterlogged Materials
Now it’s time to remove all saturated contents from the space. This will reduce the moisture content of the room and help the room as well as the contents to dry.
This includes saturated carpet and carpet pads. If the water was from a clean source, the carpet can be dried and reinstalled, but throw out the carpet pad and replace it. Don’t trust a shop vac to get enough water up to allow the carpet to dry on the floor. Sometimes professional water extraction equipment can get enough water up to allow the carpet to remain, but in general if you had standing water in your room, your carpet will likely need to be removed and dried separately.
Move waterlogged materials to dry rooms or outside. In dry rooms, make sure you put down sufficient floor covering to catch dripping water.
Start Ventilation
Encourage airflow through the affected rooms and rooms that contain wet content. Use fans to direct airflow into and out of the space.
In general, avoid having fans blow directly on the items you are drying. This can lead to uneven drying, which can make the item warp. It might seem smart to use heat to speed drying, but this can lead to mold growth, so it’s best to avoid heat unless you are an experienced water damage restoration professional who understands the optimal conditions for drying without encouraging mold growth.
If you have them, use dehumidifiers in the affected areas or rooms with wet contents.
Dry Contents
Now you should start drying the waterlogged contents of your home. FEMA has a good fact sheet on how to salvage different types of items. You can determine which items are worth the trouble of saving. If you have any especially valuable items and aren’t sure of your ability to dry them safely, contact water damage restoration professionals who have experience drying water damaged items.
Choose RestorePro for Water Damage in Tennessee and the Carolinas
RestorePro has been the leading water damage restoration company in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee for over 30 years. We have nine locations across these three states, so we probably have a location that is close to you.
When you contact us, we will get out right away and begin work by assessing the damage to your home, talking to you about your restoration goals, such as what you want to maintain, what you want to let go, and what you might want to change about your home. Then we will get to work achieving all your goals to the full extent possible.
We offer 24/7 emergency response water damage restoration services, so we can arrive at any time of day or night that you experience water damage. We can handle every aspect of the restoration process, from initial damage assessment through all repairs.
RestorePro also works directly with your insurance company, which makes the claims process easier and faster for you. We report the damage and every step of the restoration process so that you can get fast compensation in the full amount of your coverage. You won’t have your settlement delayed or reduced because of poor documentation.
If you have water damage in your home, don’t risk making it worse by making mistakes in the drying process. Contact RestorePro today for help with your water damaged home.
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