Floodwaters can contain harmful bacteria and microbes that can make you sick and keep your belongings. Toxins, chemicals and contaminants remain in water-damaged furniture long after it has dried. Leave water in your house for too long and mold, insects, and mildew will accumulate. They can worsen allergies, cause respiratory infections, and aggravate many other health problems.
When drywall gets wet, it deforms, forms bubbles, becomes brittle and begins to discolor. And it's not about repainting over the damage. The only way to repair water-damaged drywall is to cut out the ruined sections and replace them. However, for homeowners who are trying to sell their home, water damage can affect their ability to sell their home for a reasonable price or require extensive repairs before the sale.
If you've experienced a flood, a broken pipe, or some other serious damage caused by water that has soaked or submerged wood structures, drywall, or other porous material in your home, it's best to replace them. Slowly leaking pipes in bathrooms and kitchens, and even a leaking water heater, are more likely to cause long-term damage, as they go unnoticed. It's clear that allowing water damage to go untreated can be a costly and health-threatening mistake. In serious cases, water damage can compromise the structural integrity of the home or foundation, so it's best to address it bluntly.
In the case of minor damage caused by water, dry the house above your home, but if it is a larger damage, you need to have professionals. If, for example, you've only had a small leak under the sink, it's quite easy to remove all the objects damaged by water to assess if they're recoverable. If the leak is in the roof, water could enter through the roofs and damage the insulation and wooden beams. Hardwood floors, for example, deteriorate if any amount of water accumulates and is allowed to sit for about a day, causing the boards to bend and other repair problems.
If you leave water damage for too long, your insurance may not cover it and the cost of water damage to your home may be high. The Center for Disease Control recommends cleaning and drying buildings after floods and water damage within 24 to 48 hours. Remember that mold appears within 24 hours of water damage and spores easily spread to parts of the house that are not affected by water. Because wood is so absorbent, the longer you wait for water damage to be cleaned, the more it will spread throughout the flooring system, warping and bending.
They will assess the level of water damage and the amount of work needed to make your home safely livable. To minimize water damage caused by a major leak or flood in your home, the restoration process should ideally begin within 24 hours.
