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Frequently Asked Questions: WATER
Water. It flows through our homes every day, and we take it for granted as long as it remains safely contained within the pipes. But imagine coming home from work to find that a washing machine hose or an icemaker line has broken loose, or worse yet, returning from a two-week vacation to find that a pipe has frozen and burst in your absence. Now the water we take for granted has become quite a destructive force, insinuating itself everywhere and doing more damage by the minute as it soaks in.
No matter the source, water damage in your home or business is something that needs to be dealt with quickly and correctly. Improper or incomplete drying can result in a variety of unpleasant consequences, now and well into the future.
Most water damage situations, with the possible exception of floods and other ground water, are typically covered under your homeowner's insurance policy. But covered or not, you need to protect your home by taking whatever immediate actions you reasonably can to minimize the damage. This is what the insurance companies call "loss mitigation," and it is actually a provision of most homeowner's insurance policies.
Milligan's Hurri-Clean encourages you to follow these steps to make restoration of your property quicker and easier:
Your first step is always to find and stop the source of the water. If the toilet or washing machine line is leaking, you can shut off the valve that supplies that fixture and stop the leak. If a pipe is broken, it will probably be necessary to shut the water to the entire house until the leak is repaired.
Next, do what you reasonably can to minimize the water damage. This may be as simple as sopping up the water with towels, or using a wet/dry vacuum to suck up standing water. Do not, however, take steps on your own if the water contains sewage, such as from a toilet backup. The bacteria in the water can be very dangerous and needs to dealt with using proper protective equipment.
Also, as soon as possible, move contents above or away from the water, either by moving them to another room or by lifting them and setting plastic or even small blocks of wood underneath. Pay particular attention to cardboard and paper products, which absorb water very rapidly, and also to wood furniture. Much of today's furniture is made with a thin wood veneer over a core of particleboard, and this material also will rapidly absorb water. Another problem with contents is staining - metal furniture legs will rust and stain carpets, and antique furniture will often bleed stain and dyes onto carpet that cannot be removed.
A common mistake is to crank up the heat in an attempt to dry things out. Excessive heat can suck the moisture out of surfaces much too quickly, resulting is secondary damage such as cracking, splitting and warping. This is particularly true with artwork, antique furniture and musical instruments that have a very low moisture content to begin with. All of these items will absorb moisture more rapidly and are even more vulnerable to the effects of heat and rapid drying.
See how Milligan's can help you with water damage, click here.
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