What are the Best Steps to Take When a House Floods in Mahopac?
9/27/2020 (Permalink)
When Your Mahopac Home Floods After a Storm, Calling in SERVPRO to Address Flood Damage is the Best First Step
Many disasters can happen to your home, but flooding happens to be the least predictable when thinking of the potential damage that may develop. Many homeowners can salvage most of their interior and belongings while only having to dispose of some items, including curtains and carpeting. In other cases, the devastation of water intrusion after a major storm can bring hundreds of thousands of dollars with significant repairs. Of course, the threat of potential mold development behind walls and other small spaces means that you need to help trained professionals. SERVPRO is available for help to ensure that you can save as much of your Mahopac home as possible.
What About Homeowner’s Insurance Coverage?
When it comes to flood damage in Mahopac, many people may not realize that their current policy does not offer flood coverage until it is too late. Even if there is the chance to qualify for a bank loan or disaster relief, such sources may sometimes fall short of all costs involved - which includes ensuring that your water-logged home is not only safe, functional, and sanitary once again.
SERVPRO knows how scary and disheartening it can be to get displaced from your home once flood damage occurs. You may worry if the structure is compromised and safe to occupy. Then, there is the worry that your family gets subjected to potential health effects from mold onset. This is where we spring into action to get to work on water extraction, drying, and sanitizing your home so that you can get back to life before the flood. We are Faster to Any Size Disaster, and our crew is here to inform you of your options for handling your flood-damaged home.
Are There Risks of Contamination with Flood Water?
When there is a massive storm, and the waters get high, there is potentially a broad range of contaminants, including:
- Mud
- Debris
- Bacteria
- Sewage
- Chemical toxins, and more
When flooding occurs in Mahopac, it generally disrupts local sewage disposal and water purification systems. This, along with chemical spillage and overflow from toxic waste sites, creates a perfect storm for harmful contaminants.
Once this contaminated floodwater gets absorbed by the porous materials throughout your home, they bring potential hazards to your health and anyone living in your home. SERVPRO will help you to determine what must get disposed of, including items like:
- Rugs
- Carpeting and carpet padding
- Upholstered furniture
- Saturated belongings
- Vinyl flooring, and more
Some of these items might especially call for disposal if they have been submerged in water for longer than 24 hours. Any salvageable items like those made with plastic, glass, porcelain, and concrete will have to be thoroughly cleaned, dried, and disinfected as soon as possible.
What Other Hazards Could Be Present?
Once you have a flood, it is essential to note that there may be a risk of fire in addition to water damage. Fire can become a problem because of:
- Attempting to use any electronics or appliances that have been exposed to floodwater or moisture
- The improper use of a generator
- Gas line leaking
- Water that is electrically charged
- The inappropriate use of heating devices, and more
When SERVPRO is on the job, we can handle all of your flood damage needs. We come in so that we can fully assess your interior, never leaving any area unaddressed. During our inspection process, we take a look at:
- Walls and ceilings
- Electrical systems
- Flooring and floor coverings
- Behind baseboards and cabinets
- HVAC (heating and cooling) systems
- Air ducts, and more
Time is of the essence when extracting water from and drying your home. We work fast to include mold prevention while ensuring that we can preserve as many of your personal belongings as possible. All of our crew wear the appropriate personal protection equipment (PPE) for our safety and keep tracking of contaminants to a bare minimum.
When cleanup and restoration begin, we set up a staging area to have our equipment handy and ready to go. Our crew will also seal off zones within your home to keep flooded areas and unaffected areas safe from cross-contamination. The specialized methods and planning that we have in place allow us to mitigate the flood effects while continuously adjusting our course as we go along. Everything is done in unison so that we can achieve our drying goals faster.
To wrap up your restoration project, your interior is fully finished with the help of repainting, refinishing, and deodorization. All traces of the storm and subsequent flooding get removed so that your interior is back to preloss condition, just “Like it never even happened.”
Never wait when you have flood damage looming in your home. Call SERVPRO of Putnam County today at (845) 228-1090, and we will send out a crew to get to work as soon as possible.