Common Questions After Water Damage To Your Home
Q. What should I be doing myself in the outcome of water damage to my property?
A.
- Turn water off at main
- Contact plumber
- Contact Insurer / real estate / owner
- Contact Water Restoration Company
- Pick up and move items out of the wet areas
- Move as much furniture out the way as possible
- Use of toweling to try and prevent the spread of the water
- Mop up any hard floor areas
- Wait for help
Q. Are all water damage claims the same?
A. No. Water can change from clean water to black water within 7 days. It depends on the level of bacteria in the water. The size of the area can vary and where the source of the water can vary.
Q. Should I get help straight away or is the next day ok?
A. That really depends on the type of water, the size of the area affected, the subfloor, carpet type, backing type, underlay, wooden floor, which level is affected etc. It is best to call a professional and ask for advice.
Q. How long does it take to dry the carpet?
A. The carpet alone should only take 1 to 2 days to dry if extracted properly, but the carpet is not the only area we require to dry. Knowing that wet moves to dry, the underlay and the subfloor will require drying as well. Touching this is the walls. Dehumidification may be required to dry out the structure.
Q. Is the process noisy?
A. The air movers required to circulate the area do have an unpleasant sound. The dehumidifiers are not so noisy. The quicker we can dry the areas, the quicker we can remove the equipment. Remember, concrete takes up to 4 weeks to dry an inch in a house.
Q. Is my carpet able to be salvaged or should I get it replaced?
A. Carpet is very resilient. Most carpets in good condition can be wet up to several days before any delaminating will occur. A professional restorator will be able to restore back to predamaged condition, NOT NEW.
Q. Will all the stains come out?
A. The stains are called Browning marks. This is caused by the cellulosic backing to the carpet. It is a matter of balancing the chemical reaction to remove the marks. Wood grain stains from where furniture may have been sitting is a little harder. This will have to be assessed by a qualified technician and reported back to the insurer.
Q. How much does it cost?
A. This is a very hard question to answer. Carpet and underlay don't take all that long to dry, but the subfloor can take from 1 day to 4 weeks to dry. It all depends on how easily the subfloor releases the moisture.
Q. Do I need to get my carpets cleaned after the job?
A. As part of the restoration, carpets should be professionally steamed cleaned. The soil in the carpet has bacteria, your carpets need to be resanitized. Also the carpets should be as dry as possible after the cleaning process as your carpets were dry before the water damage occurred.
Q. Can I tell if all or any of the areas are dry?
A. It is very difficult to tell which areas are dry with out the aid of a moisture detection unit. Moisture detection readers enable you to find out the exact amount of moisture in an area. These readings are required to be the same in the area affected as in areas unaffected.
For more information on Water Damage and Cleaning, please see our website.
