My El Centro Home Has Flood Damage, What Steps Should I Take?

4/29/2020 (Permalink)

Each vehicle in our Green Fleet is stocked with equipment to restore your home.

Call an El Centro Flood Damage Restoration Company to Help You Bring Things Back to Normal

Floodwater may have entered your El Centro residence after heavy rainfall. This water is unsafe since it can pick anything in its path as it travels over roads and yards. Flood damage is something you should take seriously, and it is better to hire SERVPRO franchise professionals because we can extract water safely and correctly.

What Precautions Should I Take After My El Centro Home is Flooded?

The process of cleaning up your flooded home can be scary. However, before you think about restoring your flood-damaged El Centro home, it is vital to take some precautions to protect yourself from germs, diseases, and other hazards. They include:

• Avoid entering your home until it is safe to do so.
• Wear personal protective gear like rubber boots, a facemask, and hand gloves to prevent contact with contaminated water.
• Notify a family member or close friend that you are okay and are returning to your home to assess the damage.
• Look out for electrical or gas damage.
• Dispose of household chemicals correctly.
• Check to see if flooding contaminated your water supply.
• Discard contaminated foods.
• Document the damage you come across.
• Inform your flood insurance company about the incident and share the documentation related to flood damage with it.

What Can Happen After My El Centro Property Floods?

Some parts of your home are more susceptible to flood damage than others. Examples include the flooring, foundation walls, and internal walls. Components of your house laid beneath or on the ground can sustain significant damage after a flooding incident. Severe weather conditions, like strong winds, affect other structures. Floodwater can also ruin drywall, causing it to sag and disintegrate. Paint bubbles and peeling can appear as the water wicks up the drywall. After that, the water can saturate the insulation behind the drywall.

If water remains in your property for a long time, wood structures can begin to swell. The glue that holds your particleboard bathroom and kitchen cabinets can dissolve, and they may crumble. Wood exposed to water for a long period can rot. Water can also short out electrical systems, leading to shock and fire hazards as well as damage to electronic equipment.

Why Should I Hire SERVPRO to for El Centro Flood Cleanup?

Dealing with El Centro flood cleanup on your own can be a stressful experience. Hiring inexperienced persons to handle flood damage can also be dangerous because they may miss potentially hazardous problems and worsen the situation. The water that wicks up behind a wall and under the floors can cause mold growth and other issues. You should trust our technicians to restore your home because of the following reasons:

• Hazardous water – Floodwater may bring sewage with harmful viruses, bacteria, and dangerous chemicals into your home. Every part of your house that comes into contact with the floodwater needs correct remediation, ensuring that contaminated waste cannot come into contact with unaffected areas or become airborne.
• Structural problems – Flood damage can cause severe structural issues if you do not handle the drying process properly. We can dry affected areas that are out of view or replace them with structurally sound materials.
• Mold infestation – Mold begins growing in water-damaged properties after 24 to 48 hours. Different kinds of mold exist, and some are more harmful than others. Mold can cause health effects for family members. Our team is trained to handle the flood damage and has the appropriate protective gear, cleaning supplies, and equipment to remedy the issue quickly.
• We have been in business for many years and therefore understand flood damage restoration fully. Our company is licensed and insured and can do everything it takes to restore your house to its original condition.

How Do You Restore an El Centro Flooded House?

The methods we use to restore a flooded house differ based on various factors like the size of the house, and the extent of the damage. The steps to restoring your home include:

• Extracting water– Our SERVPRO team can use high-pressure pumps to remove the water from floors.
• Containing the affected area - The purpose of containment is to prevent contaminants from spreading into uncontaminated areas, managing airflow from clean to contaminated areas, and protecting the workers and occupants of a building from being exposed to pollutants.
• Removing non-salvageable items and building materials
• Spraying anti-microbial solutions to the affected areas

After removing the water, we set up the drying equipment in a specific pattern that creates an efficient drying system for a house. We use air moving equipment to increase air circulation so that your home can dry faster. Our team also uses dehumidifiers to eliminate moisture from the air. We also locate excess water using specialized devices like moisture meters, hygrometers, and thermal imaging cameras. We always seek to create a balanced drying system, meaning that the dehumidifiers can remove all the moisture that air movers are putting in. Having a balanced drying system helps prevent secondary damage and allows for rapid drying to occur.

As the equipment removes moisture and controls humidity levels, we monitor the process every day. Our SERVPRO team creates a drying goal. This goal indicates the conditions that materials and contents should display after we restore them to their preloss dryness.

If you have a flood damage emergency, contact SERVPRO of El Centro / Salton City for help. We also offer flood restoration services to the residents of Salton City, Brawley, and Calexico. Our 24-hour helpline is (760) 337-5858.