Water Damage Restoration Tips
Until you can get professional help to your door, there are some things that you can do to keep further Philadelphia water damage at bay. Follow the water damage tips below to keep the worst of things away from your precious real estate.
First, shut off the source of the water if this is possible. Follow the trail back to the original place that water is coming into your home and section it off if you cannot completely shut off the source.
Any excess water that is coming into your living area should be removed gently through blotting with a mop that is as clean as possible. If there have been upholstery curtains that are affected, remove them and prop them up. Protect your furniture by placing wood blocks or aluminum under the legs.
Any furs and leather that may be affected should be hung separately from other clothes. Keep them as close to room temperature as possible.
If there has been any carpeting that has become wet, take rugs away from them. This is especially true of colored rugs or oriental rugs. You should never try to remove water from these rugs with a regular vacuum.
If your ceiling is sagging from water, do not turn on any fixtures.
Take all of your magazines, books and other items with colored ink away from your carpets.
Try to do all of these things as quickly as possible. Depending on the severity of the water flow, colored inks may bleed into carpets rather quickly. You may also suffer damage to furniture and clothing items quickly as well. Because of condensation, you need to completely remove these items from the place that the water is populating.
Here are some things that you should not do if you are having problems with water damage.
Do not turn on the television, even if the water is not near the TV. You never know how far the damage has spread behind the walls and into the floor. If you create more electrical currents than you have to, you risk burning out wires and connections. This will only give you worse problems than you had originally.
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Do not use household appliances, especially in the kitchen and bathroom. You already know to stay away from the vacuum. However, you should also stay away from the toaster, the hot iron and all other major kitchen and bathroom items. As a matter of fact, if you can shut off current in your home until help arrives, do so. Water and electricity generally do not mix.
Do not go investigate rooms with sagging ceilings. There is very little that you can do here until professionals come to the scene. However, you risk injury if there is a weight on top of the ceiling that may fall. Keep children, pets and elderly people in the home well away from any ceiling that is sagging.
Now that you have all of the DIY items fixed, you need to get professional help in to help you right away. Make sure that you call a professional company that knows how to clean up and ship out as quickly as possible. It is especially important to get professional help if you do not know where the source of the water is, or if you cannot completely shut off the source of the problem.
Whether Mother Nature or a busted pipe is causing you problems, you do not have to give in to major damage. Follow the tips above and get on the phone as soon as possible to ensure that your lifestyle is not affected by a water accident.
