Most people hire a water damage restoration company without really understanding the full process that these providers are supposed to be going through. Restoring a home from serious water damage isn’t a simple process that can be completed in an afternoon. A good quality company will have to spend several days to a week getting your home restored back to its original condition, and it’s important to understand what your provider should be doing.
Removing any Remaining Moisture
As surprising as it sounds some water damage restoration companies simply pump the remaining water out of a house and call it a day. Even though moisture still lingers in all the different materials of your home, they are considering their treatment a success, and it’s not. Pumping standing water out of your home is the easy part, getting rid of all the humidity and moisture in your walls and floors is what takes time.
The company should spend a significant amount of time making sure that all the moisture has been removed from all the surfaces of your home that were affected by the water. Standard practice is a combination of air movers as well as dehumidifiers to treat the issue.
Verifying Results with Moisture Meters
If your provider is not relying on any kind of hygrometer, or meters that check the current humidity levels you aren’t using the right provider. They should be utilizing a few different types of moisture meters to make sure that all the moisture has been removed from your home. Make sure that they are, and if they aren’t find someone who will.
Treating Your Home for Mold and Microbes
Flood water is often categorized as toxic and just taking the moisture out of your home after a flood isn’t enough to say the job was successful. Your house also has to be disinfected so that your family isn’t getting sick when going back into that part of your home. A strong anti-fungal and disinfectant system should be in use after the moisture problem has been taken care of, make sure that the provider has this planned for your home.
Removing and Replacing Flooring
The floors of your home are usually affected the most by flooding. Many times that means that framing and flooring has to be tossed out and replaced. If it’s obvious that your flooring is rotten don’t let a “professional” talk you into trying to keep it. Instead find someone who is willing to replace the flooring for you and keep your home a safe place to be.
Water damage restoration services aren’t closely regulated, and that means that there are some pretty shoddy providers out there. Now that you know what your provider should be doing, you can make sure you got someone who knows how to properly remove moisture from a house.
