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Health & Fitness

How to Safely Clean Up Your Basement After a Flood Damages Your House

Stormaster has been providing storm damage repair services in Chicago for over 22 years. We advocate on your behalf with your insurance company to ensure you are treated fairly 708-478-1221

Flood damage can cost tens of thousands of dollars to clean up and fix. With a little know how you can clean up after a flood yourself and save some money. Cleaning up a flood damaged basement is more difficult than other water damage, therefore, you want to be sure you know what you are doing.

Contact Insurance Company 
Before you clean any of the flood damaged property be sure to contact your flood insurance company. Try to get them out to see the property as soon as possible. You will want to call right away so you don't end up waiting for days or weeks for them to come.

If the  insurance company is not able to come within the first couple days, then you need to take as many pictures as you can before cleaning up the flood damage. This way you have proof of all the damage.

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Flood Water is Hazardous to Your Health 
Flood water can be hazardous and make you sick if you don't take the proper precautions. Wear rubber gloves and rubber boots to protect your skin from the microorganisms in the flood water. Use a mask if you are moving things around in the basement and kicking up dust.

Any clothes that you wore in the basement while cleaning up flood damage should be washed separately from normal clothes and with warm or hot water. Consider throwing the clothes away if they got too dirty.

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If you have a door that can be closed to section off your basement from the upstairs you should use it. If not, you can hang up some plastic to keep the flood damaged basement separate from the rest of the house.

Remove Flood Water and Mud from Basement 
Remove any standing flood water from the basement. Use a water pump to get the bulk of it out. Use fans and dehumidifiers to help reduce the moisture. Open basement windows to keep the air inside fresh.

Shovel out the bulk of the mud that the flood water has left behind. Put it into buckets and carry it outside. Try using a basement window to get the mud out as this will save you time and energy.

Remove Personal Items Damaged by the Flood 
Remove all the furniture and other basement items that were damaged by the flood water. Take it all outside and clean items that are salvageable. Most things, however, should be thrown away if they were in contact with the contaminated water.

Items that should be thrown away are: clothes, mattress, toys, food, furniture with fabric, rugs, and carpet.

Depending on the extent of the flood damage in your basement, these items can be cleaned and salvaged: toilet, bathtub, sink, pictures, metal or plastic furniture, some wood furniture, some electronics.

Remove Basement Sheetrock that Contacted Flood Water 
Now the basement should be completely empty. Remove all basement carpet. Tear out all the sheetrock or paneling that was damaged by flood water.

If the water in the basement only touched the lower few feet you can just remove that part, but in most cases it is easiest to remove all wall coverings.

Remove any insulation from between the basement wall cavities.

Clean Flood Damaged Basement 
Take a hose and spray the basement down and remove all mold and mildew that has formed since the flood.

Clean the basement a second time using water with bleach, or a premixed cleaning agent for killing mold spores. Everything that was touched by flood water needs to get cleaned with an anti-mold cleaning agent.

Allow the cleaned basement to dry completely before you cover the walls again. Keep the dehumidifiers and fans going to speed up the process.

Hire an Electrician 
Have an electrician come and check all basement outlets and fixtures. When the wall coverings are off it should be easy for the electrician to access everything. The electrical fixtures in your flood damaged basement may look fine, but only a qualified electrician can confirm it.

Now you can move on to building your basement back to the way it was before the flood damaged it.

Hire a storm damage restoration company

If you are looking for a company to oversee the entire process start to finish, consider a storm damage restoration company... Stormaster is an insured company based out of Orland Park that provides homeowners peace of mind when it comes to storm damage restoration. In addition to completing your work, In many cases insurance companies will provide coverage for damage and we assist our customers with this process. 

Stormasteronline.com 

Phone 708-478-1221

15255 S 94th Ave

Orland Park, Il

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