Have you ever looked at a broken appliance and thought to yourself "I bet that can be fixed." If so, you need to make a call to a repairs specialist. Most things can be repaired — you just have to call the right person. There are repair professionals who focus on electronics, others who focus on home components like roofs and gutters, and still others who make repairs to home appliances, exclusively. Help is a phone call away.
Even though someone else is doing the work, however, we do think it's important for you to know a bit about repairs and restoration. That's why we're providing helpful articles on this blog. Fix it to the max — we know you can!
When floodwaters sweeps through your home, the first thing you need to do is get out and get to safety. Once you can safely get back into your home, you need to focus on getting rid of the standing water in your home. Standing flood water can present many dangers, which is why you need to work with a water damage restoration team to clean things up as soon as possible.
Danger #1: Bacteria
One of the biggest dangers presented by standing water is bacteria. Flood water is not clean water; it can contain sewage and other waste materials, increasing the chance that bacteria is present. If there is any sewage mixed in with the floodwater, there is a good chance that both Salmonella and E. coli may be present in the water.
Even floodwater that looks relatively clean can have bacteria lurking, and bacteria can grow in flood water over time.
Danger #2: Viruses
You also have to worry about viruses when you have flood water present in your home, especially once the water becomes stagnant and is no longer moving around. You can find viruses such as rotaviruses and Norwalk virus in stagnant water.
Stagnant water can also be a breeding ground for mosquitos, which can carry a wide range of diseases. You don't want to catch a virus when you are dealing with cleaning up your home.
Danger #3: Mold
One of the biggest threats to both your home and your health with standing water is mold. The standing water can soak into anything in your home that is porous, such as drywall, and create a damp environment where mold can thrive.
You don't need to have a dirty home for mold thrive, as mold spores are everywhere in the air. The addition of stagnant floodwater and excess moisture is all that is needed for your home to turn into a mold petri dish. Mold can ruin the structure of your home, and can cause health problems, ranging from minor issues such as sneezing to major health issues.
The best way to protect your home against mold is to get rid of the standing water as quickly as possible.
Damage #4: Structural Damage
Finally, standing water can cause serious structural damage to your home. it can break down the drywall in your home, compromising the integrity of the wall. It can cause wood to swell, pushing it past the boundaries of where it was designed to fit. Your flooring will more than likely have to go. The longer the water stands, the more damage it can do.
If a flood has impacted your home, you need to act as soon as you can safely enter your home again. Standing water left from a flood is extremely dangerous, and can cause even more damage to your home, which is why you want to address it as quickly as possible.