What Makes Flood Water Different from a Pipe Break in My Knoxville Home?

7/20/2020 (Permalink)

Flooding can occur and devastate many families' homes all at once. Contact SERVPRO to tackle your flood damage and help the next family in need.

SERVPRO Has the Experience and Equipment to Restore Your Knoxville Home Back to Normal

The water that comes out of your tap is safe to drink and bathe in. However, would you consider drinking water from or bathing in the Holston River? Of course not, when flash floods from storms cause floodwater to enter your Knoxville house, anything that water encountered along the way just landed in your home, including sewage, chemicals, and mud. This type of water requires handling as a biohazard, and the longer it remains within a home, the damage increases. Unless you own personal protective clothing and have the knowledge for safe cleanup and disposal for this type of home disaster, you need professional assistance.

What Should I Do First After Flood Damage?

When a Knoxville home has flood damage, it is one of the most severe events a homeowner can face. If it is safe to enter your property, here some early actions that can make the restoration process go easier: 

• Make a list of essential/valuable documents and items before you enter the property, so you know exactly what you are looking for
• Arrange for someone to take in your pets if you cannot keep them with you if you need to stay elsewhere during the cleanup
• Talk to your insurance agent about bringing in SERVPRO as soon as possible
• Turn off the electricity if there is a danger of water coming into contact with electrical appliances or outlets
• Close off the loss area if possible until help arrives for cleanup

What Does the Flood Cleanup Process Look Like? 

SERVPRO technicians arrive within hours of the initial call and get to work restoring the home. One of the first actions on the plan is to scope the property and locate all areas of water migration and begin the water extraction process in your Knoxville home. Most frequently used are their portable pumps, which allow the techs to move quickly around the loss area and remove the water promptly.

As they locate the areas of migration within the floor and sheetrock, those materials may require removal as part of the drying process. Controlled demolition is a common element in the restoration of a property after flood damage by removing materials that are a loss and leaving undamaged portions.

Carpet that has absorbed flood water has no potential for restoration and requires removal. Because wet carpet is dense and may cause injury if moved, the techs extract the water and cut the carpet into strips to make it easier to handle. After exposure to water, most glue-down tile delamination occurs and the tile gets removed. If water gets detected within the subfloor, the techs measure how widespread the moisture problem is and remove the floor covering as needed for drying.

The restoration from flood damage often results in a home that looks very different once mitigation efforts complete. Homeowners may see:  

• Walls with the bottom portion cut off for drying
• Flooring removed to open the subfloor for drying
• The presence of a large number of drying devices and dehumidification equipment

Sanitizing a property and contents post-flood loss is crucial to returning the home to habitable standards. SERVPRO technicians use professional cleaning agents, many with antibacterial and antimicrobial properties, to ensure any surfaces that come into contact with the water get wiped down.

Contents from within the home with water exposure have two primary outcomes: disposal and restoration. Anything porous and absorbed the water generally has no potential for reuse. Items that can withstand immersion cleaning processes tend to fare the best. Each piece that gets handled by the techs receives documentation to assist in the filing of any insurance claims with both a detailed report and photos.

Before any rebuilding or repairs may occur, the property needs to undergo odor control measures. Water damage in a home tends to have a recognizable, musty odor, and floodwater has the same type of scent but is often amplified and compounded by other elements such as sewage. After drying and cleaning, there is usually some reduction of the smell, but further measures typically need to get applied to eradicate all signs of the water loss completely. SERVPRO techs have an array of odor control methods such as thermal fogging or the use of hydroxyl generators. In many cases, the techs call upon multiple ways to ensure that both airborne and embedded odors get removed from the home.

SERVPRO of Rocky Hill / Sequoyah Hills / South Knoxville at (865) 862-8907 for help with getting rid of the problems that flood damage brings to your home and property. The knowledgeable, experienced team brings professional equipment and a commitment to help lessen the loss through their advanced cleaning methods.