4 Steps To Deal With The Aftermath of Water Damage

7/28/2022 (Permalink)

FIrst 4 immediate steps to take if you have Water Damage

 No homeowner wants to deal with a flood in their home, but having a plan of action in place will help take at least a little stress out of the situation.

If you ever experience a major water leak in your home, here are the steps to follow:

1.) Shut Off the Water Source

First and foremost, if you discover a major water leak in your home, you need to stop the flow of water. By doing this immediately, you may be able to prevent more damage from happening to your home. If you can easily identify the leak source and it has a shut off valve available, you may be able to simply turn off the water at that source.

2.) Contact Your Insurance Agent

After you have made sure no more water is getting in to the home, it’s time to call your insurance agent. There is a small chance you won’t want to file a claim for the damage, but that is highly unlikely. If your baseboards or walls have gotten wet, they need to be professionally dried out to prevent mold from growing in your walls, and that process can be thousands of dollars. You may want to describe what you are seeing to your agent and see if she recommends you start the claim process based on your deductible, but most times that answer is going to be a quick yes.

3.) Contact the Restoration Company

As soon as you get off the phone with your insurance agent, call the restoration company. If they are a good company, they should be able to get a team there within a couple hours to start removing water from the home. Mold can start growing very quickly.

4.)  Document the Damage

When the restoration company arrives, they will likely show up with big trucks with lots of hoses and industrial vacuums to remove the water from the tile floors. If you have carpet, they will likely start tearing it out. They will probably start tearing off baseboards and door frames, and depending on how much saturation the water was able to do, they could start removing pieces of drywall and even cabinets.