How A Water Damage Clean-Up Professional Gets Rid Of Water In Your Home After A Plumbing Leak

If you have a plumbing mishap, such as a burst pipe, overflowed tub, or leaking dishwasher, it's important to get the water cleaned up as fast as you can. If you're not at home when the disaster happened, you may come back to a flooded floor.

Before you can think about restoring the flooring, walls, and other water-damaged materials, you'll need to get rid of standing water, hidden water, and high humidity in the air. Here's how water damage clean-up can be done with the help of professionals.

Use A Pump To Eliminate Standing Water

If water is standing on the floor between walls, the restoration company might use a pump to send the water outdoors. Getting rid of all the standing water comes first. It's important to realize there is much more water than what can be seen.

Water will soak under cabinets, seep through flooring, get behind walls, and get soaked up by carpet. Once the standing water is gone, the crew can work on pulling out hidden water.

The contractor assesses the condition of the floor to decide if any needs to be thrown out once the water is gone. They may need to take rugs and the carpet to their drying facility or you may want to throw them out if they're old anyway.

Extract Hidden Water With Commercial Equipment

Next, the crew may use water extractors to pull water out of the floor, out of carpet, and from under cabinets. Commercial extractors have attachments that make the job easier. They might use a mat that rests on the floor and pulls up water.

It may take quite a while to get rid of all the water in the room. The restoration contractor may use a thermal camera or another tool to keep checking the progress so they can tell when most of the water is gone.

Dry Out Dampness

There will still be moisture in your home once the extraction is finished. To get rid of all the water completely, the contractor may set floor dryers around the room. These point a wide stream of warm air toward the floor or against the lower part of walls to dry out the moisture and dampness.

The contractor may also set up a dehumidifier to pull moisture out of the air. They can test when all the excess is gone by using a humidistat that measures humidity in a room. They may need to let the dryers and dehumidifier run for a day or two before all the water is gone.

Getting rid of dampness is just as important as getting rid of standing water since both water and dampness can cause mold to grow if it isn't dried out fast. For more information on water damage clean-up, contact a professional near you.


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