If you’ve had a flood in your home, whether large or small, the resulting damage to your home can seem overwhelming. From ruined furniture, flooring, walls, and belongings to the actual water collected in areas around your home, it’s time to call someone to do some flood damage restoration in Atlanta to help get you dried out and back to living your life. It’s important to understand that as water enters your home, it soaks into everything it touches that is permeable. This includes all your fabric, wood, or paper items, including the walls and flooring. Hiring a professional who can assess all the water damage to your home is vital, as cleaning up all the damage the first time will help prevent you from having to do more costly repairs further down the road from moisture that may have been missed, allowing mold to grow. Removing and Preventing Mold and Bacteria It is important that any flood cleanup include the removal and prevention of mold and bacteria growth. Whenever you have moisture present in your home, there is the potential for mold growth. Mold does not require light to grow and thrive, as demonstrated by the colorful mold growth on forgotten food in dark corners of your refrigerator. Hidden moisture in your walls and under your floors provides optimal conditions for mold to grow, making it important to ensure that all moisture is promptly eliminated during the cleanup process. Any mold that has already begun to grow will need to be removed and the materials cleaned or replaced as necessary to prevent continued mold growth. Likewise, bacteria growth can contaminate your home in a flood. Whether introduced through a leaky sewer pipe, trash, or animal feces, standing water can be a breeding ground for numerous bacteria. Cleanup procedures need to ensure that all possible bacteria present are killed and the source of contamination cleaned up. This will help ensure that your home is safe for your family to return. Foundation and Structural Damage Removing the water from your property is only the first step in recovering from a flood in your home. Once the water has been removed, the property will need to be assessed for damage. It is important to have a general contractor take a look at any structural walls and the foundation to ensure that those aspects which hold your entire house up are solid and strong. If any work needs to be completed to repair these aspects of your home, it is important to complete them promptly to create a safe environment for continued restoration efforts. Repairing or Replacing Belongings The decision to repair or replace your belongings can be a difficult one. Each item will need to be evaluated for damage to determine if a thorough cleaning can salvage the item or if the damage is too extensive and the item needs to be replaced. For example, if your carpeting is dried and cleaned and is found to be in good repair, it likely will not need to be replaced. On the other hand, if your upholstered chairs have begun to grow mold, they may need to have the upholstery removed and cleaned or possibly replaced in order to continue to safely use them in your home. Items like books, newspapers and other paper items will likely need to be replaced. A flood in your home can cause quite a bit of damage. The cleanup process can take days, weeks, or even months, depending on the extent of the damage. Hiring a professional to ensure that your flood damage restoration in Atlanta goes smoothly and efficiently can be helpful in ensuring that you get dried out and cleaned up as quickly as possible.
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