Has your home been the victim of flooding or water damage? Granted, Salt Lake City, Utah may not be on FEMA’s “high flood risk” list. Because let’s face it, Utah’s slopey topography makes the possibility of a flood less remote. But whenever it does flood, as it did in 1983, the damage is catastrophic. Flood damage due to broken plumbing or flooding due to spring and early summer snowmelt is always a possibility as well.
Flood damage has accounted for nearly $8 billion of damage in the United States.
A home that is lucky enough to remain standing during a flood is not immune from damage. If your home happens to be in the direct line of the disaster, wherever water has flowed or seeped will likely need significant repairs. You’ll need a flood damage cleanup crew to restore your home to its former glory. If you’re curious about what goes into cleaning up flood damage, stick around to learn more.
Can’t I Just Clean Up Flood Damage on My Own?
We hear you. We’d like to say that you can fix flood damage on your own and save yourself some money, but here are some things to think about.
The number one problem with a flood is the resulting water damage. In the case of a flood, water enters your home differently than normal spills do. It gets through parts of your home that are weight-bearing.
If these areas, like your beams and doorways, sustain massive flood or water damage, your home can collapse like a deck of cards. Hence, cleaning flood damage on your own, without the help of a professional restoration service, might be cheaper, but it’s risky. This is why you may be better off leaving the flood damage cleaning to the professionals—affordable professionals like us!
What Happens During Flood Damage Cleanup?
As a water damage restoration service in Utah, we follow state-approved procedures for cleaning and restoring homes and properties after a flood. As a general rule, our restoration company never carries out our cleanup operations when there’s still a lot of standing water in your home.
However, we proceed with our cleanup as soon as the water recedes to a level where we can move your items around. Here are the steps we take in greater detail.
Area Safety Assessment
We value safety. So, before walking into a home ready to clean it up, we check to see if it is safe. We do this by assessing the structural integrity of certain parts of a home or structure. The areas we’re interested in include:
- Weight-bearing structures
- Areas with electrical fixtures
- The location of the fuse box relative to heavily flooded or inundated parts of a home or structure
- Stairways
- Walls
After assessing the structural damage, our cleaning team makes a call on whether the place is safe or not. If it is, then we can proceed to tidy the place up.
Item Assessment
A lot of insurance providers offer flood insurance that covers more than home damage. In particular, FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program also provides coverage for items damaged during a flood.
If you need certain items documented for your flood insurance claim, we can do this for you. We can collect these items, salvage and clean what we can, and sort out the paperwork for each.
Water Drainage and Flood Damage Cleanup
Before we give your home the old Mary Poppins treatment, we need to drain the remaining standing water. Doing this not only makes our work easier but allows us to work safely. After all, if the water is in contact with any electrical appliances, our team can end up electrocuted on the job.
Once we’ve drained all the water, we then proceed to clean up your home. We remove silt, mud, and other debris that may have entered your home.
Drying and Dehumidification
Drying is the next step. Other than safety reasons, we have one more reason for ensuring that your home is moisture-free.
Mold and other bacterial overgrowth are one of the worst health hazards a flood-damaged home can have. With your home damp from the top down, it becomes a breeding ground for microbes like mycobacterium. In case you’re wondering, mycobacterium is one of the microorganisms that brings about tuberculosis.
Another type of bacteria that ought to concern you is Actinomycete; it grows in damp places after floods and causes inflammation of the lungs and also abscesses.
These organisms are why we are dead serious about the drying and dehumidification process.
What Can I Expect Following Water Damage Restoration in Utah?
After we’re done with our flood damage cleanup, you can expect the following benefits post-flood.
A Restored Home
Flood damage to your home is never something to sneeze at. It can greatly affect how your life resumes long after the flood occurred. Our flood damage cleanup and water damage restoration services will restore your home to as close to its pre-flood condition as possible.
A Cleaner and Safer Home
Our cleanup service does more than restore your home’s curb appeal. As we talked about earlier, we clean to ensure your health and safety. Our cleanup teams do mold removal and use high-temperature dehumidifiers to kill any residual microbes in your home.
Clean, Restored, or Documented Items
An added service we provide is post-flood item restoration and inventory. We can sum the service up this way:
- We clean whatever is still usable
- We document items that are no longer useful for your insurance claim
So, after we’re done, you and your family can resume living in your home while waiting for your flood insurance to cover the documented items.
For Flood and Water Damage Restoration in Salt Lake City, Utah. Think Complete Restoration!
For years, we have helped many homeowners in the Salt Lake City area get back to their normal lives with our restoration services. We guarantee the best flood damage cleanup services in Utah. So, whether it’s a natural disaster, a burst pipe, or a flooded basement, we are here for you.
Also, our disaster restoration services are not only limited to flood cleanup and mold remediation. We also offer fire damage and smoke damage restoration services.
Call our 24/7 hotline or pay us a visit at 3412 W. 8600 S. West Jordan, UT 84088! At Complete Restoration, we put you and your family’s home at the heart of everything we do!
