Floods are among the most devastating events that can strike a household. Seeing your home, furniture, and appliances destroyed by a flood is bad enough, but attempting to salvage your belongings can be complicated. Re-entering a water damaged room is a health and safety risk. This is particularly true for houses that are still flooded even after the floods have subsided. 

No matter how long it takes, though, you must get to restoring or repairing the parts of your living room that were damaged by a flood. Damp items and surfaces encourage molds and spores. These can prove tricky to deal with later when the growth is stronger.

Additionally, If your house is insured, you must file a claim with your insurance provider before repairs or restorations. Save the receipts for out-of-pocket expenses like cleaning supplies. There might not be reimbursements available for everything, but you have a good chance of getting some recompense. You also have to deal with water damaged items in different ways. Here’s how you can repair some of the things in your water damaged living room:

Rugs or carpets: air them out or use a vacuum cleaner

A waterlogged carpet needs to be aired out from below, and in some instances, the carpet padding must be replaced. If possible, take the rug or carpet outside so it can dry in the sunlight. You can also soak up moisture by vacuuming it. 

Before attempting this, though, check your appliance to see if it has this setting. Your rug or carpet might also have stains that cannot be flushed or vacuumed away. In cases like these, it is best to use cleaning agents appropriate to the material of your floor covering.

Cushions or pillows: depends on material

Cleaning your cushions and pillows is not as simple as running them under warm water. First of all, you must consider whether your cases can be separated from the stuffing. For pillows with their own pillow insert, you need to launder them separately from the pillow case. Pillows with only the case and stuffing must be laundered together.

The type of pillowcase dictates your cleaning procedure. For cotton or cotton-blend fabrics, it is suitable to use detergent. Leather pillow cases must be cleaned with foam or using cleaning wax or gum. Linen cases can be washed with detergent, but by hand or on a low machine setting.

Water Damaged Furniture: clean by component

Solid wood pieces are easy to clean, especially if they’ve been made resistant to water damage. All you need is to bring the furniture outdoors and wipe it down with cloth dipped in a warm water and soap solution. If the wood was stained by flood water, you put furniture polish or petroleum jelly on a brush and scrub that on the affected area.

Upholstered furniture, meanwhile, requires more steps in terms of restoration. You can separate the cushion from the frame, clean the wooden frame and reupholster. In some instances, it may be cheaper to buy new furniture than reupholster your water damaged pieces.

Handling electronics and documents after water damage

Do not, in any circumstance, attempt to repair a water damaged electrical appliance. You might cause injury to yourself or further damage the equipment. Contact a licensed technician to help you repair your electronics. In the meantime, you can just clean the water from the item.

Documents and photographs can simply be air dried. If your papers, books, or photos sustained significant damage, you should hire professional restoration services. They have various levels of restoration, like dehumidification, freezer drying, and more.

Conclusion

Getting back on your feet after a flood can be tough, but you must take it one step at a time. Hiring competent restoration professionals can also make your transition back to your normal lifestyle easier and a bit more stress-free.

We handle disaster restoration, flood cleanup, and water damage restoration in Salt Lake City. We are locally owned and operated, and are a fully-licensed, lead-safe EPA restoration company. Get in touch with us today to see how we can help.