Fall weather is upon us, which means that beautiful warm sunshine has faded away for the next few months. With this resurgence of fall weather brings with it a resurgence in water damage. With cold, damp weather that accompanies fall in Chicago, there are serious problems this can cause to your home.
At Procare Restoration, we know that water damage repair is one of the most important things a homeowner can do if their home gets infiltrated with water. Without a proper plan in place, water damage can cause you a lot more headaches than you’d like. You already have to worry about dressing up warmer, don’t let your home be another thing to worry about.
Here are some tips for water damage repair
Unplug Power
We’ve all seen the cartoons, where a character inevitably jumps into water connected to electricity and fries to ash. While cartoons are outlandish, this sentiment is something to take to heart. Having exposed wires or plugged in devices where there is water damage can cause people to be electrocuted to the point of death. Make sure you unplug or shut down all the the power in your home before entering after water damage. With that in mind, make sure all of your devices are unplugged from outlets as well. Otherwise items like an iPhone or laptop run the risk of getting water damage as well.
Remove the water
No duh. This may sound like stating the obvious, but you need to remove the existing water in your home as quickly as possible. The longer you wait, the more detrimental and longer term effects the water damage will have on your home.
There are several ways to get rid of the water in your home, and we encourage homeowners to implore as many of these tactics as possible. Some examples are using towels, buckets, and mops to get rid of the existing water in your home. If there are any electrical outlets that aren’t anywhere near the water damage, consider using a wet vacuum to suck up the water that the towels and buckets can get to.
If you are very ambitious, consider renting a sump pump from a local hardware store. This will be a lot more effective than the alternative methods. However, if you don’t feel safe doing this yourself, we at Procare Restoration have trained experts who can perform these tasks with ease.
Dry your home
Another glaringly obvious suggestion, but something we feel needs to be stressed due to its importance. Drying out the space in your house that has been affected by water damage is something that requires immediate action.
For starters, open up all the windows and doors in your house. This will allow fresh air to rush through your home and dry areas that have water damage. However, by wary of what time of the year it is. In Chicago, if it’s in the summer months and extremely humid, opening up the windows and doors might not be the best idea.
With that in mind, another way to filter air through your home is the mechanical approach. This includes using any fans that you may have stored in your home. If you find yourself in need of a more powerful fan, you can usually rent high powered fans at the hardware store about $20 a day.
With all of this to consider, having a plan of attack for water damage is incredibly important. However, we understand that it’s impossible to expect the unexpected. So when that happens, we hope you consider calling us at Procare Restoration to help you in all of your restoration needs!
