Water Damage? Time is of the Essence For Cleanup

When dealing with water damage, time is of the essence. You can minimize the amount of damage and the costs associated with it by taking the right actions as soon as possible. Water damage can cause a lot of problems if the issue isn’t dealt with immediately. Time is of the essence when it comes to water damage, so you need to act fast and follow these tips for how to deal with water damage as soon as possible.

Water Damage Cleanup in Yakima

Turn off power to the house

If you have time, you should turn off the power to your house. Electricity can be very dangerous and even deadly when water is involved. If you don’t have time, at least unplug all electrical appliances before opening a circuit breaker or turning the main switch off. If possible, hire professionals to do this work for you.

Gather important documents

Once you’ve determined that your property has a water damage issue, you’ll want to gather any items that may be damaged by the flooding. If you’re able to move them safely, grab things like electronics and photos that could be destroyed or irreparably damaged by the water. This includes computers, TVs, phones and tablets. Also take any paperwork with your contact information on it (such as insurance papers and medical records) in case they were exposed to the floodwaters too long before being removed from the area of danger.

Once you’ve gathered all of this essential data together in one place (and hopefully moved it away from said danger), make sure it’s easily accessible so if your insurance company needs something quickly they can find what they need without having to search through an entire house or office building!

Get to your water shutoff valve

If you know where your water shutoff valve is and it’s in good working order, turn it off. That’ll stop the water from flowing—until you have time to get a plumber over to replace the pipe later. You can also turn off individual faucets if you’re just dealing with one leak.

This won’t protect you against everything: If there’s an earthquake that causes a major pipe break underneath your house, turning off the main valve will only prevent flooding until that larger break is fixed by professionals. But having access to these valves can help save lives and reduce damages when smaller leaks occur on their own (or when they happen at all).

Document the damage with photos and videos

One of the smartest things you can do when there is a water damage event is to document it. This will help you and your insurance company in the long run, as it provides evidence that something happened at a certain time. Use photos and videos to record the damage, including dates on all of them. These documents are invaluable when dealing with an insurance claim—and they’ll be even more important if they’re included with your policy documents before something happens!

Remove as much water as you can

As soon as you notice that water has seeped into your home, it’s important to remove excess water as quickly as possible. The following methods will help:

• Wet/dry vacuums can be used to extract standing water or wet areas of up to 100 square feet.
• Towels and blankets can absorb small amounts of liquid in addition to absorbing humidity from the air.

The sooner you start working on removing any excess moisture in your home, the less likely it is that mold will grow inside your walls or other structures.

Don’t try to tackle the water damage cleanup yourself. Of all the things that can go wrong or have gone wrong at your home or business, a burst water pipe is one of the most serious and can cause a flood of other problems. So be sure you know what steps to take if it happens, including calling Clean Image for water damage cleanup in Yakima.