Need advice on how to deal with a small flood in the home. I have wet furniture(clothand wood)electronics, etc
Question:I have never dealt with even the most minor of flooding. Will my stuff dry out? Are my electronics ruined? Should I now be fearing mold? Does anyone have experience in this area.
THANKS!
Answers:
open the windows!! that will help to dry things out. depending on how wet your electronics got- u may be ok (ive left my window open several times during bad storms and my tv and dvd sit right in front of the window.
depending on how long the wood sat in the wetness- yes it will prob be ruined (just keep and eye on it.
for the carpet a good wet-vac is your best bet. vac your carpets as dry as pos. and keep the windows open to help dry qwicker. i believe u can rent them from lowes and home depot if you dont want to buy one.
if the flooding made it to the walls and they got wet- keep a close eye out for mold. when my apt flooded out they ended up having to replace the drywall in my living room because the mold got so bad, however the bedrooms had very little mold and they were able to treat it w/ a bleach solution.
also , the furniture should dry out w/ no prob. it may smell musty afterwards- but febreeze works wonders.
Wet vac all of the moisture you can muster up out of everything you can touch.
Go buy a dehumidifier at Lowes or somewhere, the bigger the better. It draws out all of the moisture out of the walls, carpets, furniture. Keep it going! Just dump the water when the bucket gets full and it will restart. Keep fans blowing to stir up the moisture to dry out. Open windows when possible. Any air is appreciated by your home.
I would not trust the electronics, but it does not mean you cannot get it checked out.
Get a dehumidifier immediately. It will suck the water out of anything... even the insides of a couch. Do not throw away the electronics until they have dried a couple of days.
Usually if all the water is dry, mold will not grow. Bleach will kill mold if it does begin to grow, but be careful around upholster
With a dehumidifier and some fans your furniture and electronics should dry out. Our VCR had orange juice spilled inside it, we rinsed it out with water and let a fan blow on it a few days, and it worked fine.
Carpet can be a problem because a wet vac will not pull water out of the carpet pad. Carpet steamers companies have a mold killer they spray on carpet and they can extract much more water from the pad.
Mold usually grows where there is constant dampness(leaking pipe etc) and shouldn't be a problem from a flooding incident.
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