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Restoring Your Home: Repairs and Renovations

In our blog, A Comprehensive Guide To Cleaning Up After A Flood, we wrote about physically cleaning a home or business of nature’s rainstorm or the water overflow caused by home appliances to the tile, hardwood, or carpeted floors. The Mitigation, Remediation, Restoration Of Water Damage blog explained how Exit Mold, a home restoration company, plans the process to flood water cleanup of a home or business: water removal, water remediation, and home restoration and reconstruction. In this blog, we will detail the work of reconstructing a water-damaged home or business and its contents.

What To Do After Flood In House

After a home or business flood, caused by the natural disaster of a hurricane, tropical storm, the steady rain that brings flash flooding, or caused by a plumbing pipe or water heater bursting, or toilet, tub, or sink overflow, a leaky roof, or water that begins flowing in because of clogged home gutters, there are first steps that need be taken before the home restoration firm can enter the home and begin home flood remediation.

Contact an insurance agent to find out what is covered under the home insurance policy.

Home flooding repair starts with an assessment and inspection of the business or home property by an experienced, certified home restoration firm. The home assessment includes documenting and photographing flood damage, and separating items that can be salvaged from those beyond repair and restoration. If the flood waters have remained for a few days, it is a reasonable assumption that mold and mildew are present. Exit Mold, a home restoration firm, will clean, sanitize, and deodorize walls and floors to eliminate the mold and mildew that brings bacterial contamination.

The electrical power of the house needs to be turned off, by a licensed electrician, and the electrical system inspected thoroughly before power to the house is restored.

The heating system consisting of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning also needs to be shut down by an HVAC specialist after the flood and only be turned back on once the HVAC system has been thoroughly inspected.

Flooded House Repair

Repair of a water-damaged home can be minor or extensive and expensive. As stated, an inspection of the home is the first step in the process of home flood repair and restoration. Such inspection involves looking for signs of moisture, as well as weaknesses in the structure of the home.

Structural areas of business or home that are addressed as part of home restoration after water damage include:

Floor Replacement: Replacing all damaged flooring is critical to business and home flooding repair. Whether the flooring is laminate, hardwood, carpet, or tiling, it must be removed and replaced, including the subfloor underneath. Laminate and hardwood flooring absorbs water, and the professional home restoration contractor will notice such floors swollen and warping and understand this water absorption soaked through to the subfloor. If there is damp, water-damaged carpeting, such carpeting must be torn up, including the natural fiber carpet padding. Synthetic carpeting will not serve as a channel for mold. Still, the wooden subfloor or OSB (oriented strand board) subfloor will absorb water. A tile floor does not soak up water, but the wood subfloor under the tile will not dry out with a tile floor over it.

Opening Walls: The professional technicians of Exit Mold will open the walls of a flood-damaged home to allow the wood studs under the drywall to dry out. A wood stud that feels dry to the touch can be wet in the middle, so expect to see the wall cavity, about 1 foot above the water line and to the floor, left open for a few weeks to ensure the wall cavity dries completely. A moisture meter is often used to ascertain the percentage of moisture that has dried and that it is safe to begin building back house restoration.

Removing Insulation: The batt insulation that keeps a home warm in winter and cool in summer will also need to be removed as part of the process of home repairs and renovations to restore a flood-damaged home to its original condition. After a flood, the home insulation becomes filled with water, never completely dries out, and the moisture remains, which leads to poor air quality, mold and mildew, and a rotting away of the home’s structure. Insulation must be removed and replaced in the process of home and business flood repair and restoration.

Home Restoration After Water Damage

The process of home repair and restoration, when flood damage is extensive, will involve the gutting of the home or business, starting with the rebuilding of the home frame. With the new home frame in place, the home restoration firm will begin the installation of new insulation, wiring, plumbing, and sheetrock. Then, onto the interior home restoration, installing new doors, windows, and floors, hanging drywall, and setting in place all that makes a house a home: painting walls, installing the countertops, and the light fixtures.

Contact The Home Restoration Specialists

The professionals of Exit Mold are experienced in understanding the emotional trauma that natural disasters or accidental home flooding can have on families and use only the best technological devices and business practices to expedite the restoration of a home or business. Exit Mold has been serving NYC and its five boroughs in flood and water damage restoration, mold remediation, fire and smoke damage restoration, lead services, or XRF lead testing for 25-plus years! Contact us if you have any questions concerning any home restoration project!