Do's

1. Remove as much excess water as possible by mopping and blotting.
2. Wipe water from wood furniture after removal of lamps and tabletop items.
3. Remove and prop up wet upholstery cushions for even drying (check for possible bleeding).
4. Place aluminum foil, china saucers or wood blocks between furniture legs and wet carpeting.
5. Turn on air conditioning for maximum drying in summer; open windows to speed drying in winter.
6. Open drawers and cabinet doors for complete drying (do not force, however).
7. Remove valuable oil paintings and art objects to a safe place.
8. Blot wet carpeting with clean white towels.
9. Open suitcases and luggage to dry, in sunlight if possible.
10. Punch small holes in sagging ceilings to relieve trapped water ( don't forget to place pans beneath! ).

Do Not's

1. Leave wet fabrics in place; dry as soon as possible. Hang furs and leather goods to dry separately at room temperature.
2. Leave books, magazines, or other colored items on wet carpet or floors.
3. Use your household vacuum to remove water.
4. Use TVs or other appliances while standing on wet carpet or floors, especially not on wet concrete floors.
5. Turn on ceiling fixtures if ceiling is wet, and keep out of rooms where ceilings are sagging from retained water.

Restoring your home after water damage.

Restoring your home after water damage is a frustrating experience. Fortunately, natural disasters don't occur every day, and chances are you'll never have to deal with water damage from rising water or flooding. However, simple plumbing leaks or overflows are far more common. While dealing with water damage may seem fairly simple (mop or wet vacuum; fans used to promote evaporation), unfortunately, this fails to consider the degree to which water can penetrate into structural cavities and assemblies, creating trapped pockets of saturation. Too late, property owners become aware of the on-going effect of this trapped water on structural and contents materials, which may include: discoloration, warping, splitting, delamination, and musty odor and mold growth.

The consequences of ineffective restoration - including possible health effects - are far too great to leave water damage improperly restored. Most property owners are not familiar with the essential steps and tactics for proper restoration, and naturally, they have a lot of questions. That's where the certified water restoration professional from Water Pro, Inc. comes in. He or she will be qualified through formal training and experience to remove excess water efficiently, to promote efficient evaporation and to establish the dehumidification conditions necessary to stop on-going damage. Moreover, they can document the return of your property and contents to normal conditions to ensure that future problems will not be experienced.

Water damage usually occurs in the following five stages:

Stage 1:
The free-flow of water by gravity. Gravity will level out the available water and cause it to find cracks in the floor, plumbing penetrations and many other openings. This affects the floors below as well as other adjacent spaces. Quick action at earlier stages of water damage will reduce the costs and resulting cleanup. On the other hand, delaying action increases both exponentially.

Stage 2:
The wicking of moisture into materials that are in direct contact with water. Damage continues to increase as long as free-water touches gypsum board, wood floors, furniture and documents due to the tendency of materials to draw in moisture through capillary action. This damage is mitigated by quick and thorough water-extraction, as it will remove the free-water and stop the wicking. Effective action at this stage will drastically reduce the time and effort to dry out the wet building materials.

Stage 3:
High humidity damage. This occurs when the moisture on and in the wet materials begins to evaporate, saturating the surrounding air. Previously unaffected materials now take on moisture. Early signs of high humidity damage include condensation forming on walls, ceiling tiles sagging from high moisture content and paper stock taking on moisture to the point it cannot be used for copying.

This damage is mitigated by controlling the relative humidity inside the building through the use of high-capacity dehumidifiers. Quick action at this stage will keep the moisture content of the building material and contents below the threshold at which they will support microbial growth.

Stage 4:
Active microbial growth.This begins when materials have taken on sufficient moisture to be able to support mold and mildew. The threshold for most cellulose-based material (i.e., wood, documents and the paper covering on gypsum board) is when their moisture content exceeds 20 to 25 percent of their weight.

Reducing this damage is accomplished by controlling three key conditions of the building's air: relative humidity, temperature and air circulation. Controlling these will create an environment that will rapidly dry the materials back to their pre-loss moisture content. Effective action at this point will generally confine the damage to the area that was directly affected by the water damage event.

Stage 5:
The spread of microbials to other, originally unaffected areas of the building. The spread of microbials (i.e., mold, mildew, odors and other pathogens) may eventually occur due to unchecked microbial growth in the affected area, the movement of people throughout the building, air circulation systems and/or elevator movement from floor-to-floor. If this stage of water damage occurs, a comprehensive plan must be put together involving various indoor air quality professionals and contractors.

Quick and effective action at the earliest possible stage will reduce interruption to the business, reduce overall restoration costs and increase the likelihood that irreplaceable items will still be usable. This type of needed action can be facilitated by:

Qualifying a drying contractor prior to any loss
Communicating your agendas and plans with the contractor
Placing them into a written disaster recovery plan (DRP)
It is very important to involve a drying contractor after a water damage event. The contractor can help assess which items are worth restoration and which are better replaced. Damaged items that have lower costs associated with replacement and are easily obtained should be replaced rather than dried-out and restored. On the other hand, items that are difficult to replace or have a very high replacement cost validate the restoration effort. In General, drying out is more cost effective that ripping out and replacing.

Source: EPA

The following Emergency Tips were compiled by members of the National Institute of Disaster Restoration are based on their wide experience in this field. It is not likely that you will require all procedures listed, so examine your situation and use those steps which common sense dictates.