A Quick Guide to Cleaning Items After Pipe Burst Water Damage

4/28/2018 (Permalink)

Give SERVPRO a call if you experience water damage in your home or business.

Business owners and property managers can find themselves at a loss about how best to handle a pipe burst cleanup when it floods a large area. Wading through standing water and watching items float by can be extremely frustrating. Dealing with irritated clients and tenants in Levittown, PA may add to the pressure to clean possessions, restore the area, and allow business to resume. Here is a quick guide to cleaning items after water damage.

1. Contact a water damage remediation company. Restoration contractors can offer professional advice that may save you time during the cleanup and repair process. A sewer cleanup company team can also help eliminate bacteria or viruses brought into the building by black water.

2. Remove standing water as soon as possible. Standing water can soak into floors, walls, and woodwork. Water from a broken pipe can also soak into subflooring and leak into lower floors or subbasements if left standing.

3. Separate porous and nonporous items into separate piles. Porous items such as bedding, carpet, and clothing may soak up the contaminated water and become filled with potential toxins. Porous items that encounter polluted water almost always require discarding. Clothing can be an exception to the rule, so any clothing that can be saved should be washed in hot water and detergent as soon as possible. Nonporous items can soak in a cleaning solution in a bathtub or vat until you are ready to deal with them. As soon as possible, wash nonporous items in sanitizing solution.

4. Important documents, papers, and pictures can be frozen to maintain their integrity. Place each item in a plastic bag and freeze as quickly as possible. The pipe burst cleanup team may have information on document conservation specialists in the area that can help you photocopy or photograph the documents. Some documents can even be saved entirely after freeze-drying them.

Cleaning, sorting, and removing items during a pipe burst cleanup often requires considerable effort. A knowledgeable water restoration team can help speed the process along and swiftly restore the area. Visit http://www.SERVPROlevittown.com for more information on water damage.