What to do before our emergency team arrives:
- - Try to find and stop the water intrusion source.
- - Try to identify the extent of the water damaged area.
(you can do this by tracing the pathways of the water to find where the damage has spread). - - Plan and start the clean up by collecting items from the floor.
Find a spare room where some of the household/office items may need to be stored temporarily while the restoration is in progress.
The basic idea here is to move and protect your personal belongings/documents from water damage. - - Make sure an appropriate, licensed service company has been called to eliminate the water source or make necessary repairs as required.
- - Turn off circuit breakers supplying electricity to wet areas; unplug and remove any small electrical devices on the wet carpet.
- - Remove Oriental rugs or other coloured rugs from wet wall-to-wall carpeting.
- - Remove valuable paintings and art objects to a safe, dry place.
- - Place aluminium foil or wood blocks between furniture legs and wet carpeting.
- - Hang draperies and pin up furniture skirts to prevent watermarks, dye marks.
- - Make plans for restoration crew to move large furniture to specified dry areas, if necessary.
- - Gather loose items, toys, etc. from floors.
What NOT to do
- - Do not use your household vacuum to remove water (electrical shock may occur).
- - Do not leave books, magazines or other coloured items on wet carpets or floors as they may stain the carpet.
- - Do not use TVs or other household appliances while standing on wet carpets or floors, especially not on wet concrete floors.
- - Do not leave wet fabrics in place; dry as soon as possible.
- - Do not turn on ceiling fixtures if ceiling is wet, and keep out of rooms where ceilings are sagging from retained water.
