Did your Albany, NY basement take a hit in a recent storm?

3/22/2022 (Permalink)

Did your basement take a hit in a recent storm?

Severe storms can quickly flood your basement causing damage to your structure and contents. Wading through the water going through soggy boxes of keepsakes, soaking carpeting and wet furniture can be overwhelming. What do you do? Always act quickly, but carefully!

For safety reasons if you have standing water in your basement do not go downstairs. Call your power company, an electrician, or a professional water restoration company. You may want to disconnect the electrical before walking into the water and make sure you do not touch anything electrical. You want to clean up the water quickly, you will need to determine if you have a clogged drain, faulty sump pump or backed-up gutters. Fixing the cause of the standing water could make the difference in saving your belongings and money. If the water is not remediated and the structure dried completely, mold can start to grow within a couple of days. Removing any damp possessions and drying them out as soon as possible could save the integrity of it.

Here are five tips for dealing with water in your basement.

1. Remove water. Get water out as soon as possible by using a wet vac or calling your local SERVPRO to cleanup and restore your home.
2. Dry it out. Use dehumidifiers and fans to move air around, discouraging the growth of mold and mildew. Keep dehumidifiers at least six to eight inches away from walls for the best air circulation. Run your air conditioning constantly. Throw away any wet boxes.
3. Scrub flooring. Scrub vinyl tile, linoleum, and other hard surfaces with a solution of no more than one cup of chlorine bleach to one gallon of water. During this process, wear rubber gloves and protective eyewear and keep the room ventilated.
4. Examine and clear gutters, downspouts, and drains. Put on your rubber gloves and check basement steps and drains. Get rid of any leaves, twigs, and mud. Remove the drain screen and give it a good cleaning and, if necessary, use a plunger or plumber’s snake to clear the drain. Muck out gutters and downspouts around the house.
5. Restore your assets. If valuable documents or cherished papers are wet, you might try quickly putting them in the freezer. This may stop mildew growth and deterioration until you can deal with them later. Resolve not to store anything of value in the basement and to use concrete blocks to keep possessions off the floor. Plastic storage bins are far better than cardboard boxes for basement use.

SERVPRO of South Albany County is your one-stop shop from mitigation to restoration from a water, fire, or storm disaster. After our crews have performed the cleanup services, we can smoothly transition into the reconstruction services to help restore your home or business back to preloss condition, so it looks “Like it never even happened.” Call us 24/7 at 518-456-1111.