The first 24 Hours Of A Water Damage Loss

The first 24 hours of the loss is the most important time in water restoration. It is important to get started as quickly as possible so contact us.

Act immediately:

  • Tripping is the number one hazard, so be careful and wear appropriate footwear if you must walk through the wet areas.

  • Turn off the electricity to affected circuits if you have any reason to believe water has mixed gotten into any electrical outlets. If you are unsure how to do this then we suggest pulling the mains switch until such a time as help can arrive.

  • After you have dealt with the immediate hazards the next thing to do is stop the source of the water, this can usually be as simply by turning the water off at the mains.

  • This is a great time to give us a call and we will be able to give us specific advice about your situation.

  • If you have any reason to believe that the water is from sewerage its incredibly important to stay out of the building until such a time as it has been cleared for re-entry. There are many possible infectious diseases in this type of water and its not worth the risk to enter the property under any circumstances.

  • If you have come home from a long trip and the house smells strongly you should strongly consider finding temporary accommodation due to the risks associated with microbial activity.

  • The longer water sits in the building the more it soaks into the structure, extracting the as much water as possible as soon as possible can save days in drying times in extreme situations. Its important action is taken as quickly as possible, our teams are available 24/7 and its not uncommon to be called out at 2am in the morning.

  • Depending on the materials in question and how sanitary the property is you have anywhere from 12 to 24 hours to get the water extracted from the building and install commercial grade drying equipment. As soon as the property has began to smell strongly of microbial activity its incredibly important that cleaning be undertaken to deal with the microbial activity causing the smell before any drying equipment is installed. Forget about trying to kill them, your house is not laboratory conditions chemical companies test their chemicals in. Instead the focus needs to be on removal of as much of this life out the property. Getting it clean and then only as required apply any anti-microbial compounds to try to kill of break down whatever is left.

If you want to get started yourself read on:

  • Items sitting on carpets will continue to wick water from the carpet into your contents so if you can get your your items and furniture off the carpet this can save thousands in replacement of contents.

  • Carpets that have not begun to smell are typically able to be saved as carpet is typically resilient to water just like your clothing. Your insurance company may not cover you for the complete costs of the carpet if you throw out perfectly good albeit wet carpet so its better to have this professionally assessed before you begin to pull the carpet out.

  • Floating flooring laminate style products made out of MDF have typically have 48 hours maximum before they begin to form visible mould growth. This is because the wood is mostly pre-digested for the mould. Its important to make sure that these types of floors have been pulled out of the building in the first 48 hours otherwise mould will begin to between and underneath them. Loose lay laminate sheet flooring experiences similar effects and usually cannot be dried if the affected area is large enough.

  • Flooring products that are typically stuck to the ground should be left there and professionally assessed as as soon as possible to determine if they are able to be restored.

  • Tiled floors typically behave well during a water loss, though they need to be closely monitored during the dry out process as they can delaminate from the concrete. This may cause the tiles to crack months down the track. An experienced water restoration technician will be able to help you identify problems tiles should that become a problem.

  • Trying to dry the property yourself with domestic equipment is virtually impossible. The rate at which microbial growth grows