DIY Water Damage Scenarios

5/27/2019 (Permalink)

When you have water damage at your home or business, rely on the professionals at SERVPRO of Cape Girardeau & Scott Counties to properly handle it.

Your dishwasher overflows overnight. There is two inches of standing water on top of all of your hardwood floors in your kitchen and dining room. You call your uncle because he has an extra shop vac. He willingly brings it over and starts helping you suck up water. Together, with two shop vacs, it takes you three hours to suck up all of the standing water. You make a run to Buchheit’s and pick up some large box fans. You set them up and let them run all day. The next morning, you notice some warping in your hardwood floors and think, “How is that even possible? We sucked up all the water?” The next morning, it’s even worse. Now you have to seriously consider replacing your beautiful but expensive hardwood floors.

What would have happened if you called the professionals at SERVPRO® of Cape Girardeau & Scott Counties right away?

A bright green truck would have pulled up to your house, and a crew would have used a truck-mounted vacuum or submersible pump to suck up the water in a fraction of the time. With stronger power, more water between the wood panels would have been extracted and removed, making the drying process faster. After extraction, we would have placed a calculated amount of commercial-grade dehumidifiers and air movers to aid the drying process. We also would have used our specialty equipment drying mat on the hardwood floors that continuously pulls water from between the cracks and specifically guides airflow between panels. Our professionals would have returned every day to monitor the drying process and adjust, where needed. Your hardwood floors could have been saved.

You have friends coming over to watch the game in your mancave downstairs. It’s been raining all day. Your buddies arrive and you take them downstairs only to discover that your sump pump failed, and your heavenly oasis is now covered in soppy carpet. Well, at least you have manpower. With a team effort, some shop vacs, and all the towels in your home, you manage to take a handle on the situation. You finally get to sit down and watch the end of the game. Not how you wanted to spend your night, but at least it’s taken care of.

The next week, those same friends return for a game night. You go downstairs to rearrange the furniture to put up some card tables and notice some stains in your carpet and a musty odor. There’s also a discoloration along part of the wall nearest the sump pump. Everyone else that night also notices the odor in the basement.

What happened?

You didn’t call the professionals at SERVPRO® of Cape Girardeau & Scott Counties. Our professionals would have used commercial grade equipment to properly extract the excess water in the carpet and identified the source of the water as Category 2 “Grey Water,” requiring the carpet pad to be removed due to the contaminated water. We would have set our professional, calculated amount dehumidifiers and air movers to properly dry the carpet and affected drywall. Our professionals would have used furniture blocks underneath your sofa so that the wooden legs would not have contacted the wet carpet and left stains. We also would have monitored the drying progress of the floors and walls until they reached the drying goal. Then we would have cleaned your carpets to decontaminate them.

Since you chose to handle the situation yourself, the floors and walls were not properly dry, and your furniture stained your carpet. The discoloration on the wall along with the odor are now evidence of a possible mold problem. Not to mention, there are contaminants contained in your carpet pad and carpet because the situation was not handled by a professional.

When you have a water damage at your home or business, rely on the professionals at SERVPRO of Cape Girardeau & Scott Counties to properly handle the mess. In the long run, you’ll be glad you did. Call us at 573-339-1948.