Sent to us by Rebecca Wilcox

Flooding can cause enormous issues with your home in more ways than one. Sure, there is the initial damage and inconvenience that can come from heavy flooding. This is the damage that most people tend to associate with flooding, though it is honestly one of the least damaging aspects of a flood. 

The most damage from a flood generally comes from the long-term effects of what standing water can do to a structure. This damage is often not readily apparent when the flooding starts to subside, but instead causes unseen damage over long periods of time. In the end, things like mold, wood rot, and mildew can have a worse impact on your home than the flood itself.

To help protect against long-term damage like this, it’s important to do everything you can to keep water from getting into your basement or any other part of your home. This can be accomplished in a number of different ways, but the steps you’ll need to take will vary depending on whether or not you have a basement. Basements add another layer of difficulty to the mix because they are often very difficult to seal against flooding. If you do have a basement, the best thing you can do is work with a contractor to seal it. This will likely be a fairly expensive job.

The other aspect of keeping your home free of flood damage is to have measures on hand that you can use to get rid of water once the flooding starts. If your preparations fail or are overwhelmed, you may be stuck pumping water out of your home yourself. If this happens, you should have a strong pump on hand to get the water out of your house. Tough, durable pumps like Tsurumi pumps are a great, affordable option for this. You want to make sure that your pump is affordable, but not cheap. After all, what good is a cheap pump that ends up costing you thousands in flood damage after it breaks down at a critical moment.

Floods can be absolutely catastrophic if you aren’t prepared for them. Even when you are prepared, there will always be at least a little damage resulting from a major flooding event. Despite this, it is very possible to mitigate the damage done by flooding when you take the time to prepare and equip yourself with the right kind of gear.

As Rebecca advises, be prepared to protect yourself with the right kind of personal protective gear.  From gloves, goggles, waterproof clothing, to rubber boots, your body must not be in contact with contamination from flood waters, mold and mildew.  Some types of destruction require professionals to assist with the clean-up.  Use caution when working in this type of environment. Pat