While you can do everything in your power to protect your home and ensure that you and your family are safe there, there are always going to be things that you can’t fully protect against. Whether these things are acts of nature or just bad luck, it’s wise to know what you should be as soon as one of these events takes place so that you can minimize the damage and get your life back on track, especially when it comes to things like flooding and water damage.
To help you see how this can be done, here are three things to do after your home has sustained water damage.
Shut Off The Water And The Power
The very first thing that you should do if there is standing water in your home is to shut off the water and power that you have going throughout your house. This way, you can work to minimize the damage and keep more water or other issues from growing bigger.
Keep in mind, however, that you only want to turn off the water or power if you can safely get to those locations yourself. If your fuse box has water around it, you shouldn’t touch it yourself. Rather, you should call your power company and see if they can turn the power off to your home from their end. If this isn’t a possibility, evacuate the premises and call an electrician to take care of this for you.
Get In Touch With Your Insurance Carrier
Once you’ve been able to stop the water from coming, it’s time to call your insurance carrier to see what coverage you have and what advice they have for you as you go forward.
If you have flood insurance, you should feel confident that your insurance will cover the damages regardless of whether they happened just inside your home or were a natural disaster. But if you don’t have specific flood insurance, you’ll need to ask your insurance adjuster some questions and get some answers to know what to do to best position yourself.
Work To Get Things Drying As Quickly As Possible
As soon as you’re able to, you should seek to get your home and property drying out as quickly as you can. The longer water is allowed to sit and soak into things, the more damage it’s going to cause, and things like mold and mildew will start to set in, which can make the situation so much worse. But if you’re able to get things drying out, you can quickly assess the damage and determine what your next move should be in getting things cleaned up, restored, and back to normal.
If your home has sustained some water damage, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you know what you should be doing next.