10 MOST IMPORTANT things to do after Hurricane Harvey house flood
Now that Hurricane Harvey has left his mark on our city and the water is now receding, it’s time to go into recovery and repair mode.
The 3 main things to do first is to first contact family to ensure them of your safety and theirs, contact the insurance company and then file a claim on the FEMA website.
Contact your insurance agent/claims adjuster, they will typically approve a certain level of sheetrock removal. 4 feet is standard if there was less than 3 feet of water in the home. Cut the sheetrock with a razor blade. Put a hole in the wall and grab and pull. Remove insulation from that same area. Feel above the dampened insulation. If it is damp, go 2’ more up. Once you are sure you have all the wetness gone and are down to the studs, spray with bleach. You don’t want mold to grow. Make sure your windows are open.
10 Important things to do after a major flood:
- Call your mortgage company, car loan company, student loans & credit card companies. Ask them for a 3 month reprieve from payments. There should be no late fees assessed. You may need that money to get back on your feet.
- Take photos of EVERYTHING! make sure to take photos of appliances, electronics as well as their serial numbers.
- Use a local contractor! Lots of con-artists will try to take advantage. Get estimates from a contractor for repairs. Your insurance company may need the bids.
- Items that have a plug or an outlet and it was under water, DO NOT USE IT! Those outlets will corrode over time and house fires start even in the future.
- Wear an N-95 mask any time you are indoors in a house that was flooded. You don’t want to contract bacterial and fungal pneumonia
- Empty your home quickly of items that are destroyed. If it has a plug, it is toast. If it runs on gas or electricity and was under water, it is trash.
- Solid wood furniture? Spray with bleach or Wet and Forgot from Home Depot type stores. Bleach is less expensive.
- Everything will mold or mildew if not treated. It is not worth your health in the long run.
- Expect that this will take 3 months on average to fix. From the time you begin tossing things out to the final paint coat.
- Clean clothing — twice. For washable fabrics, treat any stains with a prewash spray (we like Shout Advanced Gel) and wash in cool water with a powdered laundry detergent. Powdered detergents work well at removing clay and dirt that floodwater may contain, and cool water keeps stains from setting. After this initial wash, re-launder everything, this time in the hottest water that’s safe for the fabrics with powdered detergent and either chlorine or all-fabric bleach. Air dry all garments until you are certain any stains are removed. Take non-washable garments to the dry cleaner.
