What is water damage cleanup?
Water damage cleanup is the stage between getting the water out and drying the structure. It covers removing everything the water ruined, from carpet pad and swollen drywall to wet insulation and debris, moving and documenting your belongings, and cleaning the surfaces that stay so drying equipment can do its job.
Cleanup is where most of the decisions about your home are made: what can be dried and kept, and what has to go. Those decisions depend on the type of water and how long it sat.
Cleanup services in this group
Water damage cleanup is the hub for the cleanup jobs this line covers:
- Carpet water damage: extracting and drying carpet, and replacing pad.
- Hardwood floor water damage: drying and saving wood floors where possible.
- Ceiling and wall water damage: stains, sagging drywall and wet insulation.
- Flood damage cleanup: mud, silt and contaminated materials after outside water.
Before cleanup, emergency water removal gets standing water out. After it, water mitigation and drying dries the structure.
Clean, gray and black water
Restoration providers group water by contamination. Clean water from a supply line allows the most to be dried and kept. Gray water, such as washer or dishwasher discharge, needs more cleaning. Black water from sewage or outside flooding means porous materials it soaked, such as carpet, pad and lower drywall, are usually discarded and the remaining surfaces are treated. Tell the provider where the water came from when you call.
Residential cleanup, room by room
Most home cleanup jobs follow the water: kitchens and laundry rooms after an appliance leak, bathrooms after a toilet or shower failure, and rooms on the lowest level after rain gets in. Belongings in those rooms are moved, photographed and either cleaned, dried or set aside for your insurer to see before they are thrown away.
What affects the cost of cleanup
The provider explains costs after seeing the property. The main factors are the size of the area, the type of water, how long it sat, how much material has to come out and how many belongings need moving or cleaning.
What to have ready for the call
Have the property address and ZIP code, where the water came from, which rooms are affected, what flooring is wet and how long ago it happened.