Preventing Water Emergencies
While nothing you do can guarantee 100% that you’ll never have a water emergency, there are many steps you can take to prevent water from entering your home in the first place. Keeping water where it belongs is the most effective way to prevent water damage.
Check for Leaks
Routinely check your home for signs of leaks such as water puddles, water stains and drips. Check ceilings, walls and floors. Also check all of the visible plumbing such as under sinks and around the base of your toilet. If you notice a leak, get it taken care of as soon as possible. A leak can slowly cause water damage to your home, or can become a bigger leak later on.
Inspect Appliances and Fixtures
Over time, your appliances—like refrigerators, dishwashers and washing machines—may show signs of a leak due to normal wear and tear. Fixtures will also need occasional maintenance as parts wear out.
Prepare for Severe Weather
In the case of hurricanes or tropical storms, do your best to prep your home beforehand. Check your roof (which is essential even to prevent water damage from normal rainstorms) and perform other routine preparations like boarding windows and using sandbags to help keep water out. When the weather drops below freezing, take care to keep pipes from freezing. This will prevent your pipes from bursting.
Handle Water Emergencies Properly
The other way to prevent water damage is to expect the unexpected. When a water emergency occurs, you must act quickly and appropriately to prevent water damage.
Understand your Plumbing
In cases where you need to shut off the water—overflowing toilets, burst pipes, etc.—it’s vital to know how to turn off the water in your home. The faster you turn off the water, the less water you’ll have to clean up and the less chance there will be water damage. *As an extra safety measure, it may be necessary to also turn off your power if there’s significant flooding in your home.
Air Out Your Home
In addition to physically removing water as quickly as possible, you should also help pull out moisture by opening windows and doors to allow airflow to the wet areas of your home. Get the air circulating by turning on fans and help remove moisture with dehumidifiers. This will help to fully remove moisture from your home after a water emergency, which will help prevent water damage.
Call a Professional
While you can remove a lot of water yourself, you need to call a professional water removal service to fully extract water from your floors. This is the best way to prevent the growth of mold and mildew and prevent water damage to your home. Today’s professionals have the knowledge and the latest powerful high-tech equipment to remove water and prevent damage. Some companies will also offer post-flood monitoring to ensure your home is completely dry again.
Know Who to Call
When all else fails, it’s important to know who to call when you have a water emergency. Find someone who responds quickly, uses the best equipment and has the best customer service. You need someone who knows what they’re doing and who cares about getting your home back to normal and preventing water damage. Find out how we can help in a water emergency by giving us a call today.