If your home is flooded, then odds are pretty good that your carpet is going to need to be taken up. Sewage, chemicals, and other biohazards live in the dirty flood water that took over your home during that time and most of the time, porous materials such as carpet cannot practically be saved. You can go through a lot of trouble trying to save your old carpet when the most efficient thing to do is just to throw it out.
Trying to shampoo the carpet itself may work and remove a lot of the smell and stains, but the carpet padding underneath will need to be completely taken out and replaced. Foam padding like this cannot be cleaned and will usually end up shredding if you try, so whether you choose to clean the carpet or just replace it, it will still need to come up.
Removing your carpet is not a difficult task. You must remove all furniture from the room first and depending on whether you want to save the carpet or just replace it, you can take a utility knife and cut it in areas that may be difficult to take up. You can also use it to cut the old carpet into strips if you do not want to save it. Pull the moldings on the walls around the room off and take the door off its hinges. Removing the door will help you get the old carpet out and the new carpet in. The carpet padding also needs to be removed.
Pulling the old tackless strips up and installing new ones may be a good idea and you need to leave about half an inch of space between the new strips and the wall. The tips of the tacks need to be facing toward the wall.
If the floor has had much mold or sewage damage to it, you will want to clean this up before installing new carpet or re-installing your clean old carpet. Cleaning up mold stains can be done by putting 5 tablespoons of trisodium phosphate in a single gallon of water and scrubbing the floor with something that will not scar it.
If you cannot afford new carpet or to have the old carpet cleaned, refinishing the hardwood floor that may be underneath it may be an option. If you had to take carpet out of the bathroom, laundry room, basement, or kitchen, then you will really want to avoid putting carpet back into these areas, since these rooms of the house tend to stay damp.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
South Carolina Water Damage Restoration and and other states such as
Chicago Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Clogged Toilets and Water Damage
Everyone who has had a toilet has had the misfortune of having to unclog it and clean up the mess that resulted. A toilet that is let to overflow often can be a serious source of water damage to your floor and the sad thing is that this can be avoided the majority of the time.
If you have small children that like to play around in the bathroom, then it is possibly a good idea to invest in a product called a lid lock. This will lock down the lid of the toilet so that the hand of an adult can open it easily, but a child’s hand cannot. This keep you from worrying not only if the child has put something in the toilet that does not belong there, but also stop curious toddlers from actually climbing in it. These are not expensive at all and can save you quite a bit of time and worry.
Whenever a toilet overflows, the first thing most people tend to do is try and flush it again. This is not a good idea. Allow the water to get back to its normal level before attempting to flush it again. Be sure that the rest of the members of your household know this, too.
Bale water from the clogged toilet out until you cannot remove any more. Try using a plunger to see if that dislodges the object and the water goes down. If a plunger does not work, see if you can get the object out of the toilet by putting your hand (preferably in a waterproof glove that reaches to your elbow, since the water is probably nasty) down inside it, but be careful not to get it stuck. If you cannot get it out this way, you may need a plumbing snake.
If you think the clog is gone, fill a bucket with water and pour it down into the toilet. If the water goes down as it should, then the blockage is gone.
If none of these methods worked, it may be time to call a professional. There are such things as emergency plumbers that are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but getting one of these in your local area may be a bit difficult. If the problem is a blocked city sewer, then you need to call the water company, since it will be their responsibility to remove the blockage.
Jim Corkern is a writer and respected contributor to the Water damage restoration and mold remediation Industry. Visit his sites for more information.
http://www.localrestoration.com and
http://www.moldrestorationusa.com
If you have small children that like to play around in the bathroom, then it is possibly a good idea to invest in a product called a lid lock. This will lock down the lid of the toilet so that the hand of an adult can open it easily, but a child’s hand cannot. This keep you from worrying not only if the child has put something in the toilet that does not belong there, but also stop curious toddlers from actually climbing in it. These are not expensive at all and can save you quite a bit of time and worry.
Whenever a toilet overflows, the first thing most people tend to do is try and flush it again. This is not a good idea. Allow the water to get back to its normal level before attempting to flush it again. Be sure that the rest of the members of your household know this, too.
Bale water from the clogged toilet out until you cannot remove any more. Try using a plunger to see if that dislodges the object and the water goes down. If a plunger does not work, see if you can get the object out of the toilet by putting your hand (preferably in a waterproof glove that reaches to your elbow, since the water is probably nasty) down inside it, but be careful not to get it stuck. If you cannot get it out this way, you may need a plumbing snake.
If you think the clog is gone, fill a bucket with water and pour it down into the toilet. If the water goes down as it should, then the blockage is gone.
If none of these methods worked, it may be time to call a professional. There are such things as emergency plumbers that are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but getting one of these in your local area may be a bit difficult. If the problem is a blocked city sewer, then you need to call the water company, since it will be their responsibility to remove the blockage.
Jim Corkern is a writer and respected contributor to the Water damage restoration and mold remediation Industry. Visit his sites for more information.
http://www.localrestoration.com and
http://www.moldrestorationusa.com
Your Wet Front and Backyard
One of the biggest eyesores for neighbors to have to look at tends to be standing water in the front yard. Water collecting in the backyard may not be that big of an issue, but it can still be a problem when it reduces the value of the property in more ways than one. If the water collects around the foundation of the house, then this can put the structure of the home in jeopardy, since water in these spots long term can cause the home itself to sink down into the ground. Repairing that problem can be quite expensive, so taking the steps necessary to make sure that water does not collect around the house is very important.
The problem of standing water in your yard can usually be solved very easily by filling in the depressions on the property with soil. This should not take a lot of work, but the result will be worth it in the end. You can have the dirt delivered by someone else or if you have a truck, you can go retrieve it yourself to save even more money. Having a wheel barrow handy and some shovels can also help with this project. If you do not have a wheel barrow, some buckets will get the job done eventually. Walk on the soil until it appears to be even with the rest of the yard and plant grass over it. To keep it from looking out of place, you might want to take this opportunity to reseed your yard with new grass.
You can also put a drainage system in your yard to drain one area of its excess water. This does not have to be used for a large puddle of standing water, but can also be used to direct ground water away from the property. If there is an area that you want to keep drained, however, you can do this by digging a ditch, installing some gravel, and a length of PVC pipe. Make sure that your ditch slants downhill and that it does so enough that the flow of water is efficient. Gravel will be put down before the PVC pipe to help with the draining of ground water, which cannot typically be collected by the pipe itself. The PVC pipe will be completely surrounded by gravel and soil replaced on top of it. Taking the opportunity to reseed your yard with new grass could be a good idea now, as well, since you do not want a huge visible line of new grass running through it.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
water damage restoration companies and
mold remediation companies across the united states.
The problem of standing water in your yard can usually be solved very easily by filling in the depressions on the property with soil. This should not take a lot of work, but the result will be worth it in the end. You can have the dirt delivered by someone else or if you have a truck, you can go retrieve it yourself to save even more money. Having a wheel barrow handy and some shovels can also help with this project. If you do not have a wheel barrow, some buckets will get the job done eventually. Walk on the soil until it appears to be even with the rest of the yard and plant grass over it. To keep it from looking out of place, you might want to take this opportunity to reseed your yard with new grass.
You can also put a drainage system in your yard to drain one area of its excess water. This does not have to be used for a large puddle of standing water, but can also be used to direct ground water away from the property. If there is an area that you want to keep drained, however, you can do this by digging a ditch, installing some gravel, and a length of PVC pipe. Make sure that your ditch slants downhill and that it does so enough that the flow of water is efficient. Gravel will be put down before the PVC pipe to help with the draining of ground water, which cannot typically be collected by the pipe itself. The PVC pipe will be completely surrounded by gravel and soil replaced on top of it. Taking the opportunity to reseed your yard with new grass could be a good idea now, as well, since you do not want a huge visible line of new grass running through it.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
water damage restoration companies and
mold remediation companies across the united states.
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