It's never a good feeling to step into your basement and realize you are standing in water, or to flip on the light and look down the steps to a flood of water down below. Basement flooding can be caused by excessive rainfall that leaks in through cracks in the wall or from a sump pump that has overflowed, and various other reasons. It can range from small areas of standing water to a floor that is completely covered by water. No matter the cause or exactly how much water you have in the basement, the first step is going to be finding out what has caused the flood and stopping the problem so no more water is introduced. Once that is accomplished you need to start the process of water removal immediately. You never want to allow standing water to remain in your basement for long periods of time because you could end up with even more damage that will be expensive to fix. Exactly how you go about water removal will depend on how big the problem is and what materials have been damaged by the water. Let's consider two different circumstances, both that will require water removal on different levels: small areas of water standing on a concrete floor versus an entire basement covered in carpet that has been completely soaked. In the first case you can easily clean up the wet areas from the concrete floor and water removal is simple. You will of course need to sanitize the area if it was contaminated by flood waters or sewage water since they carry a lot of harmful bacteria, but this is a relatively simple water removal job most homeowners can handle on their own. The second circumstance will require a water removal company to be called immediately because there are a lot of risks involved with carpeting that has been soaked. Mold can easily grow underneath the carpet, creating a health hazard for pets and humans in the household, especially children. Also, pulling up a carpet that is tacked down by yourself can cause it to shrink, which means instead of drying it out you will be replacing it altogether. Whether your case is simple like this first example or more complicated like the second, you will want to find the drains on the floor of your basement and open them up. This will allow you to sweep or push the water into the drain, starting the water removal process right away. If you have a major flood making it hard to find the drains without wading around in the water then it is best to wait for a water removal professional to come do that for you. In most cases, you will have just a low level of water and locating the drains should not be difficult if you don't already know where they are. If you find that opening the drains makes the water level rise instead of decrease, then your problem may be coming from a sewage backup and you will need to pump out the water. If the problem is due to sewage problems it is important to call for a professional company to pump out the water and make sure that the mess is cleaned up and properly sanitized so that you don't have future health risks that come with sewage water.
Please Rate this Article 5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5
Not yet Rated
