Flood health precautions while cleaning up after a flood

The best thing to do after experiencing a flood is, of course, to call a flood restoration company, and contract them to do flood restoration and water cleanuo, But at the same time, you are going to have work of your own to do both before, during, and after the cleanup process in order to minimise the damage and get your place back up to shape quickly.

The team at Mr. Flood are able to handle most of the heavy lifting, but there are a couple of things that you can do in the days afterwards to ensure that through the restoration period, the flood does not become a health hazard.

• If you have any cuts or wounds on your body, keep them covered until the house is dry again. The water that floods a room or home is likely contaminated to a small degree; perhaps with sewage, dirt, or other pollutants. As the room dries, and as diluted as this is likely to be, it is a small health hazard, so keep the potential for infection to a minimum.
• Wear rubber gloves when cleaning the space. The contaminants can settle as the water is dried away, so you’ll need to clean the room, and for the same reasons that you should cover open wounds, you should wear thick, quality gloves while doing this.
• Wash down all hard surfaces with hot, soapy water until they are visually clean, to get rid of the contaminants, then use a good quality disinfectant to properly clean the space.
• Any wet fabrics, such as clothing, bedding and so on, should be laundered in a hot wash where possible, to kill any residual germs.
• If there is water damaged goods, then remove them from the home. Mold can grow on wet and damaged materials, and then spread to things you don’t want to throw out.

If the flood damage is especially extensive, then it might also be a good idea to vacate the premises until a proper clean, which might take a day or two, can be completed. An especially wet room can both smell bad, making it uncomfortable to remain in the building, and airborne contaminant from the moisture can be a further health hazard. Your friendly Mr. Flood professional will be able to help you come to that decision when they arrive on site.