Protect Your Family After Drains Back Up
You just have to love how things happen all the time. If it isn't little Johnny getting his head stuck between the balusters, it's the floor drains backing up and filling your home with all kinds of nastiness. So, you know what to do when Johnny's head gets stuck, but do you know what to do in the event that your drains back up? Do you know how to protect your family's health after this happens? Here, you will learn just that.
Electrical Precautions
Electricity and water is nothing to mess around with. Depending on how much water backed up into your home, you may have electrical safety issues to consider. If there are electrical appliances sitting in the standing water, it is crucial that you shut the electricity off to the area before you attempt any clean-up efforts. You can cut the power to the entire home on the utility pole outside of your home. After you do that, you are safe to enter the area and unplug the electrical devices before restoring power.
Pets and Kids
As much fun as it is for kids and pets to splash around in puddles, these aren't the puddles you want them splashing around in or drinking. Keep your pets and kids away from the area until you can get it cleaned up. Maybe consider sending them off to grandma's house until the worst of the job is done.
Protect Yourself
The nasty water that you are about to clean up contains bacteria and toxins that you should not expose your skin, eyes, nose or throat to. Wear rubber boots, rubber gloves, safety goggles and a paper mask as you work. This will help to keep you from being exposed to the things that could make you sick.
Ventilate the Area
Open as many doors and windows as you can. Turn on some fans and make sure to keep the air flowing through the area. You want to get the contaminated air out of your home while pulling the fresh, clean air in.
Remove Damaged Contents
Now, if your carpet has padding underneath, it will need to be removed. There is no way to pull all of that nasty stuff up out of a layer of carpeting and padding. If you have thin, indoor-outdoor carpeting, you can probably get away with sucking all of the moisture out with a shop-vac and then cleaning it using a disinfecting solution.
Remove the furniture, books and anything else that was stored in the area. Set it all aside so that you can go through it after you get the water out of your home. If you plan to salvage anything, make sure that you are cleaning it with bleach or another disinfecting product.
Decontamination
Now that the space is cleared, you will need to decontaminate the area. Don't forget the areas of the walls that were exposed. You don't want to leave any bacteria or toxins in the area.
Prevention
Now that this mess is cleaned up, contact your local drain cleaning expert to have your drains cleaned and inspected. This will help to avoid the mess from reoccurring in the near future.