Fargo Flood Information: What to do if your house floods

So, from all of the information we are hearing about the current flood crest, the city is underway with its effort to protect the city from a 39-41 foot crest of the Red River.

If you look at the city flood plain map, you get a good idea of the scope of a 100 year and 500 year flood.  In the case of flooding, the map shows the affected areas if there were to be a 100 year and 500 year flood event if the dikes failed.

Now, what do you do if a flood event happens, and you get flood water from either a failed dike or backup water from a failed lift station?

Many “restoration” contractors hold very tightly to a few easy tips anyone can do to clean-up flood water.  I am willing to share this information for FREE.  Our company completed many water cleanup jobs in the 1997 flood and we helped many homeowners save thousands of dollars. Here are some things you can do if you have the ability to do the work.

Hopefully, you prepared before the flood event by getting anything of value off the floor and out of the basement.

If you get 2 inches or less of water in the basement, here is what you can do.  Be prepared, this is heavy, hard work and if it is not possible for you to this kind of work, at least you will know the process so you won’t get snowed by a “restoration” contractor.

1. Be careful. You don’t want to get electrocuted.  Turn off the breakers in the basement if possible to avoid a shock.  Also, flood water is contaminated, no matter how “clean” you think it might be.  Use gloves and a mask if the water has been sitting for more than a day or two.  You do not want to inhale mold or mildew spores.

2. Get the water out.  Get everything out of the basement.  Position a large plastic garbage can at the top of the stairs.  Get a shop vac, (as large as possible) and use a tool on the end of the wand like the one in the picture below and start sucking out the water from the lowest point in the basement.  Don’t get the shop vac too full or it will be very hard to dump the water in the garbage can.  You will be surprised how much water you will get out.  You can get 100-300 GALLONS out of basement very easily.  Once you get as much standing water out as possible, move to tackling the carpet issue.

Shop Vac Floor Tool

3. Wet carpet is heavy and traps a lot of water.  Carpet pad literally acts like a sponge and holds even more water.  You cannot salvage wet pad.  As professionals, we have tried to suck out the water and the pad just breaks down.  Your best bet is to get rid of it.  Remove the carpet from the tack strip, removing the baseboards if possible.  Next, carefully remove the carpet and roll it up.  Use a utility knife and cut the pad in small, manageable pieces and dispose of in garbage bags.  The pad will be wet and heavy.

4. Remove any additional water from the carpet areas, and suck as much out of the carpet as possible.  This is where a professional can do a better job by using a powerful carpet cleaning machine to suck out water and disinfect the carpet.

5.  GET IT DRY. Fans, air movers (you can rent these), and dehumidification.  Turn on vent fans in the bathroom, turn on ceiling fans, set up box fans or air movers on the carpet to get it dry as fast as possible.  Use dehumidifiers to remove moisture from the air.  If the humidity outside is less than inside, open the windows.  Turn up the heat.  Do everything you can to speed up the drying process.   If the sheetrock got wet, determine if you need to cut it out to dry the structure.  You can do this by using a small nail to see if it pushes easily through the sheetrock.  If it does, you might need to remove it since it will stay wet and perhaps cause a mold problem.

6.  Replacement. After you get it dry, you will need to replace the pad with new pad, and reinstall the carpet if it was able to be saved.  A final carpet cleaning and disinfecting will help.

Hopefully you will not need to do this, but it is a good start if you do get flood water.  Feel free to contact Big Fish Service Company at 701-306-7026 if you need any free advice.