Everyone has been there. You’re sitting at home, taking care of your own affairs. Your dog is blissfully sleeping on the couch, and you’re watching Netflix. Suddenly… BOOM! You hear a loud crash from downstairs.
“What the heck could have happened?” is usually the first thing that comes to mind. Then the second thought comes into play: “I hope my basement isn’t flooded!”
Flooding may lead to mould growth, which can cause major health issues for your family (and pets!) over time. It’s also a scary experience—it doesn’t happen frequently, but when it does, you should be ready. That’s why we’ve compiled this guide on what to do if your basement floods—so you can get back into your house as soon as possible!
Causes of a Flooded Basement
Before we look at some prevention for dealing with water in your basement, you need to understand what causes flood in the basement.
There are a number of causes for a water-flooded basement. Some are man-made, and some are natural. It’s important to understand what the cause is so you can prevent it from happening in the future.
Man-made Causes:
- Bad Plumbing
- Bad plumbing in Burbank is the most common cause of a flooded basement, but it’s also one of the easiest to fix. If your pipes clog up, they can’t drain properly, and water will back up into your home. This can be caused by any number of things, including tree roots growing in your pipes or animals chewing through them.
- Poor Drainage
- If your roof isn’t waterproofed properly or your gutters aren’t cleaned out regularly, a runoff will clog up your drain system and cause flooding issues in your basement.
- Frozen Pipes
- When temperatures drop below freezing outside, pipes inside homes can also freeze due to a lack of insulation around them which causes them to burst open, causing flooding inside homes. This leads to expensive repairs down the road, like replacing carpeting or drywall that has been ruined from water damage due to bursting pipes (which usually happens when temperatures drop below freezing outside too).
10 Things You Need to Do When Your Basement Floods
You wake up in the middle of the night to a strange sound. Your heart pounds as you hear it again—a gurgling noise, like someone trying to swallow a mouthful of water. You turn on your bedroom light and walk to the basement door, where you see a flooded basement.
You think just let the water sit there and hope that it goes away on its own. Don’t do this! It’s dangerous for you and your family, not to mention a waste of money.
You’re not sure what to do at first. Should you call a professional Burbank plumber? Do you need to get out of the house? Is there even time for that?
Slow down and breathe! We’re going to tell you everything you need to know about flooding basements, including what to do when your basement floods.
Let’s take a look.
1) Turn off Electricity and Gas in the Flooded Area
If you have any electrical items in your flooded basement, turn off the electricity before touching them—just in case. Not only will this ensure that you don’t electrocute yourself, but it also helps prevent short circuits that could damage other electrical appliances. For gas-powered appliances like furnaces or hot water heaters, turn off the gas valve at the source.
2) Determine the Source of the Water
If there’s water coming into your basement from outside sources (like rain or melting snow), then there’s nothing more you can do about it besides waiting for it to subside naturally! If water is coming from inside sources (like a broken pipe or faucet), use some towels or rags to soak up as much as possible before calling professional plumbers in Burbank or a contractor and getting an estimate on the flooded basement cleanup cost.
3) Take Pictures and Call Home Insurance
If you have a camera on your phone, take pictures of the damage as soon as possible. This will help when you call your insurance company later on in the process!
4) Drain the Water out of the Basement
If there’s still standing water in your basement—and if it doesn’t look like it’ll be going away anytime soon—you should try to drain it out by opening up some windows or doors or using a shop vac if necessary (and if there aren’t any electrical issues). You can also use a wet/dry vacuum with no attachments if necessary; just make sure not to let it get wet itself while doing so!
5) Remove Damaged Items
If your basement floods, the next thing you need to do is remove any damaged items from the area. Start removing damaged items from your flooded basement immediately. You don’t want mold to start growing on those wet things—it’s a breeding ground for bacteria and disease! So make sure you take care of them as soon as possible before you even think about putting anything back into your basement.
6) Wipe Down Surfaces
You probably don’t want to go through your entire home and wipe everything down with disinfectant or bleach—you’d have no time left over for anything else! But you should do flooded basement cleaning for any surfaces that were hit by the flooding because they’re likely covered in mold and mildew.
7) Dispose of Damaged Walls and Flooring
If there’s any drywall or wood flooring that got destroyed in flood, throw it out—it’s not safe! Even if it looks OK on the surface, there could be hidden mold or mildew lurking underneath it that will make its way into other parts of your home later on when things start drying out again.
8) Set Up Fans and Dehumidifiers
Fans dry out your space faster than anything else can—and if you have a dehumidifier, that will speed things up even more. These machines will suck out the moisture from your home as fast as possible, so you don’t have to worry about mold forming on any surfaces or floors.
9) Clean the Flooring and the Walls
Although your basement is completely empty, a musty odor will linger. Don’t just ignore it! If you don’t wash the floor and walls, mold will grow and make the smell of your whole house worse than it already is. And if that happens… well, we don’t even want to think about it. Use a mixture of 1 part bleach and 10 parts water to wash all surfaces. Bleach will kill any mold or bacteria that are present, so washing down everything with this solution is crucial.
10) Treat all affected surfaces with an anti-mold spray
To prevent mold from growing on your flooded floor or walls, use an anti-mold spray designed for use in wet areas (this will usually be indicated on the label). This should help keep mold from growing back if it does make its way in there again later on down the road—and if it does grow back anyway (which can happen!), at least now you know what went wrong last time so that you can avoid making those same mistakes again!
Should You Call Burbank Plumbers for Flooded Basement Cleaning?
You did! You have kept your basement from flooding. You’ve won, and you deserve to celebrate.
But here’s the thing: it’s far from done.
Now that you’ve tried all of your alternatives for preventing basement flooding, it’s time to call professional Burbank plumbers like Agent Rooter to future-proof your home with a repiping solution and leak detection.
For over 20 years, the team at Agent Rooter has been working with homes and business owners with a reliable plumbing service in Burbank, CA, and we’ve seen it all when it comes to plumbing issues.
We are experts in detecting leaks, installing new pipes, and other plumbing services in Burbank, and ensuring that your property is safe from this problem for many years to come.
With the help of Agent Rooter’s skilled plumbers and cutting-edge equipment, we can ensure that your pipes are in good enough shape to last a long time. If you have any questions concerning repiping or any of our other plumbing solutions, please contact us!
Just call us at 866-712-4368 today to schedule your appointment.