If you are unaware that your basement is prone to flooding and are experiencing a flooded basement only now, then you can go about the water removal and clean-up of your basement by choosing from either of two options: you can either hire a professional company to drain your flooded basement and do water restoration services or you can do the work yourself.
The difficulty of draining and cleaning a flooded basement depends on the severity of the situation. There are situations wherein you will have no choice but to contact a professional water removal company to do water removal and damage restoration. One of the situations that call for professional services is a flooded basement caused by sewage back-up. Because sewage water may contain one or more health hazards, you should have a professional company take care of the situation. There are many companies listed in the phonebook and online that do water restoration services. Simply choose the company that meets your needs and provides the best value for money.
If the flooding is not too severe and there is not that much damage to your property then you can drain the flooded basement yourself and do clean-up afterwards.
When you do the flooded basement draining and clean-up, your initial priority should be your safety. Make sure you have enough protective gear when you do the work. The protective gears you will need are: splash goggles, rubber boots, rubber gloves and even a face mask.
Before beginning with the task of draining water from the flooded basement, you should turn off the main electrical switch to your home to avoid suffering from any electrical accidents. Next, check your home for any bad cracks on the wall, or any damage that may cause your walls to collapse, or any other possible sources of accidents that may do you harm.
The next thing you should do is to set-up the sump pump outside your basement. You should set-up the equipment outside with only the water tubes inside the home to prevent experiencing carbon monoxide poisoning. There are already reported cases of people dying from carbon monoxide poisoning from the operation of a sump pump in window-less basements.
Next, suck out a few feet of water each day until you get all the water out of the home completely. Make sure that the water you remove from your basement is pumped into the sewage system of another area where it can no longer cause any problems for anyone.
After all the water has been removed from your flooded basement, use a shovel to clear all the mud and the dirt from the floor. Place debris and garbage in large heavy-duty garbage bags and seal them off. Wash the walls and the floors using a high-strength commercial cleaner so that the germs and bacteria in the home will be disinfected. Open all windows and doors in the home so that air will circulate. You can also use industrial fans to get the air circulating in your home. You can also use the home heating system to hasten the drying process. Just remember to use a dehumidifier when you use the home heating system so that there won’t be too much moisture in the air. High humidity can cause condensation which can result in the growth of molds.
