Recovering From A Flood & How Chem-Dry Can Help

Flooding here is a big deal. Not only are floods the country’s most frequent and costly disasters, but they’re also the deadliest. Shortly after settling in New Zealand, after seeing over 1,000 people drown, early European settlers began to call drowning ‘the New Zealand death’. And with over 80 damaging floods in the past 50 years, the trend is showing no signs of slowing down. In the event of a flood, given your family is safe and secure, addressing flood damage needs to be timely and aggressive. Acting early is the key to flood restoration. If you don’t act fast enough, entire homes can be lost if water is left to soak in the carpets and upholstery for too long. Mould, bacteria, and poor air quality are also serious risks if your home is left unattended.

What To Do When Your Home Floods

After your home is flooded, fast action is imperative. Get your plumber on the phone and en route to your home as quickly as possible. Once you’ve made that call, there are a few more things you can do to minimize the damage in your home:

Turn off the power

As you probably know, water and electricity do not play nicely together. That’s why it’s important to turn your entire home’s power off immediately – even if there’s a power outage in your neighbourhood.

Dig out your wellies

Any New Zealander in flood territory needs a good pair of boots. Not only will they keep your feet dry, but they’ll allow you to wade through your partially submerged home. That’s because wellies can insulate you from electrocution, and protect you against broken glass, chemicals, and other undesirable materials in the flood water; yes, we mean poop!

Attempt to stop the water

Next, if it’s possible – do what you can to stop the flow of water. If a nearby river has overflowed there’s obviously not much you can do, but try your best to clear your storm drains of debris. If you have sandbags, put them to work. If you’ve simply burst a pipe, see if you can turn off the water or stop the flow.

Take photos of everything

This step will be extremely important for insurance purposes. Be sure to take photographs of your home, the standing water, and the damage done to your furniture, walls and rugs.

Call your insurance company

Most flood restoration work required will be covered by your home insurance. But you have to act fast. Be sure to kick off the claim process within 24 hours and document every phone call and message you exchange. Armed with documentation of communication along with the photos you took, you should be safe if anything goes sideways in the future.

Call Chem-Dry

Call Chem-Dry on 0800 CHEMDRY. We’re flood restoration experts, available 24 hours a day for flood emergency service. We work with the country’s biggest insurance companies to make sure homes like yours are taken care of. And with 30 years of experience, we know what it takes to quickly and professionally restore your home.

The Chem-Dry Restoration Process

A quick and planned flood response can save furniture, rugs, and even entire homes. That’s why we take flood restoration so seriously. We have a complete plan in place that kicks off as soon as you make that call. Our Flood Restoration & Response service is available 24/7, so don’t hesitate: 0800 CHEMDRY. Here’s what our flood restoration process looks like in action:

Move The Furniture

The first step is getting your furniture out of the way. Everything will be dealt with in time, but the rugs and carpets need to be the top priority right away. We’ll clear the furniture from the room entirely and get started on the water extraction and drying process.

Get Rid of the Water

Before carpets and rugs are dried at our facility, it’s important to clear off any excess water right away. This stage is critical for preventing mould and mildew growth, but it also saves time and money during the drying process. That’s where Rover comes in. Rover is a roaming, ride-em robot that specializes in water extraction. With a Rover equipped in every technician’s van, we’re able to expertly extract water anywhere we need to. Menial carpet cleaning wands used by our competition cannot compare!

Dry Carpets & Rugs

Once the excess water has been extracted from your carpets and rugs, it’s time to start the drying process. We’ll carefully remove them from your floors before transporting everything to our drying and storage warehouses. Using our super advanced air movers and dehumidification equipment, we’ll have your carpets and rugs back to normal in no time.

Re-Stretch and Re-Lay the Carpets

As often is the case, carpets and rugs will sometimes need to be re-stretched and re-structured after undergoing the drying process. Excessive water tends to cause damage, but we’ll be able to return your carpets to their original shape with no problem. Once the carpets have been dried, re-stretched, and back to looking brand new again, our expert technicians will lay them, exactly where they found them in your home. Now the process is almost done.

Cleanup Stains on Furniture

After your carpets have been restored and returned to their original condition, our technicians will run an analysis on your home. We’ll take a look at each piece of your upholstered furniture and determine whether they could use cleaning or not. Using our eco-friendly, proprietary, and top-secret formula called ‘The Natural’, we’ll then get to work on your furniture. This carbonated cleaning solution is superior, as its able clean deep and remove the toughest of stains. Choose Chem-Dry for a fresh, healthier, longer-lasting clean!