What To Do If Theres Water In My Basement?

7/16/2018 (Permalink)

A finished basement that flooded during a rainstorm.

You’ve just returned home from a weekend trip to the beach, you go down to the basement to put the beach chairs away and upon your first step you hear and feel what no person wants to, the squishing of a wet carpet below your feet.  As the questions start racing in your mind, you’re not sure where you should start; “Where did this water come from? Do I need to move all my furniture upstairs right away?  What should I do?”  Have no fear, SERVPRO is here to help wish a list of steps you can take right away to start minimizing the damage. 

So what happened?  This is the first question you should ask yourself when you find yourself in this situation.  The first places you can check are your hot water heaters and septic tanks.  If a pipe has burst you will most likely hear water squirting through the crack or a consistent drip.  If you can identify the pipe that is leaking, follow that pipe to its source and on both your water heater, and septic tanks, there are usually valves you can turn on or off should you ever experience these problems.  If you’re unable to tell which valve does what, call your local plumber and they should be able to walk you through the process.  The most important factor in minimizing damage from a broken pipe is shutting off that pipes source of water.  The quicker this can be done, the smaller the mess. 

If the water in your basement did not come from a damaged pipe, there are a list of other factors that could be contributing to the flooding such as surface water running down foundation walls, or groundwater in water-saturated soils being pushed into the basement by hydrostatic pressure.  It could also be storm sewer water from the municipal storm sewer system backing up into the home's existing perimeter foundation drain and leaking into the basement, or sanitary sewer water from a clog in your home's sewer line, the municipal sewer line, or the combined municipal storm/sanitary sewer system backing up into the home's drain system, causing sewer water to come up through sink drains and floor drains on lower levels.  These are just four potential scenarios of what could be the cause of a basement flood.  Some of these scenarios are easy to tell by an average home owner, but others not so much.  Fortunately SERVPRO of Overbrook/ Wynnefield is just a call away and we have highly trained technicians who can assist in determining the cause of these problems. 

Just as important as determining the problem, fixing the problem comes next.  If you start to clean your basement with shop vacs or other available at home tools and the problem hasn’t been fixed, you could be cleaning only for a disaster to happen again.  Along with being able to help identify the problem, we at SERVPRO of Overbrook/ Wynnefield have a lengthy list of local service providers who can come and assist us with fixing the problem so that it doesn’t happen again. 

Once these two important steps have been completed, the clean-up process can begin.  To begin cleaning, we start by closing off whatever section of your basement has been damaged.  This usually requires the installation of temporary walls.  This allows us to contain the damage and speed up the drying process by trapping dry heat we produce inside these temporary walls.  If there is carpet or drywall that contains mold growth, we remove only what's necessary to salvage the existing materials and keep costs lower for the homeowner or insurance provider.  We use specialized equipment that can detect bacterial growth, that can sometimes create mold, and give us the precise location of this growth allowing us to remove what we need to prevent further growth.  Once the entire affected area has been thoroughly cleaned and dried, we can restore your basement like it never happened.  From replacing hardwood floors or carpet, to repairing dry wall and painting it to match the room, SERVPRO of Overbrook/ Wynnefield has you covered. 

Should you ever experience a basement flood of any size, know that we here at SERVPRO of Overbrook/ Wynnefield have handled hundreds of different water damage instances in our 6 years of business.  We find our customers are most satisfied with the professional manner in which our crew members carry themselves and the speediness of our remediation and restoration process.  No matter what time or day of the week you find yourself experiencing an emergency, we’re available 24/7 at (215) 877-6653.  Our technicians can walk you through some what-to-do’s detailed in this blog until help arrives.  If you’re outside of the Greater Philadelphia Area, we can help connect you with the local SERVPRO Franchise, or you can search “SERVPRO Near Me” on your website browser and find your local SERVPRO’s contact information.  With over 1,800 Franchises nationwide, theres more than likely a SERVPRO closer by than you may have thought. 

As always, we’re happy to help in any way we can when it comes to cleaning any size or type of disaster.  To get more familiar with some of our more common services, click here.  If you aren’t sure if we do a certain type of cleaning service, and it’s not an emergency, message us on facebook!

 If you found this article helpful, or have used our services before, we would love for you to leave us a review on google : ) Thanks in advance!