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You are faced with moderate water damage loss, what do you do? You aren’t exactly helpless, but you must act fast, water damage becomes worse with time. Your first course of action is to get the water out of where it has seeped or flooded into your home. If water is standing, get a pump and direct the excess outside. A pump may be purchased at your local hardware store or perhaps rented at an equipment rental store. In the meantime, mops, brooms and elbow grease are a good fill in.
If the water has seeped into the carpet, get towels and actively press down on the wet spots until you have soaked up as much water as possible. If possible, lift up the carpeting at the corners and start peeling it back. Don’t roll the carpet, that only delays the carpet drying from lack of airflow. The under pad is undoubtedly wet too, and more towels may be necessary to soak that water there.
Now, beg, borrow, (well don’t steal), or buy fans and place them so they point directly at the humid flooring. You may have to leave them on all day and night. Remember, the longer the water stays, the more damage it does. Do not turn off the fans until the area in question is dry beyond a doubt. You don’t want mold to get a foothold in the moist carpeting or under flooring.
If the water damaged any of your furniture, not all is lost. Again, soak up all moisture in the fabric pieces. A hair dryer may be turned on the moist furniture to dry the fabric area. If the wet area is large, put it outside if possible. Sunshine and breezes are perfect
disinfectant. If the outdoors is not feasible, your garage is second best. Again, keep a fan on the damaged piece.
Trickier, but fixable, is if the bottom of your sheet board has gotten wet. With a purchased “Stud Finder,” (every hardware store carries these marvelous devices) locate the horizontal
stud above the highest damaged area. Mark where the stud is. With a knife designed to cut sheet rock, cut below your mark. Carefully, trim the sheet rock so it ends half way down the 2×4. Cut your newly bought sheet rock to match the hole you just created. You may need to replace the full sheet. Don’t forget to purchase a small amount of sheet rock ‘mud’ and tape. The ‘mud’ connects the new sheet rock with its surrounding neighbors and the tape makes the transition between sheets seamless. A few coats of paint and it will never tell its tale of water damage.