Clearing out your home after a flood can be a very stressful and emotional time. However, you can make the experience easier if you know how to approach it in advance. Here are three things you need to know when hiring a skip bin to clear out your flood-damaged home.
First, safety is the most important thing to keep in mind when cleaning out your home after a flood. Floodwaters bring multiple health hazards with them, and many of these hazards remain even after experts have drained the water.
Before you enter the property to clear it out, make sure the home is safe to be inside. Floods can wear away at homes, leading to structural damage that could cause walls and floors to collapse. Floods can also cause electrical problems, fire hazards and gas leaks, all of which make a property dangerous to enter. Ideally, you should ask an expert to inspect your home for you prior to cleaning day.
If the property poses no risk, your next step is to make sure you have the right protective gear. Gloves are an essential as floodwaters can bring bacteria and other germs into the environment. If you will be entering areas that are still flooded, you should also wear rubber boots, goggles and a disposable jumpsuit.
Remember to stay alert at all times when cleaning a house that was flooded to ensure you do not miss any hazards.
Restoring your home to its former glory after a flood can be expensive. The last thing you need is spend money on is extra skip bin fees for heavyweight rubbish. That is why you should dry waterlogged furnishings before putting them in your skip.
Carpet, curtains, towels, fabric-covered chairs, mattresses and bedsheets are all common water weight culprits. If time has passed since your home had floodwaters, many of these may have dried long before you hire a skip. However, if your home was drained recently or some areas are still flooded, these furnishings can hold a surprising amount of water and put your skip over the weight limit.
The best way to dry these fabrics out is to take advantage of the sun and leave them outdoors for as long as possible before putting them in the skip bin.
Unfortunately, serious floods can cause irreparable damage to many furnishings in the home. However, that does not necessarily mean you have to throw everything away. You might be tempted to try to get rid of as many things as you can as quickly as possible. However, taking the time to salvage some items is the best decision in the end.
You can keep almost anything made of plastic, glass, ceramic or metal as long as you clean them thoroughly to remove floodwater germs. This includes anything stored in plastic containers or metal lockboxes. Some wooden items may also be salvageable if they had a waterproof varnish.
Where possible, try to clean and keep some of the decorative items in your house. You may not have appreciated them before. But now, they can help make your house feel more like home again once you have repaired the flood damage.
When you are ready to hire a skip bin,
contact Backyard Bins. We offer experienced service with a range of 90 skip bins to choose from, and our competitive pricing will help ease some of your financial worries in the aftermath of the flood. We also offer upfront pricing so you know exactly the service you receive at a price you can afford.
