A Water Damage Timeline for your Fort Worth Home

3/20/2020 (Permalink)

Water Damage Timeline: Reasons Why You Need to Act Promptly

The last thing you'd want to greet your eyes when you come home from work is a soaked-up floor. Water damage in Fort Worth can happen in a jiffy. Now picture the extent of damage that can occur after leaving for a month-long vacation? A leaking hose in the home can send water spewing everywhere in the house, and it only takes a matter of minutes for the moisture to seep through the porous elements and fixtures, causing damage. If left unchecked, the water may accumulate inches above the floor, and that may put the structural integrity of the property at risk.

When your residential or commercial property remains exposed to water without any intervention, destruction follows. That's the reason householders are always advised to react promptly when faced with such an emergency. The following is a comprehensive discussion about water damage timeline and how to alleviate destruction by moisture.

Within a Few Minutes

If water flows uncontrollably from a sink faucet or a broken hose, it takes a few minutes for it to start ruining your stuff and valuables. It spreads all over the floor, saturating every surface it comes in contact with. These include walls and carpets. The once-fine polish on the furniture may bleed off while different dyes may stain other surfaces.

While stagnant on the floor, water may also reach books, papers, photo albums, and other critical documents. Water seeps into them and causes them to warp and become soggy.

Water Damage After Hours

Assuming you were out for the entire afternoon when the washing machine pipe breaks. From the first hour to 24 hours, several kinds of damage will have occurred. The interior will start reeking of an intensified odor. Drywalls may begin to swell and might even break down. Any metallic items or surfaces that come in contact with the water start to tarnish. In the kitchen area develops a musty and damp atmosphere.

Wooden flooring materials and sections of furniture that the water touches also get ruined within hours. Laminated wooden fixtures may swell ad the outer coating may get cracked. Dyes from napkins and colored decorative papers may spread all over the place, causing surfaces to stain.

Extent of Damage within 48 Hours and One Week

If a faulty faucet spirting water on the floor does so for two days or beyond, mold patches begin to grow in moist areas. The water also sips into wooden doors and windows and makes them warp. In some cases, opening and closing these apertures may become challenging.

Wooden flooring material begins to buckle, while surfaces attached using adhesives start to peel off, breakdown, or release. The home may pose health risks to persons with respiratory conditions or weak immunity. Asthmatic individuals also experience increased sensitivity due to the high rate of allergens and mold growth.

Expected Water Damages Beyond a Week?

Following torrential rains, your unoccupied holiday property may lack someone to take care of the flooded house. If control measures are not taken, water damage Fort Worth spreads to the entire property, leading to contamination. At such a juncture, homeowners incur higher restoration costs because of the need to rebuild the structure and removing contaminated stuff.

The home becomes unfit for occupancy because the extent of water damage has taken hold of the critical fixtures and elements of the property. The structure has become weak due to the wooden shell soaking too much water.

Practical Water Damage Prevention Tips

Carrying out preventative maintenance projects in your home, both inside and outside, helps you alleviate water damage. Below Are some of the critical areas that you need to focus on when scheduling for your maintenance routines.

1. The basement

Water damages may, at times, occur because of seepage in the basement. Cracks in the foundation would be the most probable cause. If you start noticing that water seeps into your home when you never experienced that, it should signal that your once water-proof cement has become weak by developing fissures. The next thing you can do to control the damage is to use a water sealant to the cracks to avert seepage.

Additionally, you need to ensure that the water flows away from the building whenever it rains. Seepage becomes further intensified because the landscape may be slanted in a way that ground runoff flows towards the home. You need to make sure that you patch up sections of the surrounding soil to prevent water contact with the foundation.

2. Plumbing System

Always make a point of inspecting the connection of your home, including drains and faucets that facilitate water flow from fixtures such as washing machines, ice makers, water heaters and dishwashers. Some homes have water-leak sensors that provide alerts whenever seepage is detected. Once you get the feed, identify the pipes that have leaks and replace them for efficient flow.

You may also want to check the pressure of the flow within the drains regularly. Under high pressure, pipes and hoses may burst. You can prevent that by investing in a pressure gauge and fit it in the faucet located outside the home. Turn the faucet to release the highest pressure. The reading you get on the gauge indicates the pressure of water inside your residence. Most homes in Fort Worth have pressure systems set between 40 – 70 psi. Whenever the force goes beyond 100 psi, you need to purchase a pressure regulator in your local hardware.

Are you planning on going for an extended vacation? Make sure you shut off the water flow to the washing machine. Also, remember to switch off the dishwasher.

3. Prevent Damages to Your Belongings

Sometimes your house may be cluttered with too much off-season stuff. Protect them by storing them inside water-resistant bins, most so in damp areas where pipes are fitted. That includes the basement and the attic.

Store your storybooks, photographs and other memorabilia in areas less vulnerable to water damage in Fort Worth. Construct shelves to store these items. You can also have shelves in the basement to create storage space, instead of leaving them on the floor where water seepage may cause the growth of mold colonies on them.

For all your water damage needs, give us here at SERVPRO of Grapevine/NE Tarrant County a call at 817.595.2506!