What You Should Do After A Natural Disaster Hits Your Home
Nobody is really ready for a natural disaster, and when it happens it comes it can be time-consuming, emotional and a stressful process to deal with. Whether you have been affected by recent natural disasters or not, the best thing you can do is learn about the best practices and techniques for a post-disaster cleanup. It’s essential to minimized damages and for the future of your home.
Let’s have a look at some of the things you should do if a natural disaster hits your home:
Safety Must Come First
The most important thing is your’s and your families safety, this means that before starting any cleanup process you need to make sure your home is free from contaminants, structural damages and anything else that can compromise your health and safety. If you can, have a property inspector or government representative assess your home before you reenter. Once it has been cleared of any danger, you can start the cleanup process. However, you should still make sure you wear a protective outfit. There can be all sorts of debris when a natural disaster strikes, especially when it involves a flood. You also need to ensure that any panels, fuses and electrical switches are completely shut down.
Enlist Some Help
After a natural disaster, you will find that everyone tends to try and chip in and help each other. It’s just what people do. If you can try and enlist the help of others who haven’t been affected as they will no doubt have issues to deal with themselves. Whether it’s friends and family or disaster restoration companies any help you can get is good help. Clearing up after a disaster is definitely not an easy task and it can often take days, weeks or even months before things are back to normal.
Sort Through Your Home Items
If you have found excess water this should be something that you tackle immediately. Some of your items may be damaged too much to repair, and carpets, rugs and other floor covering will need to be discarded, as well as items such as books, papers and other unwashable belongings. Take out any belongings like furniture that can be dried out and cleaned, if you wait too long they can rot or warp in shape and size. You should also have a disposal plan in place, most governments will offer a free collection after a natural disaster, all you have to do is place your discarded damaged items on the curbside for pickup.
Deep Clean
After the initial assessment, removal of damaged items and any drying out has taken place it’s time to complete a deep clean of everything. You need to pay close attention to windows, doors, ceilings and walls in order to prevent any damp or further damage. There are definitely no cutting corners when it comes to this and it may be worth recruiting the help of a professional service.
Post-disaster cleanups can be stressful and emotional but they are necessary in order to save your home. Do you have any other tips that you could share in the comments below?
