The last thing you ever want to hear is the sound of trickling water when you own a home. Water damage is one of the most common issues that homeowners face, causing significant harm to personal possessions, building materials, and flooring. When you have invested so much money into a property, you want to protect that investment from water damage. It can be devastating to find out that an incident has left water in your home in places where it shouldn’t be.
One room, in particular, has many potential locations where water can leak; the kitchen. With so many appliances and water fixtures in one place, your kitchen could develop a leak for any number of reasons.
Causes of Kitchen Floods
Performing regular maintenance throughout the home is an important part of ownership, but it is especially critical for the kitchen. In this room, you have multiple potential sources of water damage.
Kitchen Sink
If you have a clogged kitchen sink drain, bad water line, or faulty faucet, then your sink could cause a problem in your home. Any of these circumstances could lead to a kitchen flood that will require a lengthy restoration process.
Dishwasher
Dishwashers use a lot of water to clean your dishes, which makes them vulnerable to causing a flood in the kitchen. The dishwasher pump could break or drainage could back up and spill water into the rest of the room. A broken pipe that supplies water to the dishwasher could also cause a kitchen flood.
Refrigerator
A leaking refrigerator is another common cause of water damage in the kitchen. It could be the result of a failed cooling mechanism, a broken ice maker, or the power could go out and cause melting in the freezer.
Burst Water Lines
Since multiple kitchen appliances use water, they need to draw from the main supply to function. This means the potential for a burst water line is always present in this room.
Water Damage Restoration Process
Cleaning up your kitchen after flooding occurs is a complex process. To prevent further damage from happening to your possessions and the property itself, you will need to respond quickly to mitigate the issue.
Find the Source
First, you need to locate the source of the flooding and figure out how to stop the leak. You may have to turn off the water supply line to the appliance, or even use the main shutoff valve if you cannot find the specific source.
Consider Safety
Depending on the extent of the damage, there could be the risk of electrical hazards or bacterial infections. Before you start cleaning things up and drying out the materials, make sure that you head to the main circuit breaker and shut off nearby power sources. This will prevent unexpected shocks, and potentially, an electrical fire.
Also, wear protective gear such as gloves, boots, and goggles to protect yourself from contaminated water.
Remove Standing Water
Pulling the water that has collected out of the room is the key to a thorough drying process. You can remove standing water from your flooded kitchen with a shop vacuum, wet-dry vacuum, or some sort of pumping equipment. The faster you do this, the better chance you have of saving the kitchen floor and other affected items.
Encourage Air Circulation and Evaporation
With all of the excess water gone, it is time to dry out the affected materials. First, remove as many wet items from the room as you can. See if you can bring them outside to air dry. Then, plug in some heavy-duty fans or air movers to improve circulation in the room. Opening windows, if it is not too humid outside, can also help. The best way to completely dry wet materials is to create constant airflow. Dehumidifiers can then pull the water vapor out of the air.
Cleaning and Disinfecting
Depending on what source caused the kitchen flooding, you may need to clean and disinfect surfaces like cabinet doors, kitchen floors, wood furniture, or walls. The flooded area could be infested with grey water, which is mildly toxic, and would require cleaning solutions using soap or bleach to disinfect the materials with a thorough scrubbing.
Just be sure not to use too much detergent or bleach in your solution. Do not skip this step or your kitchen may never return to its pre-loss condition.
Contact Professional Services if the Job is Too Big
If your flooded kitchen has resulted in a lot of damage to your appliances, kitchen table, building materials, or other items, then you may not be able to handle the problem on your own. In this case, it is best to contact a Portland water damage restoration company. Why should this be your first step?
High-Tech Equipment
You may not have access to the resources that a water damage restoration company can bring to bear to handle your kitchen flood cleanup. They can use high-powered fans, a water meter, a drain hose, and other pieces of equipment to restore a flooded kitchen.
Covered by Your Insurance Company
In most cases, water damage from your kitchen is covered by your insurance company. The exception would be if the water damage was caused by negligence or a natural flood. But if the incident was beyond the homeowner’s control, the repair costs will likely be covered.
Since this is the case, it makes logical sense to let professionals handle the flood damage restoration for you. That way, you can feel assured that the job will be done well.
Prevent Further Damage
Addressing the problem quickly is the best way to prevent long-term damage. For water damage restoration, professionals can respond quickly and effectively to the flood in the kitchen. Their experience could save your electrical appliances, kitchen cabinets, and porous materials, and prevent mold growth from occurring. Plus, they can ensure that other rooms are not in danger.
Save Your Kitchen with a Fast Response
Whether you plan to tackle the restoration yourself or will look for professional kitchen remodeling services to help, act quickly to save the kitchen affected by flooding. When you are dealing with a broken water line, leaking appliance, or overflowing kitchen sink, respond immediately to restore your flooded kitchen.
