Save or Throw: Taking Care of Equipment After a Flood

9/27/2021 (Permalink)

If your commercial building is flooded, SERVPRO can help you to remove the flood and restore it efficiently

After a Flood, Should You Save or Throw Your Equipment?

Content cleaning is a major part of storm damage cleanup in Cleveland, TN. You can't leave your old office furniture and equipment in a restored building because they could be reintroducing too much moisture to the environment. As you set out to clean up your possessions, how do you decide what you can keep and what needs to be thrown away?

What You Can Keep

Most non-porous materials can be saved after a flood. This can include anything made of hard plastic, metal and glass. Some porous and semi-porous items may also be salvageable, depending on the type of water damage you are dealing with. Once you have determined what can be kept, there are a few different cleaning methods you may be able to use, including the following:

• Contents dunked into a bath of cleaning products for immersion cleaning.
• Contents are wiped dry with a cloth for light residues or pre-clean processes as part of dry cleaning.
• Furniture has a foam cleaner applied as part of foam cleaning.
• Items are sprayed with cleaner and wiped down with the spray and wipe cleaning.

Content cleaning specialists may be able to help you determine what items can be salvaged. These professionals can also tell you which cleaning method is best for each item.

What You Should Throw Away

Typically, it is harder to save porous items because the water is able to better soak into the content. If you are dealing with a black water flood, you may have to throw away more items than if you have clean water in your building. Sometimes, you can try some of the aforementioned cleaning techniques on porous objects to see if they can be restored, but it won't always work.

As you try to come back from high waters in your commercial building, you have to go through a long restoration process. Content cleaning can help save you money because it allows you to repair what you can rather than replace everything.