Cleaning Up Your Business After a Flood

6/13/2018 (Permalink)

Commercial Flooding in Towson, Maryland

Floods are dangerous and unpredictable, and they rarely recede without leaving their mark. The problem is that floodwater isn’t usually clean water – it can be filled with sewage, termed “black water” – and is not always easy to clean up. Whether from a storm, a busted pipe or a sewage overflow, facing the aftermath of a flood is never fun for any business.

If you’re worried about flooding in your Towson, MD, business, then it’s important to become familiar with some of the basics of content cleaning after such an event, such as what can be disinfected and restored, and what must be thrown away.

What To Throw Away?

Unfortunately, not everything survives a flood. Some things simply have to go. Here is a list of items that often need to be disposed of during the content cleaning process.

• Porous materials – contaminated wood, drywall, insulation
• Medication and food
• Furniture made with veneer or upholstery
• Carpeting and rugs
• Books

What To Keep?

Not everything in your business will likely be destroyed by contaminated floodwaters. While these tips can help you identify what can be saved, a content cleaning service can certainly help to speed things along. Here is a list of salvageable items that can potentially be sanitized and restored.

• Nonporous items – objects made of metal, glass, porcelain, hard plastic, silver, etc.
• Photographs
• Carpeting (only if floodwater is not contaminated)
• Wood furniture (if not soaked for too long)
• Appliances – heating, air conditioning, air ducts and vents
• Textiles, linens and clothing

What To Do After?

Although some items will need to be discarded and others can be restored, it’s important to remember that the best mitigation measure your business can take is to prevent disasters before they have the chance to happen. Whether you’ve suffered flooding already or are just planning ahead, it may be worth upgrading your business’s infrastructure so that it is more prepared for floods, storms and sewage overflows in the future.

Take measures to prevent a flooding from happening to your commercial building. However, if black water does enter the premises, take note of what can be saved and what must be thrown away when cleaning up afterwards.

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