Best Way To Clean A Flooded House?

[w11guy]

I'm looking for some advice on the best way to clean a house that has been flooded to 30-60cm. It has wooden flooring and has been flooded for almost a month. I'm hoping the water will be gone within a week or two, so will need to give it a through clean. At the moment I have no idea what state the floor will be in. Specifically I'd like to know how to clean to get rid of all the bacteria and other nasties that may be lurking there, how long the floor need so dry out (and ways to speed up the drying).

Are there any professional cleaning companies that could do the job? The house is in Pathum Thani.

There is some wicker furniture in the living room that was raised off the floor, but it's possible that the water may have got higher and slightly submerged it. Any advice on cleaning that?

Finally, should I get an electrician to check the electrics before using it? Or will it have dried out once the water is gone?

[impulse]

I can't answer for the cleaning, but I'd definitely recommend an electrician to thoroughly check your wiring. There's no telling what goodies have been left behind when the water recedes and a lot of it may conduct electricity. In addition, there are a lot of nooks and crannies that will hold standing water forever unless they're opened up and drained properly. Fuses, breakers and contact surfaces may be corroded to the point they'll heat up and cause a fire when they're fired back up. If it's a real old property, some of the insulation may be fabric based and rotting off the wires, etc. etc. Better to have it checked than electrocute someone or start the place on fire.

Sorry to hear about your misfortune and I wish you the best in getting past it.

[ozsamurai]

http://www.floodsafety.com/national/property/cleanup/

Oz

[zorro1]

http://www.floodsafe...operty/cleanup/

Oz

sorry to hear mate. here is a part of the above link. There is going to be a HUGE demand for cleaners and shudder to think of the price b you may need to book now

"Wood floors-

Wooden floors should be dried gradually. Sudden drying could cause cracking or splitting. Some restoration companies can accelerate drying time by forcing air through the fluted underside of hardwood floorboards. Remove hardwood floor boards to prevent buckling. Remove a board every few feet to reduce buckling caused by swelling. Clean and dry wood before attempting repairs."

[wayned]

I had a house in the US with hardwood floors that was flooded. It had about a 2ft crawl space under it. After cleaning out the house with high pressure water hoses and drying as best we could so that electric could be used we installed electric lights under the house to generate heat and put fans at the access points to circulate the air. In addition we had to cut groves, using a circular saw, in the floor with the grain of the wood to prent buckling. Couldn't remove boards due to tounge and groove. Kept cuting groves in places it started to buckle. Finally dried ok in about 1 month. Did't repair the floor after just put down carpeting.

http://www.floodsafe...operty/cleanup/

Oz

sorry to hear mate. here is a part of the above link. There is going to be a HUGE demand for cleaners and shudder to think of the price b you may need to book now

"Wood floors-

Wooden floors should be dried gradually. Sudden drying could cause cracking or splitting. Some restoration companies can accelerate drying time by forcing air through the fluted underside of hardwood floorboards. Remove hardwood floor boards to prevent buckling. Remove a board every few feet to reduce buckling caused by swelling. Clean and dry wood before attempting repairs."

[jamora]

What about ISS Thailand? ISS is one of the biggest in the world when it comes to cleaning and related services. I know you can hire them to do post construction cleaning at new houses, so I guess they can de a flooded house as well.

[thrilled]

I had heard that once wood gets saturated for A long time it's not any good any more.I have been told the house needs to be torn down and rebuilt.

[katana]

You'll need some dehumidifiers. Likely to be in short supply, so order now.

[w11guy]

Thanks for the replies every one, they have been mostly very helpful.

Impulse - the electrics will be the first thing I check. I thought they might dry out, but didn't consider that some parts may have trapped water. Last time I checked the house the water was almost touching the sockets that are about 30cm off the floor. I suspect the water rose after that but I haven't been back to check. If it didn't rise, the electrics may be in better shape, but I'll still get them checked.

Oz - thanks for that link. It covers everything I need to know.

And thanks to all the others for the additional bits of advice. I now have a plan of action to get things sorted.

By the way, it's my friend's house not mine. I'm just helping out. Luckily I'm in a high-floor condo.

[alfieconn]

Thanks for the replies every one, they have been mostly very helpful.

Impulse - the electrics will be the first thing I check. I thought they might dry out, but didn't consider that some parts may have trapped water. Last time I checked the house the water was almost touching the sockets that are about 30cm off the floor. I suspect the water rose after that but I haven't been back to check. If it didn't rise, the electrics may be in better shape, but I'll still get them checked.

Oz - thanks for that link. It covers everything I need to know.

And thanks to all the others for the additional bits of advice. I now have a plan of action to get things sorted.

By the way, it's my friend's house not mine. I'm just helping out. Luckily I'm in a high-floor condo.

The link doesn't really emphasize how important air movement is in the drying out process, therefore plenty of fans, even de-humidifers will work a lot more efficiently with large amounts of air movement .

The link mentions having windows open for ventilation but generally you wouldn't have the windows open if using de-hums, due to the outside humidty.

[w11guy]

Thanks for the replies every one, they have been mostly very helpful.

Impulse - the electrics will be the first thing I check. I thought they might dry out, but didn't consider that some parts may have trapped water. Last time I checked the house the water was almost touching the sockets that are about 30cm off the floor. I suspect the water rose after that but I haven't been back to check. If it didn't rise, the electrics may be in better shape, but I'll still get them checked.

Oz - thanks for that link. It covers everything I need to know.

And thanks to all the others for the additional bits of advice. I now have a plan of action to get things sorted.

By the way, it's my friend's house not mine. I'm just helping out. Luckily I'm in a high-floor condo.

The link doesn't really emphasize how important air movement is in the drying out process, therefore plenty of fans, even de-humidifers will work a lot more efficiently with large amounts of air movement .

The link mentions having windows open for ventilation but generally you wouldn't have the windows open if using de-hums, due to the outside humidty.

Thanks for that. I'll make sure we get lots of fans in the place. But first of all I need to wait for the water to recede.

[alfieconn]

Thanks for the replies every one, they have been mostly very helpful.

Impulse - the electrics will be the first thing I check. I thought they might dry out, but didn't consider that some parts may have trapped water. Last time I checked the house the water was almost touching the sockets that are about 30cm off the floor. I suspect the water rose after that but I haven't been back to check. If it didn't rise, the electrics may be in better shape, but I'll still get them checked.

Oz - thanks for that link. It covers everything I need to know.

And thanks to all the others for the additional bits of advice. I now have a plan of action to get things sorted.

By the way, it's my friend's house not mine. I'm just helping out. Luckily I'm in a high-floor condo.

The link doesn't really emphasize how important air movement is in the drying out process, therefore plenty of fans, even de-humidifers will work a lot more efficiently with large amounts of air movement .

The link mentions having windows open for ventilation but generally you wouldn't have the windows open if using de-hums, due to the outside humidty.

Thanks for that. I'll make sure we get lots of fans in the place. But first of all I need to wait for the water to recede.

Thats the best idea as fans tend not to work too well in water

[Gonsalviz]

http://www.floodsafe...operty/cleanup/

Oz

sorry to hear mate. here is a part of the above link. There is going to be a HUGE demand for cleaners and shudder to think of the price b you may need to book now

"Wood floors-

Wooden floors should be dried gradually. Sudden drying could cause cracking or splitting. Some restoration companies can accelerate drying time by forcing air through the fluted underside of hardwood floorboards. Remove hardwood floor boards to prevent buckling. Remove a board every few feet to reduce buckling caused by swelling. Clean and dry wood before attempting repairs."

If it is parquet, I would suspect will no longer be stuck to the floor. Pressure washer on the walls and other flooring. Going to take a while and it will be messy.

[Gonsalviz]

You'll need some dehumidifiers. Likely to be in short supply, so order now.

I have been looking for dehumidifiers forever. All I can find are humidifiers. The Thais call them coolers but they don't cool much in humid air.

[katana]

Came across this site:

http://www.dehumidifier.in.th/

We recently had a burst water pipe that soaked a wall.

Had to have a dehumidifier on 24/7 for 3 weeks to dry it enough to redecorate.

Used in combination with Alfieconn's idea of a fan should speed things up.

[robblok]

In the last couple of days we cleaned our house out after it being flooded for 3 weeks in max 20 cm of water. Electricity was never a problem they were dried out and ready to use.

We used a high pressure cleaner and lot of bleach. The paint has been a bit damaged at some spot other then that the house is clean again. Lost 2 cupboards and a door. Still a lot of water to drain from the village before we can really live again.

But at least we are now living on the first floor instead of the second.

[w11guy]

In the last couple of days we cleaned our house out after it being flooded for 3 weeks in max 20 cm of water. Electricity was never a problem they were dried out and ready to use.

We used a high pressure cleaner and lot of bleach. The paint has been a bit damaged at some spot other then that the house is clean again. Lost 2 cupboards and a door. Still a lot of water to drain from the village before we can really live again.

But at least we are now living on the first floor instead of the second.

I'm glad to hear that you got your house sorted out fairly easily. Damage seems fairly minimal after 3 weeks of water. Here's hoping we don't get any serious flooding in the future.

[Litlos]

A lot of the standard room air conditioners have a dry/dehumidify setting. If an air conditioner is available and does not have this setting simply set the temperature low and high fan and will have about the same effect. Just make sure the drain of the unit is clear first or you may end up recycling the water. The idea of a fan to help circulate the air is also good, just as mentioned before try and keep the doors and windows closed to minimise the high humidity air coming in from outside.

The idea to get an electrician to check the place over before putting power back on is a good one. There have already been a lot of deaths due to electrocution during this flooding, and I suspect there will be a few more as people return to their homes and power up again.

Best of luck in the clean up and be mindful that the water that was inside was probably contaminated. So try and avoid coming in contact with the residue and stay safe and healthy.

Cheers