How To Keep Water Damage From Affecting Your Home
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Rachel Yoshida
Rachel Yoshida writes articles about water damage and mold remediation. If you have a wet flooded basement or other problems with mold and water damage, call toll-free 1-877-790-4983 and we'll send someone to help you within 1 By Rachel Yoshida
Published on Thursday 3rd 2008
If you have water damage to your home, odds are good that it is either due to negligence or mother nature. Most, however, are negligence and you can avoid that by reading up on some tips here.
Most incidents of water damage to a home are due to simple negligence instead of because of a flood or because you forgot and let the bathtub overflow. Negligence is one of the main causes of all homeowner's insurance claims and as long as you take care of your property the way that you should, you can keep this kind of damage from occurring and keep the value of your home where you want it to be. If you remain constant and follow a few rules (and make sure the rest of your family does, too), you should not have a problem with water damage or mold in your home for a very long time.
The exterior of your home is obviously more likely to be water damaged by negligence than the inside, so there are a few things that you need to do out there first. Clean the rain gutters out as soon as the leaves are done falling in autumn, but an even better solution would be to purchase new gutters for your home that are covered so leaves cannot clog them. These are not very expensive and can save you a lot of time and effort every year.
After you make sure the gutters are cleaned out, you should check to see where the end of your downspouts are in relation to the base of your home. If you allow water to settle around your home's foundation, it can eventually cause it to crack. You can combat this by piling up more dirt around the base of your home where any puddles of water appear after it rains and by making sure the water that comes out of your downspouts is flowing well away from the house.
Inside the house, you need to install an exhaust vent in any room of your house that stays moist, such as the kitchen, bathroom, or laundry room. These rooms are moist almost constantly and to keep mold from growing in there, you need to keep the humidity level down.
If the plumbing in your home is old, you will want to inspect it to see if it is in good repair, especially around the dishwasher and washing machine. The hoses need to be replaced on these items every 3 to 5 years if they are of good quality. Hoses that rupture will flood the room, especially if you are not at home when it happens. You want to clean this up at quickly as you can, but never use a heat source to dry the floor out, since it can cause the floor to buckle.
The exterior of your home is obviously more likely to be water damaged by negligence than the inside, so there are a few things that you need to do out there first. Clean the rain gutters out as soon as the leaves are done falling in autumn, but an even better solution would be to purchase new gutters for your home that are covered so leaves cannot clog them. These are not very expensive and can save you a lot of time and effort every year.
After you make sure the gutters are cleaned out, you should check to see where the end of your downspouts are in relation to the base of your home. If you allow water to settle around your home's foundation, it can eventually cause it to crack. You can combat this by piling up more dirt around the base of your home where any puddles of water appear after it rains and by making sure the water that comes out of your downspouts is flowing well away from the house.
Inside the house, you need to install an exhaust vent in any room of your house that stays moist, such as the kitchen, bathroom, or laundry room. These rooms are moist almost constantly and to keep mold from growing in there, you need to keep the humidity level down.
If the plumbing in your home is old, you will want to inspect it to see if it is in good repair, especially around the dishwasher and washing machine. The hoses need to be replaced on these items every 3 to 5 years if they are of good quality. Hoses that rupture will flood the room, especially if you are not at home when it happens. You want to clean this up at quickly as you can, but never use a heat source to dry the floor out, since it can cause the floor to buckle.