At Restoration Now! in Omaha, we know that as a homeowner it can be difficult to know whether to restore or replace structural features in your home after a water damage incident. Today our highly skilled and experienced team of flood and water damage restoration specialists will be talking specifically about the walls in your home, and we’ll give you definite answers about which situations call for restoration and replacement.
For Light and Limited Damage, We Can Restore It
In cases where the water damage is light and limited, such as when a pipe breaks in your home, it’s possible to save the wall through our state-of-the-art drying techniques. This requires that the water intrusion was addressed quickly and water was not allowed to stand for an extended period.
For Heavier and Extensive Damage, Replacement is Key
If you’ve experienced a catastrophic event such as a flood that’s lasted for days, our Restoration Now! Omaha team believes that replacement of your affected walls is necessary, and this is due to a number of issues. Standing water that’s left for extended periods can cause structural damage that may not be readily observable until the replacement process has begun, and this stagnant water also causes mold growth if left unchecked, so the safest option is to replace anything that’s been in contact with standing water for more than three days.
How to Test Your Walls for Dampness
If you find yourself with a wall that’s been exposed to flood water for three days or more, you will need to replace at least some of it. To determine how much needs to be replaced, our water damage restoration specialists at Restoration Now! Omaha suggest you take the following steps:
- Using a utility knife, push the blade into an area on the dry part of the wall. Do this a few times to get an idea of how far the knife penetrates into a dry wall (usually this is about 1/8-1/4 inch deep).
- Move down to an area just above the baseboard, and test the wall again with the utility knife. If the blade penetrates the wall deeply then the wall is wet.
- Keep moving up the wall by two-inch increments, testing how deeply the knife penetrates. As long as the knife penetrates deeper than the first 1/8-1/4 inch, the wall is still wet.
- When you reach the dry drywall, draw a horizontal line with a straightedge and level—everything below this line must be completely removed.
A Final Preventative Measure
Once you’ve removed all the affected drywall, insulation, and trim, cleaned and dried the area thoroughly, and you’re ready to start rebuilding your wall, you’ll want to rebuild it in such a way that you can avoid a similar situation in the future. To do this, our Restoration Now! Omaha team suggests that you cut and place the new insulation and drywall so that it rests 1/4-1/2 inch above the floor. This gap will be hidden by the baseboard and provides the new wall some protection in case the basement floods again.
Contact Restoration Now! Omaha Today at (402) 502-7277!
We at Restoration Now! hope that these pointers give you a good idea of when to replace your walls after a flood. If you want a water damage and flood restoration company you can count on for quick service and attention to every detail, contact our Restoration Now! Omaha team today. We offer 24/7 emergency water and flood restoration services, so let us get started putting your life back together right now!