There are many reasons why water damage can occur such as having a burst pipe, floods, leaks or plumbing issues. And if you don’t act promptly, water damaged carpets can harbour odours and develop mould growth. There are health risks associated with flood damaged carpets if they are not properly restored.
You can contact a professional to deal with carpet water damage as they will have more expertise regarding this and they will also have access to heavy-duty equipment that can quickly dry the carpet. You need to carry out an initial assessment of the carpet so that the extent of damage can be understood. There are certified water damaged restoration specialises that can assess factors such as the source of water intrusion, duration the carpets were exposed to floodwaters, category of water they were in and the size of the affected area. This will give them an idea of the scope involved with restoring the carpet. There are moisture detection tools used by the experts such as thermal imaging cameras, moisture meters or hygrometers so that the moisture level in the carpet, subfloor, underlying padding of the carpet and any surrounding structures can be measured. This will give them a better understanding of the severity of the water damage.
Once the assessment is complete,
Excess water has to be removed from the carpet and this will be done using powerful extraction equipment such as portable extractors, truck mounted extractors etc. These equipment can remove large volumes of water quickly. Some of the extraction techniques used by experts in this are weighted extraction, wand extraction and compression extraction. The technique used will depend on the severity of water damage. They will pay special attention to areas such as saturated carpet, moisture trapped beneath the furniture and pooling water. Once water is extracted from the carpet, moisture removal and drying stage will start so that mould growth can be prevented. This will prevent structural damage. Some of the moisture removal equipment used are dehumidifiers, drying mats and air movers. They will also monitor the drying process using moisture meters so that they can get an understand of the moisture level. There can be hidden pockets of moisture that can be detected by moisture mapping techniques and this will ensure that all affected areas are dried thoroughly.
After the carpet is dry,
There is a sanitisation process carried out so that contaminants such as odours, bacteria etc. can be removed. There will be professional grade carpet cleaning used and they will lift dirt and debris using eco-friendly cleaning solutions. If water damage is due to grey water or black water, there are additional steps involved to disinfect and sanitise the carpet. This will remove harmful pathogens from the carpets. There are antimicrobial treatments that can be applied to the carpet to ensure its hygiene. The experts will let you know at the beginning if the carpet can be salvaged or not. In some cases, you may need to replace the carpet if the damage is too high.
