Spring Cleaning and Waterproofing Your Basement and Belongings

3/25/2021 (Permalink)

Here are water proof bins that protected their contents after a flood.

Spring cleaning is officially upon us now that milder temperatures roll into Wichita. We have been in our homes much more than usual for winter and there maybe a bit more to do to freshen up this season.

We are mostly known for our disaster restoration services but we also offer a wide range of services, many of which pair up great with spring cleaning. A great service to get done is a duct cleaning which is great for cleaning out the accumulated dust and particulates in your home. We put your HVAC system under negative pressure with our HEPA filtered suction system and then go down each individual vent with air pressure and a spinning brush. This method can greatly improve your air quality.

Another great service we offer is carpet cleaning which can remove stains, odors and leave your carpet fresh and ready to play on! In addition to removing odors we offer many deodorization services from fogging your home with a deodorant, to physically cleaning all walls, floors and surfaces. This can be especially effective for removing odors such as nicotine or extreme pet odor.

Now that you are all clean and ready for spring is your basement ready? We have a great list of steps you can take to protect your basement from flooding and measures you can take to protect your sentimental belongings even if some flooding occurs. Let’s start with preventing the flooding:

• Clean and Evaluate your gutters
  • Add extensions to your gutters where possible
  • Use your hose to run water and see if there are any leaks
  • Make sure to check your basement the first time you use your hose after spring and make sure it has not burst
• French drains can push water further away from your home, consider installing them if you notice excessive build up of water around your home during smaller showers
• Check the seals on your windows
• Check for any damaged shingles on your roof
• Check your sump pump by triggering the pump or even pouring a bucket of water in there to make sure it runs
  • A good idea is to have a second sump pump ready to go in case your current one breaks. Often when a large weather even occurs sometimes people cannot find a replacement pump very quickly
  • Make sure you have a back-up, there are both water based, and battery based back-ups and in our experience typically the water based are more reliable but more expensive.

Here are some tips for keeping your items safe in case a flood happens anyway:

• Keep your contents off the floor, even if the shelving is just a couple of inches above the floor this can protect it from most flood issues we see.
• Put your contents in a plastic waterproof bin
• Put important documents and photographs in Ziplock sealed bags, and put those in in a waterproof bin
• When organizing your containers prioritize putting the waterproof bins on the ground and putting any cardboard or water vulnerable containers on the shelving or even on top of the bins.

Give us a call if we can help you with spring cleaning or water damage at (316) 684-6700