Water Damage Restoration in Holly Springs, GA

When water reaches a furnished room, water damage restoration covers more than walls and floors. A dresser standing in a wet carpet, boxes on a closet floor or a rug under the dining table all need attention, and the right handling depends on the material and the kind of water. Alpha Plumbing and Sewer looks after both the rooms and the belongings in them when a leak hits a Holly Springs home. The leak comes first: a hidden one is traced through leak detection, and one that is still running needs emergency plumbing. Drying the structure is a separate subject, set out in Alpha's water restoration overview.

Move it, block it or leave it

Small items and anything fragile are best carried to a dry room. Heavy pieces such as dressers, bookcases and sofas are often left in the room but lifted onto foam blocks or set on foil or plastic squares, so the carpet and pad underneath can dry and wood stain or rust from metal glides does not transfer. Clearing the wet area also lets the crew pull back carpet, remove baseboards and place equipment where it is needed.

Furniture

Solid wood furniture usually recovers if it is wiped down and allowed to dry slowly, away from direct heat or sun, which can crack or warp it. Pieces made of particleboard or veneered fiberboard often swell at the feet and bottom edges, and that swelling rarely reverses. Upholstered furniture that sat in clean water can sometimes be cleaned and dried, depending on how deep the water reached into the cushions and frame. Drawers should be pulled out so the inside can dry.

Rugs, textiles and clothing

Area rugs should be lifted off wet carpet or floors and dried flat, both sides, without folding. Some dyes bleed when wet, so a rug should not be laid on light carpet until it is dry. Clothing, bedding and curtains that got wet from a clean source can generally be laundered. Leather goods and delicate fabrics are better left to a specialist cleaner.

Papers, photos and electronics

• Spread wet photographs face up on a clean surface, without stacking them or touching the image.
• Stand wet books upright with pages slightly fanned; documents that cannot be dried right away can be sealed in bags and frozen to buy time.
• Unplug electronics and leave them off. Powering on a wet device can damage it, so let it dry fully and have it checked.
• Move important papers into plastic bins once they are dry.

Belongings touched by contaminated water

If the water came from a sewer backup or a toilet with waste in it, the rules change. Porous items such as upholstered furniture, mattresses, rugs, cardboard and paper that sat in that water are generally discarded, because cleaning cannot reach what soaked into them. Hard items such as metal, glass, sealed wood and plastic can usually be cleaned and disinfected. Items with sentimental value are worth discussing before anything is thrown out.

Keeping track, and what the estimate covers

Photograph each room and the items in it before anything is moved, and keep a list of what was relocated, cleaned or discarded. The restoration scope should describe how contents will be handled, including what is moved, blocked or set aside, along with the drying of the room itself, the materials removed and the monitoring schedule. Specialized cleaning of rugs, upholstery or electronics is often a separate service.

When the leak repair needs a Holly Springs permit

Holly Springs is in Cherokee County, and the city's Community Development Department handles building permits. The city's code generally calls for a permit from the building official before plumbing is installed, altered, repaired or replaced, whether an owner or a contractor does the work. That concerns the plumbing repair, not moving furniture or drying the room.

Questions about belongings after a leak

Why put blocks under furniture legs?

Blocks lift the furniture off the wet carpet so air can reach the carpet and pad beneath it. They also stop wood stain, dye and rust from metal glides from transferring into the carpet, which can leave permanent marks. Foam blocks or foil squares are common, and they stay in place until the floor tests dry.

Can wet books and documents be saved?

Often, if they got wet from a clean source and are handled quickly. Books can be stood upright with their pages fanned to air dry, and loose papers laid flat. If there are too many to dry at once, sealing them in bags and freezing them slows damage until there is time to deal with them. Papers soaked by sewage are a different matter.

Should I turn on wet electronics to see if they work?

No. Powering on a device with water inside it can short the circuits and turn a recoverable item into a total loss. Unplug it, remove batteries where possible and let it dry completely in a dry room. Then have it checked by a repair shop or the manufacturer before using it again.

Call about a leak in a furnished room

When a leak has reached furniture and belongings in your Holly Springs home, you can reach Alpha Plumbing and Sewer at (404) 409-4448. A quick description of what is in the affected rooms lets us plan the repair, the drying and the care of your belongings as one job.