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| First Aid Measure Following Flood/Escape
Of Water - Your questions answered |
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What should I do if I am
told that there is a risk of flooding in my area? |
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You should take precautions, as
far as is possible, to prevent water entering your house. These
include the placing of sandbags around the outside of the property,
particularly at door openings, and removing kickboards from
kitchen units to prevent these being damaged. Any easily portable
furniture and other contents should be relocated to high floors
and, if possible, floor coverings, carpets, rugs and curtains
should be lifted, rolled and stored, also at higher level. |
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What should I do first if there is a
burst pipe in my home? |
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Make sure that you know where the
stopcock to the cold water rising main is located and shut this
off. Drain down the cold water storage tank by opening taps
to wash hand basins and baths at first floor level. Similarly,
isolate the central heating and hot water systems. Next, contact
a plumber or appropriate other tradesmen to repair the plumbing
defect from which the escape originated. Do not wait for insurers'
approval before taking these steps but act immediately. Insurance
policies do no normally cover the cost of rectifying plumbing
defects but they do provide cover for the resultant damage.
If the escape is caused by frost action, the insurers may pay
for the cost of plumbing repairs. Once these emergency first
aid steps have been taken, contact your insurance company, either
by their emergency helpline or through your insurance broker.
Let them know the scale of the damage as soon as is possible
so that they can instruct a loss adjuster without delay. |
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Can I start cleaning up and disposing
of damaged items without waiting for an inspection? |
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You should do everything possible
to limit the size of your claim and to save as many of your
possessions as is possible. If this involves cleaning and drying,
you should undertake this work with the minimum of delay, keeping
any receipts for hire of water extraction equipment, dehumidifiers
and cleaning costs. Any item, which cannot be saved, should
be placed into safe storage so that it can be inspected at a
later date. Any perishable items, such as food stuffs, should
be disposed of and a detailed listing kept. Photographs may
prove useful. |
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Can I employ an emergency restoration
company or specialist cleaners? |
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There is no reason why you should
not employ such a company and, very often, your insurers will
be able to make an appropriate recommendation. Certainly, if
a loss adjuster is appointed, he will be able to arrange this
on your behalf with the minimum of delay. |
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What should I do about by carpets and
soft furnishings if they have got wet? |
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Carpets and soft furnishings often
bear the brunt of water damage and, if they have been wet for
any period of time, it is unlikely that they can be restored
to a satisfactory standard. Sometimes, where the articles are
exclusively made of man-made fibre, they can be restored by
specialist drying and cleaning. If carpets have only been wetted
for a very short period, it is often best for these to be left
in situ since, once lifted, the backing will often shrink across
the width of the carpet. Soft furnishing, such as the loose
covers and curtains, should be taken to dry cleaners whilst
they are still damp, as water stains often dry to a hard edge
which cannot be removed. |
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Will the electrical wiring in my house
be affected? |
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Modern PVC covered wiring is extremely
resilient to water damage and will often dry satisfactorily
although some outlets and other electrical termination fittings
may require replacement. Checking by a qualified electrician
should be undertaken at the earliest opportunity and, certainly,
before any electrical circuits are switched on. |
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What can I do about my electrical equipment? |
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Again, modern electrical equipment
is surprisingly resilient, even when saturated. The power supply
to any equipment should be immediately turned off and the temptation
to "test" items should be resisted as this can result
in short circuits and, at worse, a fire. Surprisingly, a hairdryer
or similar can be used very effectively to dry electrical equipment,
although sealed coverings such as those on the back of television
sets should not be removed. In due course, a specialist electrical
engineer's report should be obtained. |
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Should I hire dehumidifiers and space
heaters? |
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Dehumidifiers can often be obtained
from local hire shops as an immediate measure. Specialist contractors
are known to both insurers and their loss adjusters and they
too can supply not only dehumidifiers but also air movers which
assist the drying out process by creating a draft across the
saturated surfaces. Under no circumstances should paraffin or
butane/propane gas space heaters be used as these items produce
further moisture vapour as a by-product of the combustion of
their fuels. This will make the situation worse rather than
better. If dehumidifiers/air movers are not available, central
heating should be set on a warm, rather than hot, setting and
moderate ventilation employed at the highest level within each
room. In other words, fanlight windows, rather than lower casements,
should be opened. Take care to ensure that the ventilation is
allowing the moist and warm damp air to escape as too much ventilation
can actually cause condensation. The cost of hiring dehumidifiers
and similar equipment, together with the cost of electricity
used to power these items, will be covered by your insurance.
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What will happen about my fitted kitchen? |
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Most modern kitchen units are constructed
of medium density fibreboard or similar covered by melamine
or laminated finishes. This base construction swells when wet
causing the final surface finish to de-laminate. Where base
units are on plastic or similar feet, it is sometimes possible
for the actual carcasses to be unaffected. Similarly, if kickboards
are removed in advance of flooding, these items can be saved
for later re-use. Units are also affected by continuing damp
and, therefore, prompt removal of residual water is essential.
Even if the kitchen cabinets themselves require renewal, it
is often possible for door and drawer fronts to be used in the
replacement kitchen. |
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The water that has come into my home
is not just water |
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If the escape of water has occurred
due to the failure of the plumping or central heating system,
there is unlikely to be any long term effect from the escape
of water. However, in the face of flooding or backing up of
sewerage/similar systems, the resultant effluent is often called
"black water". In this instance, drying and professional
cleaning of the property MUST be carried out by a properly qualified
specialist contractor who can ensure that all bacteriological
contamination is removed from your home, including areas that
may be out of sight such as sub-floor cavities. Cleaning with
bleach and similar agents offers only a very short term solution
and does not represent a proper and enduring solution. The cost
of the specialist works will be covered by your insurance policy. |
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