With two story homes or apartments or condominiums, sometimes you come home to the shock of a sagging ceiling from a flood upstairs. If it’s your own home that caused the flood you don’t have to negotiate the repairs with another homeowner or landlord, but you still need to take immediate action with your sagging ceiling. Clean Earth Restorations is a flood and water damage expert and offers San Diego residents water damage repair every day. You will need to call in a professional for help, but there are steps you can take immediately.
If significant flooding occured the ceiling is likely holding water. Wet plaster and wallboard is extremely heavy and dangerous if it falls. Before you allow people to enter the room where the ceiling is sagging follow these guidelines:
- Make a device using a long stick with a nail or other sharp, small pointed object attached to the end of the stick. A nail in the end of the broomstick works well.
- Do not stand under the sagging area, but rather, away from it in a doorway, if possible, and poke a hole in the ceiling at the very edge of the sagging part. This will allow trapped water to begin to drain. If you create the first hole in the middle of the sag the ceiling may suddenly collapse.
- After water drains, poke another hole closer to the middle, let the water drain, and keep poking holes until you get to the very middle (or lowest point) of the sag.
- Call a professional water damage company to help you with the next steps!
There are several other things to consider when you are dealing with a flood inside your home that has caused damage:
Take photos! Take photos of the damage before you do anything, to show the original state of damage. At Clean Earth Restorations we photograph and document every step of the water damage restoration process so that we can clearly communicate with your insurance company what we did to restore your property and the extent of the damage we discovered.
Protect your health! There are different types of waste water and some of it is dangerous to your health. Keep this in mind as you proceed and trust a professional company to use the proper precautions when dealing with any type of flood water.
Call your insurance company. They can advise you on next steps, but we also have extensive experience with insurance claims and can work directly with your insurance company on your behalf.
If you have water damage, let us come to you and assess the damage and give you an idea of what it will take to properly repair it. Click the link below to set up an appointment:
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