How To Clean Up After a Water Heater Leak

4/27/2021 (Permalink)

Avoid further damage by cleaning up after a water heater leak.

Hot water is a feature that you definitely miss when it's gone. A leaking water heater can cause more issues in your home in Rocky Mount, NC, than just a high cost to repair or replace it. There are several steps that flood restoration experts take to address the water damage the leak causes.

5 Steps to Clean Up After a Water Heater Leak

1. Assessment

The first thing technicians do when they arrive is survey the damage that the failed water heater left behind. The initial estimate depends on several factors:

• Size of the affected area
  
• Amount of water
  
• Length of time the damage has been present
  

2. Extraction

If there is a standing water, technicians use industrial pumps to remove it. When water has seeped into walls or flooring, they must tear out the ruined materials to stop the spread of the damage from the leaking water heater.

3. Drying

To prevent secondary damage from occurring, the area must be completely dried. There are several methods used to speed up this process so that mold does not have time to grow.

4. Cleaning

Any water that has run through an appliance or has seeped into the structure itself is probably no longer clean. To prevent bacteria and other microbes from growing, the mitigation team disinfects the affected area and tests to make sure all traces of contamination are gone.

5. Restoration

In addition to getting your broken water heater fixed, you also want the area around it to be functional again. Restoration professionals replace the walls and flooring they had to remove. The remediation job is not finished until anything that was torn out has been replaced and rebuilt.

A leaking water heater needs immediate attention from a plumber, but there is probably more to fix than the apparatus itself. Certified professionals can mitigate the water damage around it so that it does not develop into a bigger problem.