If the drywall in your home has more than 10 square feet total of water damage, the EPA recommends hiring a contractor with experience handling water damage to remove it. Any area smaller than that, however, you can deal with yourself. You’ll want to cut the drywall 15 to 24 inches above the visible water line.  Take a utility knife, score the drywall, then punch it in.  Check with your local sanitation department to see whether you need to take the drywall to a dump yourself, or if you can just pile it up on your curb for trash pickup.  Then, if the insulation behind the drywall is damp, you’ll need to remove that, too. Nonporous materials, such as metal and glass, can simply be cleaned thoroughly with water and detergent and sanitized with a disinfectant.

Don’t seal any walls up with new insulation and drywall until everything is completely dry.

Even if they appear dry, ceramic tile, sheet vinyl, laminate, and solid wood floors should be removed because moisture and silt collects underneath them—and cause bacteria or mold to grow.

Once you discard these, ensure that everything is clean and dry before installing new flooring. Maintain your home’s humidity at 30 to 50 percent, and use a moisture meter to check that subflooring is at or below 16 percent moisture content before installing new flooring (for wood floors, manufacturers advise that the subfloor’s moisture content should be 13 percent or less). Be patient—it might take a few weeks for your flooring to return to a reasonable moisture contents.  If you’re unsure when you can reinstall flooring, the EPA recommends that you consult with a contractor or home inspector who has experience with flooding.

Whatever you do, don’t plug in or otherwise provide power to your appliances right away, because their components could be corroded or damaged by flood waters.  If an appliance, such as your washer or range, has been submerged in flood water, Consumer Reports recommends discarding it to be safe. If you think an appliance can be saved, make sure to hire a professional repair person to inspect it before putting it back into service.  Mold doesn’t do a great job of growing on metals or ceramics, however, you still want to wipe down everything with disinfectant to sanitize and kill any possible mold.Be sure to rinse or wipe items and allow them to completely air-dry before you use them.

 There are a lot of scams involving restoring flood-damaged homes after disasters, so be sure that the restoration firm you hire is certified for mold and water damage remediation. Make sure you hire a professional and check they are licensed and insured!!  Talk to your insurance company, if the floored is covered they may have a list of approved contractors.

BULK DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE- ASK FOR PALLET PRICING