How To Estimate The Time It Takes To Restore Your Home After Flooding

Floods, regardless of size, always leave behind some measure of destruction. When you know that you will need flood restoration services, you may be concerned with the timing. You may want to know how long it will take to clear and clean things up before your home is safe and livable again. While some flood restoration crews can give you an estimate based on what they see, other restoration experts may give you a different time table because of their arrival at your home after the flood waters have started receding. As a homeowner, the following information will give you a better idea as to how long you will need to find shelter elsewhere until your home is ready for occupants again.

Flood Waters Only Filled the Basement

If you were fortunate to have flood waters only fill part or all of your basement, consider yourself lucky indeed. Even though everything in the basement is now destroyed, it will be fairly easy to extract the water and very quick to clean up. Structural damage to your basement is typically limited to any exposed wood beams that make up the underside of the first floor (and/or your steps into the basement). However, if the flood waters did not reach that high, then the structural damage is limited to just your steps.

Other things that might be affected by flood waters in your basement are the furnace, possibly the water heater, and any laundry machines (if applicable). After the water is pumped out, an HVAC contractor will need to check your heating and cooling systems and clean them as needed. The flood restoration crew will continue to clean and clear out everything that was submerged while the contractor works on your HVAC systems. Wooden steps are replaced, and wooden beams are checked for mold and mildew, just to be extra safe. For this, you should allow approximately two weeks, maybe three.

Flood Waters Are/Were Halfway up the Side of the House

Usually, if the exterior of your home is submerged halfway, so is the interior. There is likely to be a lot of water damage to your belongings, to carpet, to walls and insulation and to wood. As such, you are looking at a month to about three months, maybe four depending on the weather.

Your Home Was Completely Submerged

This, being the worst possible scenario, means that the majority of your home (as well as your neighbors' homes) is a total loss. Everything you had inside is ruined, and the structural integrity of your very soggy house is compromised. If you have flood insurance and FEMA jumps in to help with emergency funds to rebuild, you will still be looking at a year, possibly two, before your home is restored.

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