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Flooded Home do's and don'ts
If your home has been hit by flooded due to a broken pipe, spring
runoff, or backed up sewer, your first instinct is probably to start
removing the water right away by whatever means are readily at hand.
However, there are right responses and wrong responses to a flooded
home and for safety's sake it's essential to know the difference.
Here are some do's and don'ts to help you mitigate the problem
quickly, safely, and effectively and preserve as many of your
belongings as possible.
Do's
* The first thing to do is always to safeguard the safety of your
family and pets. If the flooding is severe, have them stay at a
neighbor's or family member's house at least until help arrives.
* The second thing to do is to call a good disaster cleanup company
in your area: you want professionals on the scene as soon as
possible who have the right equipment and the right training to
bring about the most positive outcome to a negative situation.
* Do remove paintings, other art objects, and priceless photographs
to a safe place right away: this involves making very fast mental
prioritizations and then acting on your decisions quickly. Remember:
the expensive stereo can be easily replaced, but photos of your
children cannot.
* Do use buckets, clean towels, and mops to remove as much of the
water from the afflicted rooms as possible. Use white towels on
carpets and furniture to prevent bleeding.
* If the ceiling above is bulging with water, do place a bucket
underneath the spot and poke a small hole into the ceiling to
relieve the pressure and let water through: proceed with care,
however.
* Do place sheets of aluminum foil between furniture legs and wet
carpet.
* If the weather is nice, open all windows to allow air in and
remove as many belongings as possible to dry outside in the
sunshine.
Don'ts
* If flood waters include sewage, vacate the house immediately and
leave all cleanup duties to the disaster cleanup company.
* Don't attempt to remove standing water using your vacuum cleaner
* Don't turn on electrical appliances in rooms where flooding has
occurred
* Don't turn on ceiling fans or lights if the ceiling is wet
* Don't leave colored clothing, magazines, or newspapers on wet
hardwood floors or carpeting since discoloration may occur.
* Don't go into any rooms where you feel you may be in danger.
Any level of flooding in a house is serious, since the possibility
of mold growth is always present under these conditions. Whether you
need Utah disaster cleanup or similar services in Atlanta or
Houston, make sure you partner with a disaster response company that
can offer you fast professional help when you need it most.
DIY Bathtub repair
Repairing a bathtub doesn't always require
professional help. If the problem is basic, anyone can rectify
it with the help of a few tools. This article describes some of
the bathtub problems that are commonly faced, along with their
solutions. Find your DIY bathtub repairs guide inside this
article.
Imagine this - It has been a long day at
work and your limbs are aching and sore. You totter into your
apartment, flip on the lights and your "idea-bulb" comes on too!
You reach for some heavenly-smelling bath salts, and run towards
your bath tub to draw a luxurious bath to soak in with a nice
book…and horrors! You remember that you’d forgotten to dial for
your plumber to fix that crack on the bathtub that’s causing a
leak! Or worse, a drain that was majorly clogged is now
completely choking. Or is it a bathtub stopper that refuses to
pop up? Have you faced any of these situations? If yes, then you
have come to the right place. Read on and learn DIY bath
tub repairs.
Bathtub problems are bad especially
when you need to relax after a tiring day. However, basic
bathtubs repairs can be done in a jiffy and are, dare I say,
child’s play. Read on to ensure that you can always settle down
for a nice bath anytime you want.
Different Types of Bathtub Problems and their Solutions:
Clogged drain
A clogged drain is a common problem and no
doubt it is the worst of all. Clogged drains are probably due to
a build-up of hair and inane dirt-rocks from when you hosed
yourself off in the bathtub after trudging through slush on a
rainy day. If you think it’s just air, work a suction cup on the
mouth of the drain. If it is an actual clog, a simple, cheap
apparatus called a ‘blow bag’ or a hydraulic ram, which is
predominantly a rubber balloon that expands and blows up when
filled with water, can be used. Shove the blow bag into the
overflow pipe of the bathtub until its past the bend in the tub
drain. Turn on the tap to fill it with water as it expands and
lodges itself firmly in the pipe. Once the bag is completely
swollen up, it will aggressively break open, loosen up the clog
and wash it down the drain. If this is not the case, close the
tap immediately and get a ‘plumbing snake’ a.k.a., a closet
auger. It is a long, flexible yet tight metal wire with a firm
end that is pushed down the drain to jostle the clog out of its
tight spot. Put on some water-proof
gloves and thrust the snake into the
drain. Wedge it
 deeper
by turning it in the clockwise direction. When you feel you have
reached the clog, unscrew it a bit and push the auger back in
again for increased force on the clog. If the auger has lodged
into the clog, pull it out for a completely clean tub drain. Be
ready to wash the mess once the
clog is out. Too much hassle? Of course, prevention is better
than repair, so use chemical drain
cleaners as required according to the bathtub’s usage and keep
the drain clear of hair, soap and
shampoo dregs.
A pop-up bathtub stopper that won’t pop-up
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This
problem could cause the bathtub to waste water, not fill
properly or have lethargic draining. Lift the stopper out of the
drain, and check if the rubber seal has waned or was damaged. If
so, it must be replaced. If this is not it, then screw or ease
the nut on the underside of the stopper to adjust its rocker
linkage as needed, and cork the drain with the stopper again. |
Rust or Stains
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Rusts
or stains on the surface of the bathtub can be scrubbed and
removed with some lemon juice mixed with salt. Soak the blotch
with some of the solution and scrub it again if it is a tough
stain. A natural
pumice stone can
also be used to get rid of stubborn stains. |
Cracks
Cracks are a common menace and those on
the surface of fiberglass bathtubs must be fixed with
non-abrasive care. Clean and dry the tub and sand the crack with
sandpaper lightly. You will need to purchase a fiberglass tub
repairing kit, which will
 contain
a filler and colors. Mix them together and fill the crack with
the kit filler. Once it has dried, smooth the surface with a
sandpaper rub. For a porcelain tub, clean and dry the tub,
before you apply some caulk onto the crack. Dab at
any excess and let it dry. Follow it up with matching porcelain
enamel paint. A quick fix for deeper cracks can be a silicon
waterproofing sealant followed by the same process. From the
above mentioned points it is ascertained that bathtub repairs
are easy to carry out if the problem is basic, and the certain
required tools are available at hand. However, if the situation
gets out of control, it's better to seek a professional help.
This would not only save your time, but money as well.
Look familiar? Keep your sink drain clean
The drain in your sink is plugged. What are you going to do
about it? If you’re like most people, you reach under the
kitchen sink and pull out a jug of Drano to clear the clog. But
is this really the best course of action? Probably not. For
those of you who are interested in doing more than just
postponing dealing with the problem, here are a few drain
cleaning tips to keep your water flowing smoothly:
- Identify what’s causing the clog. There are different
ways of dealing with different types of clogged drains. The
most common reason that a drain becomes clogged is because
there is hair in the drain. This is particularly true for
shower drains but may occur in sink drains as well. A drain
stick with barbs on the side can be run into the drain to
collect the hair. This same solution won’t work if you’ve
got something, such as candle wax, that’s adhered to the
sides of your drains. Knowing what solution to use requires
that you know what’s causing the clog.
- Stock up on a few simple tools. You can’t do a job
correctly if you don’t have the right tools to do it. And
you don’t want to wait until you have a clogged drain to go
out and buy what you need. The aforementioned drain stick
should be a common household item. Get one that’s smooth and
one with barbs. A small wet/dry vacuum is also a good item
to have in the kitchen closet. And of course, every bathroom
should have a plunger.
- Start with natural solutions. Instead of pouring the
harsh chemicals like Drano down your drains, try out a
solution that’s based in natural ingredients. A strong
vinegar-and-lemon solution might do the trick if you just
have some build-up that’s caking the sides of your drain.
- Take it apart and use some elbow grease. If you’re handy
in the home repair department, you can take apart the pipes
of your drain and clean them out. A toothbrush and scrubbing
pad should do the trick. Just make sure that you know what
you’re doing before you start dismantling your plumbing. You
don’t want to get the whole thing taken apart and make it
shiny brand new if you don’t know how to put it back
together again!
The best thing that you can do to clean your drains properly
is to prevent them from getting clogged. Use a strainer to catch
hair so that it doesn’t get caught in the drain. Run a natural
solution down the drain on a bi-weekly basis. Prevent problems
before they occur. At the other end of the spectrum, don’t
assume that you can take care of everything yourself. If you’ve
dug out the hair, run the solution and dislodged gunk with the
wet/vac and you still have a clogged drain, you need to call a
plumber. You don’t want to do damage to the pipes that make your
home run smoothly.
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