Flooding: Before & After
Restoring Vital Services — Floors and carpets
Carpets and rugs soaked by flood water are often discarded, but many can be saved. They may be best cleaned by professionals. If you do the work yourself, pull up the carpet and pad and take them outside if possible. Drape small carpets over clotheslines, sawhorses, automobiles or on concrete driveways.
Flush soil and silt out of the carpet or rug by spraying clear water with a hose and spray nozzle. If the soil has been mashed into the carpet, add detergent. Either sprinkle a little dry laundry detergent over the surface or pour/sprinkle on diluted liquid detergent. Work this into the carpet with a machine, a broom or a brush. Rinse well with a solution of 1 gallon of water and 2 tablespoons of liquid household laundry chlorine bleach. The bleach will help discourage mildew and odors. Do not add bleach if the carpet is wool.
Let the carpet dry completely before installing. It may shrink, but since most fibers used today are synthetic, this may not be a problem. If the carpet shrinks, consider banding it around the perimeter with a contrasting or harmonizing color.
Pads and underlay
The carpet pad or underlay may need to be replaced if it is a hair mat or a jute-type pad. Waffle weave and foam or rubber type pads can be reused, but they are difficult to handle. For foam or rubber types, it may be necessary to squeeze the water by hand, a little at a time, or push or roll out the water by pressing it with boards or a heavy roller. Water will seep through waffle weave pads, so a shake is generally all that is necessary.
Before replacing carpets, rugs and pads or underlay, be sure walls are dry and floors are clean and dry. To prevent mildew and musty odor on concrete sub floor, wash with a solution of three quarts of warm water, one quart of household laundry chlorine bleach and about half-cup of household detergent. Rinse well with clear water. Allow to dry thoroughly before replacing carpet and pad.
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Wood floors
Wood floors that were under water for several days will probably warp, split or bow. Floors that were under water for a short time can sometimes be restored after they are thoroughly dry. It's a good idea to remove one board every few feet so that as the wood swells there will be room for expansion. This will help reduce buckling of the boards. When the floor is dry, replace the boards you removed.
After the swelling disappears and the floors are dry, ridges may appear. You may be able to remove these ridges with a plane, then sand the entire floor smooth.
If wood floors have mildewed, scrub with a mild alkali such as washing soda or an all-purpose cleaner containing trisodium phosphate (4 to 6 tablespoons to a gallon of water) or wipe with a solution of one cup of household laundry chlorine bleach and a gallon of water. Rinse well with clear water and buff dry with absorbent cloths or toweling.
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Vinyl and tile-covered floors
Resilient and other floor tiles may not be ruined if water remained for a short period of time. However, if the underlayment was plywood, water could cause the veneer sheets to separate. In this case, you may need to rebuild the floor. Loose ceramic or vinyl tiles can sometimes be removed and then re-cemented after the tiles and floor have dried.