Water damage is one of the most devastating types of damage. While it’s not always possible to foresee a flood, leak or other type of disaster, you can take certain measures to make sure important documents and items don’t suffer from water damage.
Here are some ways you can protect important books and documents from water damage in Lakeland, Plant City, Winter Haven, and the surrounding areas.
Documents to Protect From Water Damage
Some documents and items can’t be replaced, so it’s worth it to take extra precautionary measures to protect them from any and all damage. Here is a list of the documents we recommend protecting from water damage:
- Identifications: Birth and marriage certificates, passports, social security cards, photocopies of driver’s license and credit cards, military ID and documents, and important contact information.
- Home and property records: Home deed, mortgage, car titles, insurance policies and paperwork, and policyholder information.
- Estate: Wills, trusts, and powers-of-attorney.
- Medical: Health insurance/cards, immunization records, doctors’ contact information.
- Financial: Bank statements, tax records, W2s or W9s, important receipts, and checking and savings account information.
Contain Documents in Waterproof Containers
One of the most basic yet fail-safe ways to keep your documents protected from water damage is to store them in waterproof containers. Keep all important documents, books, photos and other items contained in one place in your home, and if possible have them condensed and stored in such a way that they are in an accessible place in case of an emergency and easy to carry out of harm’s way. In the event your home floods or experiences a roof leak, you want to be able to pick up your contained documents and carry them out easily and safely. What to do if your home floods covers the order to do things in when you have minutes rather than hours.
Always choose waterproof containment over water resistant, as this provides maximum protection. Waterproof containment is impervious to water and unaffected by it, whereas water resistant only holds out for a short period. That distinction matters more when the water is contaminated, and clear water, gray water, and black water explains what a sewage backup or flood water does to paper it touches.
Keep Electronic Copies of Important Documents
None of us ever expect or foresee water damage, however it’s better to be prepared for it just in case it ever happens. In addition to keeping your documents and other important items in waterproof casing, you should always backup your documents electronically. Scan all important documentation on your computer and back up the files on a CD, external hard drive, or USB.
If you choose one of the latter two options, make sure you store these in a safe and protective area as well. Many important documents are already electronic for you via paperless billing bank statements and contact information. For documents that are not automatically generated electronically, make sure you keep copies of all these items.
Watch Where You Store Your Items
You’ve successfully contained all your important documents and other paper items in a waterproof storage container, but now you must find a place in your home to store them. Our water damage restoration crews recommend avoiding top shelves for document storage, since that exposes them to a roof leak or storm damage. Supply lines in the ceiling and second floor are a risk too, and professional leak detection finds those before they reach your paperwork.
Similarly, avoid placing such items near windows as violent storms can break windows, spewing water all across shelves located near them. Try to store your contained documents in the middle if possible as this is the safest area to avoid water damage and leaks. If you must store these items on bottom shelves, place them at least six inches off the floor to reduce the chance of contact during indoor flooding. Never place documents directly on the floor, which is the first place water reaches. A burst supply line or a failing water heater puts water across a floor faster than storm water usually does, and why flood damage needs repairing quickly explains what the delay costs.
Closing
Do not wait to protect your belongings from water damage. If paper has already been soaked, hiring a water damage cleanup company beats trying to dry a room yourself, and drying the structure fast is the whole point of water mitigation. Storm and flood losses go to flood restoration. If you rent rather than own, are renters responsible for water damage is worth reading before you file anything.
True Plumbers & AC has repaired and restored water damage for homes and businesses across Lakeland, Plant City, Winter Haven, and the surrounding areas since 2009. If your home has taken on water from a leak or a flood, call (863) 667-6364 and we will get someone out to you. After hours, that goes straight to our emergency plumbing team. Licensed CFC1428965 and CAC1820605.
