Is It Possible to Save Furniture After A Flooding Incident?

11/2/2020 (Permalink)

SERVPRO Can Help You Make an Informed Decision Whether to Save Furniture after Flood Damage Affects Your Grovetown Home 

Floods can affect house contents, such as furniture, in different ways. For instance, water can submerge items if the floodwaters are high enough. Water can also trickle from a high point, such as a window or an opening on the roof, leaving items wet. The possibility of saving such furniture may remain unclear until a qualified team such as SERVPRO inspects your Grovetown home. 

What do restorers check to determine whether the furniture can be saved? 

Deciding whether to save or dispose of furniture after flood damage occurs at your Grovetown home is only possible after considering: 

• How long items remain submerged
• The composition of materials
• The level of contamination
• Aesthetic changes such as staining 

The effects of flooding are generally destructive, but the actual damage level might depend on the timelines involved. Submersion that exceeds a day allows full saturation of the materials and the deterioration of materials since processes such as mold development can start in 24 hours. Saving items in such a case is rarely possible. 

Why does the material matter? 

Furniture items are made from a wide range of materials, including: 

• Fabrics or leather
• Solid wood
• Composites such as MDF or plywood 

The type of material an item is made of determines its porosity, resilience, and how it reacts to soiling. Highly porous materials accumulate contaminants making restoration unsanitary. Most composites have minimal strength once exposed to water since the glues holding them together deteriorate in wet conditions. Solid wood fares better. SERVPRO technicians can help clean your solid wood furniture, dry it in a controlled environment, and apply remedial products such as cream with lanolin to eliminate traces of the damage "Like it never even happened."