If you need to repair and renovate a property that has been badly damaged by a recent flood, you might find the following two tips to be helpful.

Get a structural engineer to check the framework

At the beginning of the restoration process, you should arrange for one of the structural engineers in your local area to visit your house and check its framework for signs of flood damage.

The reason for this is as follows; like most residential properties, your house probably has a wooden framework. If sections of this wooden framework have been immersed in water for several hours or days, it is possible that wet rot may have begun to grow on these sections.

As its name implies, wet rot is a wood-rotting fungus that flourishes in water-rich environments. If this fungus forms on your property's framework, it will quickly begin to destroy the timber on which it grows.

If you don't hire a structural engineer to check the framework and this wet rot on the timber goes unnoticed, the structural components that the framework is comprised of may eventually buckle. This could lead to the shifting of the roof, the foundation and the walls, which could, in turn, cause cracks and holes to form in all of these parts of the property.

Fixing this type of extensive damage could be extremely difficult and costly. Given this, it is far better to have the framework checked by a structural engineer now, so that any components on which wet rot has formed can be replaced before they begin to inflict structural damage.

Make sure that every member of the renovation team has a high-quality respirator

It is also crucial to ensure that every person who will be participating in the repair and renovation of the property has a high-quality respirator.

The reason for this is that when flood water saturates a house's floors, ceilings and wall plaster, it can lead to mould spores growing in these areas.

When you and your renovation team then disturb these areas (by, for example, pulling up the ruined carpeting or replacing the wall plaster), these mould spores will be flung into the air.

If your mouth and nose are exposed when this happens, these spores could enter your respiratory system. This could then trigger a bout of severe coughing and wheezing or induce an asthma attack (if you already suffer from this condition).

This is why it is important for everyone involved in the restoration work to wear respirator masks, which will prevent these spores from entering their lungs and causing health issues.

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