What To Do If You Have A Flooded Basement In Toronto

If you wake up and find that your basement has flooded, you will instantly have a thousand better things that you would have preferred to wake up to instead of a dreaded flooded basement. While finding out that your Toronto basement has flooded may feel overwhelming at first, you can take a few steps to get your basement back to where it needs to be

Remember That It Can Be Dangerous

If you find your basement has flooded, it is always best to have a qualified professional assess the situation for you. It can be hazardous to your health to enter a wet basement. Consider the following factors before you enter into your basement after it floods.

• Electric shock – If your basement is still wet after flooding, you may experience issues with electrical shock. It is important to turn off the power to the basement, if you are not sure, you are better off turning off the main breaker switches
• Pollutants – Sewage may be present in your basement after it floods and the floodwater in your basement may contain raw sewage if it came from the sanitary sewer. This can easily transmit disease because the water contains bacteria
• Structural damage – While not common, a flooded basement may weaken the walls and even the ceiling structures of your basement. If you are unsure, it is better to leave it to the experts

Call In The Professionals

Unless you know what you are doing, the best way to deal with a flooded basement in Toronto is to call the experts. When you have a qualified plumbing service resolve the issue, you know that any repairs are going to be done correctly, and will help prevent problems in the future. Depending on the nature of the flooding, you can also consider the following:

• If it is due to sewage backup (or you are not quite sure) make sure that you do not run a dishwasher, washing machine, or flush the toilet. Those are likely to exacerbate the flooding issue
• If you have a burst water supply pipe in your home, you can help minimize the damage by shutting off the main incoming water valve (provided you are able to do so safely). This is why it is a good idea to know where this main valve is so you can shut it off should you need to

While these preventative measures for flooded basement do not help if you already have water in your basement, there are a few steps you can take to ensure that you prevent problems in the future.

What Can I Do To Prevent This Issue?

• Focus on prevention – Before a flooding situation ever be
  comes a reality, you want to find ways of diverting rainwater from your home. You want your yard to slope away from your house
• Extend the rain gutter downspouts – Make sure that your rain gutter downspouts go away from your home. If they connect to the underground dry wells or foundation footer drain tiles, the ground may be further saturated and cause flooding in your basement
• Have emergency power ready – By having a professional install an automatic emergency generator, you can have electric service to essential circuits such as your septic tank pump, refrigerator, or furnace if power is lost.

We treat your home the way we expect workers to treat our homes.  That means coordinating with you from the moment you call for a quote all the way through the final work we perform.  Our team will cover and clean everything in their work area so you don’t have the added stress of a mess to tidy up, and we’ll finish as quickly and efficiently as possible.