When we think about cleaning our homes after a floodwater event, we want to make sure that we muck it out completely and we clean it. We disinfect it and we dry it as completely as we possibly can. When we think of mucking our home out, we want to make sure that we use the proper equipment and tools we want to use. Rubber gloves protect our hands and our forearms. We want to use a respirator that Ron Clark mentioned and we want to make sure that we remove as much of the foreign material that was leftover from the flood. As we possibly can clean all the mud, all the dirty water. When we think of cleaning our home, we want to use some type of detergent to clean our homes and when we think of disinfecting our homes, we want to use some type of a biocide bleach works well and is readily available and relatively inexpensive and the solution needs to be 2 tablespoons of bleach to a gallon of water. When we think of drying our homes out, we want to

make sure that we dry everything out completely walls and floorboard things like that. When we first get back into our homes, one of the things we think about is restoring our keepsakes and finding out what kind of condition they're in and one of those things potentially photographs.

We want to evaluate the condition of our photographs and to see if they're beyond proof repair. We want to remove the photos that can be repaired from plastic or paper enclosures or frames and then we want to carefully rinse the photo under cool running water, shake off excess water damage, and then they either hang them up with clips so they can dry or place them on absorbent paper toweling so that they can dry possibly there. We don't want photos to touch each other because they will stick to each other. As they dry, if you have several photos that you can't get to immediately you can keep them in a bucket of clear water and if it's going to take you longer than 48 hours and to get to the to get the photos cleaned. You can store them in the freezer and we do suggest that you store them between either freezer paper or wax paper. If your book is only damp or partially wet then you will want to fan out the book with the covers at a 90-degree angle and let them air-dry. If you do have a book that is completely saturated with floodwaters, then you will want to lie the book down flat, on a flat surface and you will want to use absorbent materials in between the pages to absorb the moisture. You don't want to put too many pieces of paper towel in between the pages and you may end up stretching your spine of the book. If you cannot get to your books, get them salvaged and cleaned up within 48 hours. You need to wrap your books in freezer paper and then put them spine down into a sturdy container line them up in that container and then you can put them in the freezer until you have time to properly clean them. 

When it comes to your furniture, you need to determine what you can salvage and what you can overstuffed furniture potentially is probably going to have to be done away with because if it's had very much water on it or if it's been completely submerged. It's going to potentially have mold that will grow inside it and if so it needs to be disposed of solid wood furniture. On the other hand, it could potentially just be washed off and potentially reglued particleboard furniture. On the other hand, if it's absorbed very much water will not return to the visit to its

original condition and so it may need to be disposed of when it comes to cleaning solid wood furniture. You mean to take it outside and potentially hose off the wood and the debris and things from the furniture. Dry it off completely, wipe it down and remove all the mud and dirt and particles and things like that. From it, if the joints are loose they need to be reglued, and then to dry the furniture out it needs to be in a shady well-ventilated moisture-controlled environment at all possible because furniture dried in the Sun and potentially will warp when carpeting has been flooded by floodwaters. It's best to have a professional clean, the carpeting but if that is not possible. There are some steps you can take first. You would want to pull all the carpeting up and remove the carpeting from the home and drape it outdoors, then you will want to take a hose and spray off all the mud in the muck for soiled portions of the carpet. You won't want to take a low sudsing carpet cleaner and scrub it in with a broom.

To discourage mold and mildew growth, you will need to use two tablespoons of bleach, one gallon of water, and rinse the backing of the carpet. Carpet padding should all be removed from the home and discarded for wallboard that has been in floodwaters. You will need to replace the wallboard, especially if the floodwaters reached above four feet. On the wall, then you will definitely need to replace all of your wallboards but if the floodwaters only reach up to three feet or below you can replace the lower up to four feet of the wallboard and then take a four by eight sheet of wallboard. Apply it to the wall sideways and if you have a portion of drywall, that is molded growth from floodwaters you will need to handle this piece carefully. When you remove it from your home, you will need to wear a mask and have your gloves on. You will need to use plastic to wrap that portion of drywall in and tape it. You will not spread the mold spores throughout the home. As you're removing there are small areas of your home that are contaminated by mold and we want to make sure we seal those off from the rest of the home. We want to use plastic and we want to tape it to the door frames so that we can contain that mold, in the end. The allergens in the dust, in that area we want to make sure that we also have ventilation to the outside.