Home Cleaning Tips After Floods, Where To Start?

Flood Illustration (Burak K / Pexels)

JAKARTA - Recently, heavy rain has hit parts of Indonesia. The high rainfall resulted in flooded roads and housing areas. Is your house also flooded? If so, make sure your surroundings are safe before returning home, yes. If it is receding and safe, immediately clean the house with a few tips below.

Open all doors and windows

Open all doors and windows of the house when you first enter. This aims to keep the air circulation in the house flowing properly. After the doors and windows are opened, make sure the electricity is off so it is safe to clean the house.

Choose items wisely

Floods can cause several items in the house to be submerged and even washed away so that they cannot be saved. Instead of crying, it's better to think positively by making this disaster a decluttering moment. If there is furniture that can be converted into a function, it is best to separate it and make it possible to repair it after you finish cleaning.

Clean the carpet

One of the things that is difficult to clean after being flooded is the carpet The first aid to cleaning is to spread the carpet in a sunny place. Flush both sides of the carpet with high pressure water to loosen the mud. Use a carpet cleaner and scrub all areas of the carpet. Finally, dry the carpet until it is completely dry.

If you think your carpet still smells musty after washing it, it's best to take it to a carpet sink for expert cleaning. If the carpet is too bad and has been submerged in mud for more than 24 hours, then remove the carpet so that it doesn't bring bad air into the house.

Drying items exposed to water

After cleaning the furniture from the former mud with clean water, the next step is to dry it for 48 hours. You can use the help of a fan to speed up the drying process. Don't forget to remove the furniture parts so that water is not stored between items.

If the color is starting to fade due to this process, try refinishing it to get the furniture shiny again.

Clean the walls

Apart from furniture, the walls also need to be cleaned, especially after being inundated for several hours. However, make sure the walls are completely dry before cleaning. If you clean it wet, the stain will get worse. Use a clean cloth and brush to remove the stain. Add soapy water and mix it with a disinfectant solution to make it more sterile.

Soak kitchen utensils

If the kitchen is also submerged so that it contaminates food and cooking utensils, then immediately clean it, yes. To do this, pour the disinfectant solution and water in a large container and soak the glasses, porcelain items, plastic cutlery, and enamel for 10 minutes. As for the dairy utensils, pots and pans, you only need to boil them in water for 10 minutes.

Wash the fabric with powder detergent

After kitchen utensils, let's move on to cloths, pillowcases, blankets, to curtains. Wash these items with a powder detergent. Powdered detergents work well for removing clays and impurities that may be contained in flood water. After this initial wash, wash everything again using hot water. Dry everything until you are sure the stain has disappeared.