There is probably nothing more disturbing or frustrating than facing the need for conducting bathroom water damage restoration. You may be silently content sleeping in your bed late at night when all of a sudden you are awakened by the sound of rushing water coming from down the hallway. You jump up quickly and head to the bathroom where you are greeted by bursting pipes. Instead of panicking, you need to remain calm and use the following guidelines:

First Step For Water Damage Restoration: Make Sure the Water Is Turned Off

When finding any leaking or broken pipes, you need to immediately turn the water off to prevent any increased damage. If the leak is coming from the toilet, there is more than likely a shutoff valve behind it. However, if the pipes are broken in the wall, or from some other point in the bathroom, you may just have to turn the water off to the entire house.

Get Rid Of the Water

Before you can even plan or tackle any water damage restoration cleanup action, you need to get rid of any standing water.

Use whatever is at hand quickly to sop up the water including towels and rags.

If you have a shop vac readily available, run it to vacuum up as much of the water as possible and then hand towel as many areas that are not accessible to a vacuum.

Get As Many Spots Dry As Quickly As Possible

Make sure you have a good amount of dry towels and rags so you can start to wipe down all walls, any wood furniture in the bathroom as well as all wood paneling.

Keep in mind that moistened wood can produce mold quickly. Any undetected moisture left standing can cause a serious mold problem if not attended to immediately.

Create Some Air Circulation

If a ceiling vent fan is present in the bathroom, turn it on and keep it running. Open any windows that are in the room or near the area. It is also recommended that a box fan be employed to help the air circulate. The more airflow that can be created, the better and quicker the room will dry out.

Launder All Fabric Material

Any bathroom materials that are fabric-based need to at least be wrung out completely and then laundered immediately. A good tip is to place water-laden towels and bath rugs in the washing machine and trip the spin cycle to extract excessive water. Otherwise, put on a pair of gloves and ring them out.

Carefully Remove Any Damaged Items

One specific part of successful water damage restoration is the careful removal of damaged items in the bathroom. If the flooding causes any debris or dirt, pull on some boots, put on some gloves and carefully remove all this debris as quickly as possible while paying careful attention to personal safety.

Bleach the Bathroom

Once all portable bathroom items have been safely removed and dealt with, it is time to sanitize the room. Create a basic bleach and water mix. Wipe down the walls, floors and even the ceiling. Conduct sanitizing in small sessions leaving the windows open while working with the bleach mixture. If possible, wear protective breathing masks because the bleach fumes are not something you want to be breathing in.

Once the room is sanitized, the final step for successful bathroom water damage restoration is to conduct a normal cleaning.