Many materials can’t be cleaned and dried properly after being soaked with floodwater. Furniture covered with fabric or leather (upholstery), like couches and chairs, may be hard or impossible to clean if it has been contaminated with sewage (human waste) or other harmful bacteria.
Items to throw out
Put the following items in sealed plastic bags and throw them out if they had contact with floodwater:
- furniture made of particleboard, mattresses, and box springs
- electrical equipment
- papers and paper products that aren’t important to you
- medicines, cosmetics, and other toiletries
Items you can clean or fix
You may be able to keep some items from your home if they can be cleaned or repaired, including:
- items that didn’t touch flood water
- items that didn’t absorb water, such as those made of plastic or stainless steel with no small cracks or crevices
- fabrics that can be washed with bleach and hot water and dried in a hot dryer
Furniture
You can keep good quality wood furniture if:
- It only had contact with flood water for a short time.
- There’s no swelling of the wood.
Clean the furniture with warm water and soap then sanitize it with a mild bleach solution (1/2 teaspoon of household bleach mixed with 1 litre of water).
Dry the furniture quickly, but don’t put it in the sun or dry it with direct heat (like a heater or blow dryer).
Open any drawers to speed up drying, but don’t take them out. You may not be able to get the drawers back in after all parts are dry.
If you have antique furniture, you may want to contact a professional furniture restorer about a treatment to repair flood water damage. These treatments can be expensive.
If you want to restore your furniture, contact a professional furniture restorer soon after the flood and follow their exact instructions.
Linens, bedding, and clothing
You can keep fabrics such as linens (towels, washcloths, napkins), bedding (sheets, comforters, pillows), and clothing if you wash them with bleach and hot water and dry them in a hot dryer. Any fabrics you can’t clean this way must be thrown out.
Scrape off dirt and rinse fabrics before you wash them in a washing machine.
Take any fabrics you can’t wash in a washing machine (such as silk and wool) to a professional dry cleaner.
Paper and paper items
Flood water may damage books and important papers, such as legal, financial, and other official documents.
Wrap paper items carefully in freezer bags, clean off the outside of the bags, and put the bags in the freezer. Then get advice from a restoration professional on how to clean and dry these important papers.
