A flood is every home owner's worst nightmare: torrential rains, flash flooding out of nowhere, and unexpected flood damage to your homes. It can greatly affect any family financially. The time it takes to salvage and clean the mess of flood damage can be more than your busy life allows, and replacing items can be expensive.



Appliances are often the most expensive parts of a home - thousands of dollars are invested in refrigerators, microwaves, washers, dryers, stoves, and other items. Fortunately, there are some ways to try to save your appliances from flood damage before you need to resort to calling a handyman.

Before you enter a home after a flood, make sure you turn off the electricity. If you do not know how to do this, have an electrician come and do it for you. You do not want to get shocked, and this is especially important since you will be dealing with electric appliances. Standing water near appliances can be dangerous if the electricity is still on. Dirty flood water not only contains waste and mud, but it also causes flood damage to electric appliances. They can become destroyed or short out if you try and use them. The appliances that you want to salvage should be moved to an area where air can circulate to dry them out. Fans can help to increase the air flow. Be patient, as it may take up a week for appliances to dry.

Do not spray your appliances with a hose, even if they are dirty. Hoses can get water into areas of the appliance that had no water in it before and then cause further flood damage. You can, however, use a wet cloth and common household cleaners to clean your appliance. You can also rinse them with a sanitizing solution to prevent odor and mildew. Make sure that you dry the appliance thoroughly after cleaning. If you clean and dry out your washer, run a cycle of bleach and hot water to sanitize it before using.

If there are any lingering odors, try additional cleaning methods. You can attempt to clean, sanitize and freshen using baking soda, vinegar, and ammonia mixtures. If you have refrigerators or freezers where the insulation has gotten wet, they are probably not salvageable. Even if they are cleaned thoroughly, the smell of mold or mildew could still stick around, and it is safe not to put food in these areas anyway.

A professional should be able to help you with any maintenance on these appliances that you could not handle on your own. Calling the appliance's '800' number may also be a good idea. Most appliance companies offer some kind of disaster program or offer discounts to cover for flood damage, even if you do not have a warranty.

There is hope for you to save your appliances. As always, if you are unsure of your capabilities to thoroughly clean, salvage or sanitize your appliances - call a handy man because safety should always come first.