Along with bathrooms and basements, kitchens are one of the most common rooms to suffer from water damage. This should come as no surprise after considering all the different sources of water in the kitchen. After all, it only takes one malfunction from your refrigerator, kitchen pipes, or dishwasher for your kitchen to flood. Water damage restoration is not an easy task and to avoid having to deal with a water disaster, try taking some preventative measures. From our water damage restoration experts at Kelley Construction in Bloomington, here are four helpful tips for preventing water damage in your kitchen.
Inspect Your Refrigerator
Your refrigerator uses a lot of water and a malfunction can lead to a surprisingly large amount of floodwater in your kitchen. One of the most common ways this happens is when ice makers overproduce ice. All of the excess ends up on your floor and it can be a lot after several hours of this. You should also look behind the refrigerator as it is common for water to pool there without anyone’s knowledge. If you find water underneath a kitchen appliance, check with water damage restoration professionals before trying to clean it up on your own.
Maintain Your Dishwasher
Dishwashers use even more water than refrigerators do. The average dishwasher uses about six gallons of water per cycle. Thus, a single load of leaking water can lead to a significant amount of floodwater in your kitchen. To prevent a dishwasher from flooding your kitchen, you need to inspect the water supply line and the water drainage line. The typical recommendation is that you do this at least twice every year.
Be Cautious About Wood Flooring
One of the major weaknesses of wood flooring is that wood is so susceptible to water damage. Even after being exposed to water for just a short time, wood floors can become warped and discolored. This problem is especially relevant in the kitchen since water on the kitchen floor is so common.
Look Out For Mold And Moisture Pockets
One indication of a water damage problem is mold growth. Anytime you see mold, you can be confident that there was some degree of excess water that preceded the mold. This means that anytime you see mold you should be immediately concerned about a potential water damage problem. As a result, you should inspect all the immediate sources of a possible leak around the mold so you can get to the root of the problem. One area you should be sure to check is your kitchen cabinet under your sink. This area isn’t always looked at closely so a leaky pipe down there might go unnoticed for a long period of time. When you do this, make sure that you actually clean out your cabinet so you can see all around it. Simply looking in the front when the back of the cabinet is blocked by everything you have stored there just won’t cut it.
We hope you find these tips helpful for preventing water damage and the need for restoration services in your kitchen. Yet, should your kitchen or any other part of your home suffer from any sort of damage, you are not on your own. Give us a call at Kelley Construction in Bloomington for our 24/7 emergency water damage restoration service.
