Tips To Remodel Your Home After Water Damage

Guest Post by Andrea Erickson

Dealing with water damage can be heartbreaking, especially if this is the first time you’ve ever faced it. Fortunately, out of this rough situation, you get the chance to protect your home from future damage.

These are eight tips for remodeling your home after water damage!

1. Get All Pipes Inspected While Remodeling

Whether your home faced water damage due to flooding or because of a pipe bursting, now’s the time to have them inspected. The average homeowner doesn’t have their pipes inspected often, which can lead to a lot of issues.

Have a professional walk through your property, listen to what they say, and consider the fixes they offer. If their service seems expensive, don’t be afraid to keep shopping around, and look for a service that offers quality at an affordable price.

2. Protect Your Walls From Future Moisture

Fear of excess moisture is something you’re going to deal with after you’ve experienced your first water damage. To protect your walls and your foundation, consider using moisture-resistant paint. This paint will seal your walls in the same way you’d seal a deck or wood floors and will stop moisture before it can make its way in.

Take the time to let your first coat dry, and then add a second one for extra protection. This will give you the chance to seal your walls as well as you can while also getting the best color coverage possible. 

3. Create Better Drainage in Your Driveway

Your driveway needs fantastic drainage year-round. Not only does this keep water away from your home, but proper driveway drainage also ensures that your driveway doesn’t go through the freeze-and-thaw cycle with cracks. When water accumulates on a driveway, it can make its way into cracks and lines. As the air temperature drops in winter, and this moisture freezes, it expands and cracks the concrete. Every year this can cause larger cracks and more issues. 

4. Add Water Sensors Throughout

If this isn’t the first time you’ve struggled with moisture in your home, consider getting water sensors! These gadgets help keep your property safer by alerting you the moment they sense any water or moisture in an area. This can help you find the source of a flood or can let you know the moment anything goes wrong. Not only are they generally affordable, but there are even some brands that can be hooked up to your phone via an app so you can keep track.

5. Increase Your Insulation

Insulation does more than just help regulate temperatures. Good insulation will allow your property to stay free of moisture and water and will stop future molding and rot from happening. Check the insulation in your roof, walls, and floorboards.

6. Invest in Interior Drainage Options

Drainage isn’t just for the exterior of your home. Add details like a drainage mat for walls inside your home since it will add a pathway for the water to drain behind the veneer. Any water damage to walls can leave the entire portions to need to be replaced and will leave your property at risk of mold, mildew, and rot. 

7. Pay Attention to Standing Water on Your Lawn

The exterior isn’t just your driveway! Your lawn should be able to take far more water than it already does. There are a few steps you can take to make this possible. One of the biggest ones is by putting in-lawn trenches into your property that will guide the water away. You can put covers on these, so people don’t accidentally step on them, but they’re essential to give the water somewhere to go.

Another great option is adding a fantastic rain garden! Rain gardens are made of local plants that usually have deep roots and are able to hold the soil in place while also pushing water as far down into it as possible. 

8. Get Flooring That Can Handle Anything

Water damage can be incredibly damaging to floors before anything else: causing wood floors to buckle and bow and making cement and pavement crack over time. Water can be dangerous quickly. If you’re wary of having to give up another fantastic floor, consider swapping to a material that can handle a lot of moisture, like tile or linoleum, until you can complete a full floor replacement. 

You Deserve a Home That’s Safe

Water is one of the most corrosive materials on Earth. Make sure your property is safe by taking these extra steps after water damage. 

If you need to remodel your home after water damage, PRK Williams Building Group is here to help! PRK Williams Building Group can restore your home to its original condition, and even add a few enhancements that you may have been dreaming about. Contact PRK Williams Building Group at (319) 538-2989 for all your repair, remodeling and redesign needs!

Andrea Erickson is a freelance writer that loves sharing her knowledge and expertise with her readers. She lives in her hometown of Austin, Texas where she enjoys spending time with her husband and decorating with her children. Andrea’s work as a freelance writer can be found on Building Product Advisors, a new construction industry resource launching in Fall 2022.