Calculating estimates and starting repairs after flooding the apartment

Repair after flooding the apartment neighbors - where to start recovery

If neighbors are flooded, repairs are inevitable. This can happen due to the negligence of the people living above you, as well as due to the deterioration of communications. What to do after the flow, as well as how to make new repairs to walls and ceilings after flooding at minimal cost - all this is described in this article. According to statistics, apartment flooding is the most popular communal accident. Depending on the intensity of the leak, in what place it occurred, not only the room where the accident occurred, but also what is below / on the side may suffer.

The tenant or the owner of the apartment may be the direct culprit of the flooding (if the emergency situation has developed due to oversight in his home), and the victim. Often, many owners of downstream apartments are recruited, and sometimes basement tenants, who also fell victim to circumstances.

Analysis of causes

Flooding in an apartment can occur for a number of reasons:

Due to negligence of neighbors who forgot to turn off the tap with water or remove the plug from the bathroom drain.

Due to faulty home appliances or plumbing (washing machines are most often the culprit for flooding).

Due to a malfunction or natural wear and tear of utilities.

As a result of melt and rainwater entering the living quarters from balconies, roofs, loggias and even through open windows.

Flooding caused by an accident on hot water supply networks (otherwise called hot water supply) and central heating systems are extremely dangerous - here you can add an additional "damaging" factor - a high temperature An extremely unpleasant phenomenon can be called flooding by sewage, which sometimes leads to the spread of infectious diseases and requires the elimination of unpleasant odors from the apartment. As a result of flooding an apartment, the following troubles may occur:

Damage to furniture and other household items due to water, substances in it, steam and high levels of humidity in the room.
Deformation of building partitions (ceilings, walls, partitions between rooms) due to the fact that water has got into them.If a brickwork or concrete slab is permeable, but not vulnerable to water, then porous wall blocks or wood springs are extremely sensitive to moisture penetration, and this negatively affects the strength of the structure and the safety of the building.
Damage to elements of the interior of the apartment - suspended and tension streams, whitewash, wallpaper, cladding or paint.

In addition, flooding can cause a short circuit in the electrical wiring of an apartment and electrical appliances, and this can even be fraught with a threat of fire, injury to pets and people with electric shock. It is for this reason that, with an intensive flood, it is required first of all to de-energize the apartment, turn off the electrical supply on the panel, which is located on the staircase or led out to the apartment.

What to do after flooding

Before starting repairs after flooding an apartment, you should call emergency utilities that will help eliminate the cause of flooding, as well as put in the popularity of the representatives of the management company (or HOA) and record all the consequences of the accident by taking a photo with a phone or camera. The representative of the HOA or the Criminal Code must come to the apartment within 12 hours and draw up a detailed Gulf Act with a full description, which will be the main documents for the court if the culprit of the Gulf, for some reason, decides to refuse to compensate for the damage caused voluntarily.

The act is also required in order to apply for compensation to the insurance company if you have previously insured property against this kind of trouble.

Renovation of the apartment after the flood

When all the formalities are settled, you can breathe out for a moment and proceed to the most troublesome and time-consuming stage, which is nothing more than repair ceiling and walls after being flooded by neighbors. It will not be possible to do with cosmetic repairs and half measures, since after an intense flood, serious measures and long-term work are required.

Dismantling and evacuation

First, you need to evacuate everything you can from the flooded apartment - pets, households, houseplants and aquarium fish. Living in a de-energized and damp room is not only unpleasant, but even dangerous for human health due to the formation of a sharp activation of pathogenic microscopic flora that adores moisture.

It is better to take out pieces of furniture, especially those made of natural wood. You can remove massive doors, the canvases of which perfectly pick up moisture and in the near future (if you do not remove them) will stop opening and closing normally.

If your apartment has stretch vinyl ceilings, then most likely a lot of water has accumulated in the space between the stove and the canvas. With a small bay, such ceilings are able to protect the room from the upcoming renovation. The main thing is that the master carefully drains the water through the hole from the spotlight.

Mechanically undamaged ceilings (those made of PVC) practically do not suffer from water, and after drying, they can be used further.

Alas, structures made of wood, plasterboard, fabric, wood-like materials in the form of slabs (OSB, chipboard, fiberboard) do not have this ability. The point is, they are all afraid of water.Liquid from NVS networks and the heating system can certainly damage even plastic, stone of natural and artificial origin, metal (it will be damaged by corrosion). Structures made of similar materials need to be dismantled and replaced in 9 out of 10 cases.
Expenses must be carefully recorded and all invoices, receipts and work estimates must be attached to the report. Better yet, spend money and conduct an independent examination of the damage, and the costs of its conduct will also then be included in the total amount of the claim. However, try to approach the situation sensibly. If you did not insure the property, and the culprit of the gulf is an alcoholic who has no sources of stable income, then you will not be able to receive compensation. It is quite another matter when the claim is addressed to the management company.
It will be quite realistic to collect all costs from it.

Drying the room

After the damaged panels, wallpaper, ceilings, laminate are dismantled, all surfaces should be cleaned from plaster, remnants of the old paint layer and thoroughly dry everything with a heat gun or at least a household fan that heats the air. Moisture begins to penetrate into the thickness of walls and ceilings extremely quickly and can cause the development of fungi and mold. For this reason, it will not be superfluous to treat the surfaces with a fungicidal agent. Since in the first days after flooding the apartment will be completely de-energized, you need to stock up on extension cords and power the electrical equipment from the electrical panel (it is best to call a professional electrician for help).

Repair after flooding of an apartment means that in flooded premises it is necessary to replace both external and internal electrical wiring, as well as low-current networks.

How long the room will dry out will largely depend on the following factors:

Season of the year.
Material for making ceilings and wall partitions.
Areas and intensity of flooding.

And now we will consider the most important point - how to restore everything after repair.

Restoration of repair

Whatever it was, but the apartment must dry out for at least 2 weeks, otherwise the consequences of the flood may appear after a short time.

When the room loses moisture and the characteristic unpleasant odor of dampness, the repair itself can begin:

Arrangement of new floor coverings and screeds.
Priming and painting of wall surfaces.
Pasting walls with wallpaper.
Installation of doors.
Sheathing of walls and ceilings with gypsum board with sound insulation.
Installation of suspended and stretch ceilings.
Restoration of electrical wiring.

Rarely, after the Flood, walls and ceilings are leveled, only when there was almost Niagara Falls in the apartment and the streams of water could damage the masonry in the area of the ceiling and walls (at the junction).But the owners of an apartment in a block or wooden house should first consult with experts who will really be able to assess the degree of damage to ceilings and walls and give conclusions on the need to perform strengthening work.

How to get rid of yellow stains on the walls

So, first it is worth assessing the complexity of the work and the scale of the upcoming repair. To do this, it is worth finding out what kind of ceiling covering you will have to deal with and whether you can do it yourself. Perhaps, it will be much more profitable and easier to hire specialists? paint and whiten, but after a while the spots appear again. This suggests that a cleaning method was chosen that did not match the ceiling coating, or the flooded ceiling between the floors did not dry out well, and therefore stains appear again and again.

When the neighbors flooded, repairs to the ceiling and walls will depend on the leak.

If you decide to carry out such work yourself, then you should familiarize yourself with effective methods, which describe how you can properly clean your particular type of ceiling decoration. We suggest considering a mechanical method, which is cardinal and will help you completely get rid of the consequences of flooding your apartment, but keep in mind that this is laborious.

Before starting repairs using this method, you must have the following construction tools and materials available:

Spatula.

Whitewash or paint.

Liquid sprayer.

Fine-grained sandpaper.

Brush or small roller.

Finishing putty.

Deep penetration primer mixture.

If you have collected everything, then you can proceed.

So, use a putty knife to clean the damaged old paint, plaster or paint where the stain appeared. Next, you should moisten the vacated area and wait a little until the place dries out. Then apply a deep penetration primer to the area using a brush or roller. After a while, when the applied layer dries, apply the finishing putty with a spatula to the exposed area, level the surface and wait until it sets. Using fine-grained emery paper, wipe off the dried putty and sand down any irregularities, and this will help prepare the ceiling for painting or other finishing work, and then prime it again.

Good advice! In general, you can just whiten the stain if it is small. In this case, the place where it appeared is washed out, primed with two layers of primer mixture and two layers of whitewash are applied. When using this method, you will have to whitewash the entire ceiling.

Ceiling repair

Depending on your final goal and condition, the ceiling repair methods can be divided into several (in increasing complexity ):

Sheathing for painting a dry ceiling.
Surface cleaning for repainting or wallpapering - with a dry and even ceiling, on which there are no smudges.
Re-plastering and leveling - if there are drip spots, old plaster peels off.
Preparation for creating a false ceiling.
Repair of the ceiling immediately after the leak.
Overhaul when dampening - most often this is required on the upper floors after overhaul of the roof, which was previously leaking.

Please note, that repairs after flooding of an apartment will largely depend on the results of comparing images of a visual inspection of the premises after everything has dried out.

There may be different nuances here. For example, if the blocking was seemingly small, and after drying, the plaster began to flake off in layers, or the bumblebee first appeared, and then disappeared, then the fungus is still alive and there is a lot of work to do.

Also, when re-examining the ceiling, check its evenness with a bubble level. If the irregularities are up to 0.5 cm, then partial plastering can be dispensed with, and irregularities up to 2 cm require partial (sometimes complete) plastering.

More than 2 cm unevenness requires the creation of a false ceiling or professional work of a plasterer with a high level of qualifications.

In order to choose the right repair method, keep in mind the following:

Whitewashing with lime mortar - are "ancient" way. Cheap, simple, but carcinogenic and allergenic, short-lived and unstable. Relatively suitable for residential non-business premises, where a person enters no more than 1 time per month.
Snow-white finishing plaster - modern mixtures are not so strong, but still dusty , therefore, they are not suitable for a nursery or a bedroom, but they are suitable as a base for paint.
The material is inexpensive, easy to work with, allows for matching with the help of coloring, but careful alignment of the starting plaster with beacons or with drywall lathing is required.
Painting - modern alkyd and acrylic enamels are durable, strong, make it possible to obtain a surface for every taste (both matte and almost mirror-like), but in the latter case, a plasterboard false ceiling on a frame is required / crate of standard metal profiles, otherwise the mirror will be crooked.
Artistic painting - requires a special skill or a large salary for painters. Perfect ceiling alignment is not required. Paintings are dusty, because they are made on plaster, and covering them with transparent varnish diminishes or even negates the artistic merit due to glare and shine.
Option for amateurs.
Wallpapering is a simple and cheap alternative to painting, but the pattern will not be unique. Alignment is required carefully, both for painting and finishing.
False ceilings (cassette and frame) - they do not require alignment, many can be created unique aesthetic effects, to lay communications in the interceiling space, but it is expensive, difficult and takes away the height of the room.
Stretch ceiling - no leveling required, but it will be necessary to dedust the base surface with varnish and a primer solution.
This makes it possible to create wonderful aesthetic effects, with a photo, a mirror surface or a unique pattern, but it is expensive and not very durable. Communications cannot be laid, it takes away the height.
Overhead ceiling on a metal / wooden crate, which is made of laminate, MDF, lining makes it possible to lay electrical wiring, install spot or shade lamps in them, easy to work in not so expensive, as hanging options. Plastic lining makes it possible to get almost any tone. Unevenness of the base surface up to 1 cm is allowed; dusting is optional.
Useful where you do not need a continuous smooth ceiling surface.

Plasterboard false ceilings are used as a smooth base for painting or wallpapering. In the kitchen, where there are many aggressive impurities and impurities in the air, the crate is required from metal or wooden beams. In other rooms, you can make it from strips of the same plasterboard with a width of 8 cm.You can even out irregularities and displacement of the ceiling tiles up to 5 cm if you put the strips of the sheathing one under the other.
With a dry base ceiling that is not affected by fungus, its preparation is reduced to surface cleaning on a bar using an abrasive mesh.

Flooding of an apartment is a risk that both residents of the old housing stock and the owners of apartments in new, newly built houses have to reckon with. Believe me, no waterproofing can save an apartment if the neighbors on top have a large-scale leak and no one is at home. The best way out of their situation would be property insurance against force majeure in reliable insurance companies.