Manufacturing In A Safer Environment

What You Need To Gut Your Water-Damaged Finished Basement Ahead Of Renovations

12 May 2017 by Enrique Griffin

If your finished basement has experienced some extensive water damage, perhaps some flooding, then you're probably getting ready to bring in a restoration firm and have them fix it up. However, if you're the type who can do some sort of physical labor yourself, you might want to save yourself some money and do some of the gutting yourself. It's not highly skilled work, so you don't have to worry about being super precise. It basically involves tearing out most of the water-damaged material and disposing of it. This would cost you money if you paid a professional, so if you are comfortable doing it, you might as well save yourself some cash. Here's what you need to do.

Tools Necessary

You will need a crowbar, a carpet cutter, some hammers, a nail puller, and pliers. You also should get safety glasses for everyone who is involved in the project, as well construction gloves. The crowbar will be used to break off the rotted drywall. You will use the carpet cutter to slice up the water-soaked carpet. Then after the drywall and carpet are moved outside, you can move on to the insulation and the subfloor. The insulation can just be torn out by hand (wearing the gloves), but you will need to use the nail puller and hammer, and in some cases where the nail heads are broken off, the pliers to remove the subfloor.

What To Remove, What To Leave For Professionals

You should toss the carpet and drywall, as these can't be salvaged if they got soaked through. The insulation will also have to be tossed if it got wet. However, the studs behind the drywall do not necessarily have to be tossed away. It might just be necessary to let the wood air out. So don't go ahead and knock out the studs.

If you have a tiled floor instead of a carpeted floor, you might want to leave the tile removal to professionals. The tiles might not even have to be tossed, so don't go smashing them up with a hammer (in the case of ceramic tile) or tearing them up from the floor (in the case of vinyl tiles).

Where To Toss All Trash: Rent A Dumpster

You need to get a dumpster for your project. That's because it's against the law in most areas to throw out construction debris alongside household trash. You can end up with a fine if you package up rotting drywall and leave it for the trashman. You could always try and take it to a private dump yourself, but that's costly, and unless you own a large pickup, it will be very inconvenient. That's why it's such a good idea to get the dumpster delivered to your property.

A dumpster is a simple solution to the problem of how to deal with construction debris. The dumpster rental company will drop off the unit, and you can fill it with all the trash you gut from your basement—everything from torn-up carpet shreds, to rotted drywall, to bundles of moldy pink insulation. Then, when it comes time to haul it away, you just contact the company, and they will send out a truck that attaches to the dumpster unit and tows it away. It's really the only solution to the trash problem. To learn more about your dumpster rental options, check out websites like http://parksandsons.com.

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