Little Miami Flood Cleanup in Loveland, OH

How does the Little Miami reach a building in Loveland?

The river leaves its channel across the low ground, and the water reaches the buildings nearest the banks first. From there it enters through doors, cellar openings and low windows, and it spreads along the floor.

The city straddles the Little Miami, so some streets sit close to the water and others sit high above it. The record of the water line shows, after the fact, which part of the flood applied to a particular house.

Water that stands for a while soaks in. The longer it stays, the more the subfloor and the framing take, and the drying time grows with it. A flood that drains in a day is a much smaller job than one that stays for three.

What does the flood of record mean for a house here?

The Little Miami's flood of record at Milford, downstream, is the March 1913 crest, and later floods in 1959 and 1964 exceeded it at some points. The reference matters because it shows how high the river can rise, which is the question a homeowner asks first.

The local account of the 1913 flood describes the business district flooded to five to ten feet and about a quarter of the residential area affected. A house that sits below that line is at risk in a large flood, even if it has stayed dry in smaller ones.

A homeowner should know the height of the lowest floor above the nearest ground, and should keep that figure with the house papers.

Which materials come out, and which can be kept?

Carpet pad and porous insulation that stood in river water are generally removed. Solid wood, sealed tile, concrete and framing are often cleaned and dried in place. The decision is made per material and recorded with its reason.

River silt holds moisture and odour, and it does not come out of porous material. A drying plan that tries to save carpet pad or loose insulation usually ends with the same material coming out later, after more time and more damp.

Hard surfaces can be scrubbed and disinfected, and framing can be dried to readings. The record shows what was cleaned and what was dried in place, so the repair trade knows what it is working on.

How long does a river-flooded building take to dry?

Weeks, in many river losses, because the subfloor and the framing hold water deep inside and the ground keeps releasing it. The drying runs until the readings reach standard at every measured point, not for a fixed number of days.

The first week is pumping, removal and the first readings. The next weeks are the bulk of the drying, with equipment moved to the wettest points as the readings change. The last phase is a check at each point until the trend is flat.

The owner should be able to see the readings and ask for the trend at any time. A dry-looking floor with a high reading in the subfloor is not finished.

What should be kept for a river claim?

The water-line photographs, the readings, the scope, the removal list and the invoices, in date order. Note the times the river rose and fell as they were seen.

Photograph the water line in each room with a measuring object beside it, and keep the photographs with their dates. Keep the readings from each visit and the log of the drying.

Many standard policies exclude flood water from rivers, and flood cover is often a separate policy. Ask the insurer in writing which part of the loss is covered, and keep the answer with the file.

Working the low ground after the river has gone down

The first clean-up after a river rise is slow, because the silt is everywhere and the water is still in the structure.

Once the river has dropped below the house, the crew can reach the lowest floor safely. The first task is to see how far the water reached: the tide line on the walls, the marks on door frames and the silt left on the furniture show it. The crew records each mark, because the depth tells the scope which materials are affected.

Clean-up starts with the material that cannot be saved. Carpet and pad that have stood in river water are removed, along with drywall that has wicked water above the line. Furniture is moved out to a dry place and logged. The rest of the room is then cleaned, and the surfaces are wiped down to remove the fine silt that clings to them.

• Mark the tide line and the depth at each wall
• Remove carpet and pad that have stood in river water
• Cut back lower drywall above the wicking line where needed
• Log each piece of furniture and where it is stored
• Clean the surfaces and the framing before drying is set

Why the subfloor and the framing are read separately

A clean floor finish can hide a wet subfloor, so the readings go under the finish.

River clean-up often leaves a room that looks finished while the subfloor and the framing are still wet. The crew takes readings at the subfloor and the framing, and it writes them into the scope before any drying equipment is set. The readings give the target for each material.

On each later visit the crew repeats the same readings at the same points. The change between visits is what shows the drying is working. A room that is not drying to target is a room that has a hidden source, a slow material or a wet area that was missed, and the scope says so.