The short answer
Hard, non-porous items clean up: sealed floors, glass, metal, solid wood furniture. Porous material that absorbed storm water does not — carpet pad, mattresses, upholstered furniture, particleboard, and any food or medication it touched. Photograph and inventory everything before it leaves the building, because your claim depends on that record.
The hardest part of a flood is not the water. It is standing in your own house being told what has to go. So here is the rule beforehand, because it makes the conversation shorter and less arbitrary.
Storm water that came in at ground level is Category 3. It has crossed soil and paved surfaces, picking up bacteria, fertilizer and pesticide residue, fuel and oil, and often sewage where a lateral or main surcharged upstream. The deciding question for every item is porosity: can the contamination be fully removed, or is it now inside the material?
The building itself
| Material | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Carpet and pad | Removed | Cannot be decontaminated through the backing and pad |
| Drywall touched by floodwater | Cut out to 12–24 in above the water line | Contamination wicks upward inside the paper facing |
| Fiberglass or cellulose insulation | Removed | Holds water and contaminants; loses R-value permanently |
| Laminate and engineered wood | Usually removed | Core swells and delaminates; cannot be cleaned through |
| Solid hardwood | Sometimes salvageable | Depends on duration and whether contamination reached the subfloor |
| Particleboard cabinet bases and toe-kicks | Removed | Wick water, swell irreversibly, sit in an unventilated void |
| Solid wood cabinetry | Often salvageable | Can be cleaned and dried if the boxes are solid timber |
| Tile, concrete, sealed masonry | Cleaned, disinfected, dried | Non-porous or semi-porous; can be decontaminated in place |
| Framing and subfloor | Usually salvageable | Cleaned, treated with antimicrobial and dried to a standard |
Your belongings
- Upholstered furniture and mattresses — disposed of. Contamination cannot be removed from the fill.
- Solid wood furniture — often salvageable if not submerged for long. Cleaned, disinfected and dried slowly.
- Hard non-porous goods — glass, ceramics, metal, sealed plastics — cleaned and kept.
- Electronics — powered down, not tested, assessed by a specialist. Turning on a wet device is how a recoverable item becomes a total loss.
- Clothing and textiles — washable items in hot water with detergent, often recoverable. Dry-clean-only items go to a specialist and many do not survive Category 3.
- Hand-knotted and wool rugs — to a specialist facility, not dried in place. In-place drying sets stains and causes dye migration.
- Books, documents and photographs — time-critical. Specialist freeze-drying recovers a great deal, but only before mold establishes. Tell your contractor on day one.
- Food — anything the water touched, including sealed cans and jars, and anything in a refrigerator that lost power for an extended period. This is not the place to be frugal.
- Children's toys, particularly soft or porous ones — disposed of.
- Art, instruments and wine — to controlled specialist handling, immediately.
The things people try to save and should not
Three items come up on nearly every job, and the answer is the same each time.
"Can we just shampoo the carpet?" No. Cleaning the face fiber does nothing about the backing or the pad, where the contamination sits.
"The drywall looks fine above the line." The line you can see is not the wick line. Contamination travels upward inside the paper facing well beyond it, which is why the cut is set 12 to 24 inches higher.
"It is only the toe-kick." The toe-kick sits above an unventilated void that runs the length of the cabinet run, and the cabinet bases above it are usually the same particleboard. It is rarely only the toe-kick.
What we do with what stays
Everything remaining gets cleaned then disinfected — two separate steps, in that order, because disinfectant does not work through organic soil. Then an EPA-registered antimicrobial at full dwell time on framing, subfloor and every hard surface inside the containment, with HEPA air scrubbers running throughout.
Then drying to a documented standard, and post-remediation verification before anything is rebuilt. See flood cleanup and sewage cleanup.
On canyon-bottom properties along Canyon Road, where flow carries mud and gravel as well as water, add debris removal to the front of that sequence — shovel work before pump work.
Frequently asked
What has to be thrown away after a flood?
Anything porous that contaminated water reached: carpet and pad, saturated insulation, drywall touched by floodwater, laminate and engineered flooring, particleboard cabinet bases, upholstered furniture, mattresses, soft toys and any food including sealed cans. Non-porous items — tile, concrete, glass, ceramics, metal, solid timber — can generally be cleaned, disinfected and kept.
Can flood-damaged carpet be cleaned instead of replaced?
No, not after Category 3 water. Shampooing cleans the face fiber while the contamination sits in the backing and the pad, where it cannot be reliably reached. This is a health decision rather than a cost one — the same carpet after a clean-water supply line failure is usually saved by removing the pad and drying underneath.
Are my books and photographs recoverable?
Often, but only if you act fast. Specialist freeze-drying recovers a great deal of paper, books and photographs that look unsalvageable, because freezing halts deterioration and sublimation removes the water without the pages bonding. The window is before mold establishes, which under EPA and IICRC guidance can begin within 24 to 48 hours. Tell your restoration contractor on day one if anything is irreplaceable.
Should I wait for the adjuster before throwing things out?
Wherever possible, yes — photograph and inventory everything and let the adjuster see it or release it. Where a health issue means something must go immediately, such as heavily contaminated porous items, photograph it thoroughly first, note why it was disposed of, and keep that record. An undocumented disposal is very difficult to claim for later.