Anyone who has lived in Pinellas County through a hurricane season knows the feeling of opening the front door after a storm and taking stock. Sometimes it’s just leaves on the lanai and a dusty house. Sometimes there’s water where water shouldn’t be.
The cleanup that follows isn’t all the same job. Some of it is ordinary cleaning you can safely do yourself. Some of it can make you sick or make the damage worse if you tackle it without the right equipment. Here’s how to tell the difference, whether you’re in St. Petersburg, on Treasure Island, or in St. Pete Beach.
First: safety before cleaning
- Don’t walk into standing water if the power may be on. Have the electricity checked before you go into flooded rooms.
- Run generators outside only, at least 20 feet from doors and windows. Carbon monoxide from a generator in a garage or near an open window can kill.
- Watch for structural damage, like sagging ceilings, cracked walls, or soft floors. If something looks wrong, stay out until it’s checked.
- Photograph everything before you clean. Insurance claims go much more smoothly with photos and video of the damage as you found it.
What you can usually clean yourself
If your home stayed dry, or only took in a little rainwater from a window or door, most of the cleanup is ordinary:
- Sweeping and hosing off lanais, patios, and entries
- Wiping down windows, sills, and sliders that took wind-blown rain and grit
- Vacuuming tracked-in sand, leaves, and debris
- Dusting and wiping surfaces after the house was closed up with the power out
- Cleaning out the refrigerator and freezer if you lost power. When in doubt, throw it out
- Drying small wet spots from clean rainwater quickly with towels, fans, and the AC
Speed matters. The CDC advises drying out wet areas within 24 to 48 hours. After that, mold can start to grow, and Florida’s humidity speeds it up. Open windows when the air outside is drier than inside, run fans, and get the AC running as soon as power is back. Our post on humidity and mildew covers keeping moisture down once things are back to normal.
What to leave to the pros
Call a water damage or restoration company for any of these:
- Floodwater or storm surge. Floodwater is contaminated with sewage, chemicals, and bacteria. Anything it touched needs proper disinfecting, and the work calls for protective gear.
- Sewage backups. This is a biohazard, not a cleaning job.
- Wet drywall, insulation, or carpet padding. Porous materials that stay wet more than 48 hours usually need to be removed, not cleaned. The CDC’s list includes carpet and padding, upholstery, drywall, and insulation.
- Mold that’s already growing over a large area, inside walls, or with a strong musty smell.
- Water that came through the roof or into ceilings, where you can’t see how far it spread.
Restoration companies bring commercial dryers and moisture meters to find water hiding inside walls and floors. That’s what keeps a small leak from becoming a mold problem months later. Check with your insurer before hiring, since many policies have specific steps for water damage claims.
If you do clean up on your own
For light cleanup of hard surfaces:
- Wear waterproof gloves and eye protection.
- Wash hard surfaces with soap and water first.
- If you disinfect with bleach, use no more than 1 cup of bleach per gallon of water, and keep windows open.
- Never mix bleach with ammonia or other cleaners. The fumes are toxic.
Where we come in
We don’t clean floodwater, sewage, or mold damage. That work belongs with a restoration company. But once your home is dry and any water or mold work is finished, we can do a full post-storm cleaning: dust from a closed-up house, sand and debris tracked in during cleanup, and a top-to-bottom reset so your home feels like yours again. If you’re a seasonal resident who was away when a storm hit, our snowbird guide covers what to check when you get back.
Tampa Bay Home Services is a family-owned St. Petersburg company, not a franchise. Our cleaners are trained, background-checked employees who speak fluent English, and we’re fully insured, with workers’ comp and liability coverage. You can see it on our Proof of Coverage page. We clean homes in St. Petersburg, Treasure Island, St. Pete Beach, and across Pinellas County. Get your price and let us handle the cleaning, so you can focus on getting back to normal.
This post is part of our complete guide to house cleaning in St. Petersburg.