The infamous cleaning guru, Shannon Lush, has heaps of tips for recovering flood damaged items and cleaning after flood inundation. You may be able to save some things you thought were lost.

Check with Workplace Health and Safety for advice on your safety during the clean up.

And visit this article for comprehensive Clean up and Recovery Information.

Cleaning walls

Use a wet broom first - a dry broom will scratch your walls.

Don't use bleach for cleaning - Shannon suggests using a teaspoon of Lavender Oil and a teaspoon of dishwashing liquid per litre of water in a spray bottle and mist over the muddy wall.

Use a soft kitchen broom and wrap the broom head in pantyhose to clean after you've applied the mist.

For mouldy walls - Use 1/4 teaspoon of Oil of Cloves per one litre of water in a spray bottle (no stronger).

Mist it over the mouldy areas or anything that smells mouldy or musty.

Muddy and wet carpets

*NB* Clean your walls first

Carpets do not necessarily need to be thrown out.

Get as much mud off them using plenty of water and dry them out as much as possible.

Then use a carpet steam cleaner you can hire from the supermarket.

Firstly run the machine over the carpet with nothing in it to suck up excess mud and moisture.

The run it over again using Shannon's solution which is half the manufacturer's cleaner plus 2 tablespoons of each of the following - bi-carb of soda, white vinegar, methylated spirits and 2 teaspoons of each of the following glycerine and eucalyptus oil.

Then run it over again with nothing in the machine.

Mould

For surfaces - Use 1/4 teaspoon of Oil of Cloves per one litre of water in a spray bottle (no stronger) and mist onto the surface.

For delicate surfaces like antique furniture spray onto a soft cloth and then apply.

Mouldy fabric/clothes - soak first in salt water - 1kg of normal cooking salt in a bucket of water - soak overnight - hang on the line the next day until a salt crust forms - brush the salt crust off and mould should come off with it.

If you can smell the mould on clothes but can't see it - add a teaspoon of Oil of Cloves into the washing machine load for the next couple of weeks.

As oil of cloves is scarce at the moment, Shannon has provided this alternative recipe:

Combine 20 whole cloves (crush to peppercorn size) with a teaspoon of metho into a gritty paste. Add 20 tablespoons of boiling water. Run through a seive and put into a spray bottle. This can be dilluted as will be very strong. To dilute put one part of the solution with one part water.

Documents/Books/Photos

Some may need a restorer or conservator.

Don't dry in the sunshine.

What you can do ASAP is get a large storage container with a lid, half fill it with kitty litter (the kitty litter will draw out the moisture slowly - slowly is the key, especially for photos) - cover the kitty litter with a sheet of plastic wrap and prick holes in it - lay documents/books/photos over the plastic wrap and put the lid on.

If they're muddy, wash them gently with water and then use the kitty litter box.

If photos have been wet and then dried, wet them again and then use the kitty litter.

Another option is to lay them on a sheet of glass with the picture up and peel off when they're dry.

Computers

Shannon says don't remove the hard drive.

Wash the mud off with water on a soft cloth.

Dry them slowly but not too slowly or the connections will rust.

You can use a hairdryer on the cool setting or put them in front of a fan.

Dust masks

Soak the dust mask in black tea and dry it out before using it.

That stops your nose itching and also helps alleviate the smell of the areas you're cleaning.

Alternative for Oil of Cloves

20 whole cloves crushed in a mortar and pestle and steep in boiling water for 20 minutes.