Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Water Damage Restoration 101 - Why Use a Water Damage Restoration Company?

While in the midst of a recent job, the insurance adjuster came out and asked why we are continuing to dry when the floor looked dry upon the adjuster's visual inspection. An insurance adjuster, presumedly, is better qualified and has more experience in water damage restoration than a homeowner who is dealing with an emergency remediation service for the first, and hopefully final, time. The sincere question of said adjuster prompted this article as if someone who is supposed to be professionally educated and experienced in this arena does not understand what dry means, then it stands to reason that the in duress homeowner does not know and can reasonably question the time and effort we expend in doing a professional water damage remediation.

Let's face it, money is always a consideration. Any person, in a purely fiduciary and cost accounting point of view, could make the reasonable determination that removing water from a structure can be accomplished by simply using a store rented machine, a shop wet vacuum, or by any carpet cleaning service found in the phone book. This reasonable and cost controlling assumption that any of the water removal methodologies just outlined is correct as any of the aforementioned water removal methods should be able to remove the top layer of water but NONE of those water removal methods can remove the water that has penetrated the flooring, base boards, or drywall. Unfortunately, the moisture not removed by these methods is, often times, the underlying catalyst for costly structural damage and can create the optimal conditions for mold growth. While this approach to save money is understood and appreciated, this approach is unnecessary as, in many cases, a professional water damage remediation company can handle such work for little to no out-of-pocket cost to the homeowner.

In addition to the cost savings the professional water damage remediation company may afford the homeowner, a professionally trained and intra-industry certified company will know the industry established dry standard for the region they serve and will ensure that the moisture content of the affected area will be dried to the established drying standard and not to a level that looks, feels, and otherwise appears dry upon a casual inspection. The benefit of this is simple... the potential for structural damage is abated and the potential for mold growth is minimized thus saving the homeowner untold expenses in home repair and medical costs.

So what does dry mean? When is something dry? Dry does not mean a moisture content of zero as even in the desert there is moisture - if you know where to look and how to extract it. Dry, in the context of water damage remediation, refers to a point in the intra-industry drying standard at which the moisture content is stated to be dry. Each region, by virtue of its unique ecology, has its own established drying standard. The outline of each region is beyond the scope of this article but any interested party can easily find the established drying standard for their region online. It is to this point that a professional water damage remediation company will dry to, or beyond, to ensure your home indemnified to its preloss condition. Then, and only then, is your affected home / structure able to be deemed as dry.

As outlined in this article, there really is a lot that goes into a water damage remediation service... far more then is apparent at first glance. Now that you have a reasonable understanding of the time, money, and risk you can offset via the contracting a professional water damage restoration company, you now know that your fiduciary responsibility and cost saving intent is BEST served by using a professional water damage remediation company whenever water damage occurs.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jimmy_Kay

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