Things to Consider If You Need a Restoration Service

When you find yourself the victim of a natural disaster or fire and water damage, it is only natural to feel as if you have lost everything. Don't despair and lose hope. When disaster strikes, don't assume that all is lost. Simply contact a restoration service and let them take care of everything. Keep in mind that at first, you may be shocked about what has happened to your home, but with the right team of professionals on your side, you can and will get through this ordeal.

You are going to need to do some things before the restoration service can get started. One of those things is to file a police report so that your insurance company will cover the cost to fix any damaged components of your home. A reputable restoration service can get things back to normal the fastest way possible. If some part of your home needs to be rebuilt because of extensive damage or if some part just needs to be remodeled, you don't have to go out looking around for a company that would be willing to take on your home with the type of damage it has sustained.

There are several reasons why you should hire a professional company. One is because emergencies and disasters can happen any time of day or night. You don't want to have to wait for assistance if it is after hours. By hiring a professional team, you have assistance available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. They are there at your beck and call to help.

Because there is so much urgency in times of dire need, it may not be possible for you to properly screen all contractors that offer a restoration service. That is why you should hire a restoration service that has employees. A reputable company will be certified by several government agencies, in addition to having all of the required credentials and insurances for your protection. When you are faced with this type of situation, it is best to get started right away to reduce the severity of your loss or damage. The right company will get your property secured and cleaned up in no time.

You want to hire a company that will work with your insurer so you don't have any unexpected or out of pocket expenses. They can fill out the necessary paperwork and speed up the processing time for your claim. This will help you to get back on your feet.

Keep in mind that you need to hire a restoration service that is available around the clock. They need to have workmen's compensation insurance and liability insurance on all of their workers. The longer they have been in business shows how well they cater to the needs of their customers. Ultimately, you want a company that can take care of all of your needs from start to finish, which will make the whole process less stressful and easier to deal with.

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What To Do If Your Home Is Flooded

Your home is flooded. Now what? Danny Lipford joined us to walk you through the steps you should take if you find yourself in this situation.

How Do You Decide Whether To Clean It Or Destroy It?

Deciding to clean something or not on a restoration job can be tricky. subscribe:    / @firehouseeducation  

Home Mold Inspection Questions Answered

Have questions about mold inspection? We invited NJM Solutions Inc to discuss its mold inspection tactics with the United Water Restoration Group team and audience. Learn more about home mold inspections by watching our video now.

https://www.youtube.com/@restorationtalks4887

Everything You Wanted To Know About Water Damage Restoration & Mitigation

Has your home or business experienced a serious water event that caused flooding, leaking, or any other type of water damage? In this video, the United Water Restoration Group team discusses the causes of water damage, some of the dangers that come along with having damaged property, as well as the water damage restoration process that’s used to help put your life back on track after a water damage disaster has occurred.

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ASK This Old House | Preventing Plumbing Disasters

Richard explains how, where, and why plumbing systems fail. Richard gives a deep dive on when and how plumbing pipes and connections can be repaired or replaced. Ross explains and demonstrates how to prevent plumbing failures with new technology. Preventing Water Damage Kevin O’Connor and damage prevention specialist Michael Milligan toured a home to identify ways to prevent plumbing leaks and other flood damage. How a Frozen Pipe Bursts Richard demonstrated that pipes, when frozen, expand in volume, which exponentially increases the water pressure and forces the pipe to burst. In these circumstances, shut the water off at the main and immediately call a plumber. To prevent the pipes from freezing in the first place, Richard recommended keeping cabinet doors open and insulating the pipes with pipe insulation. This can be found at home centers. How to Replace Polybutylene Piping with PEX Richard travels to Richmond, Virginia to help a homeowner replace her polybutylene piping with conventional PEX. Where to find it? Polybutylene pipes are no longer to code and need to be replaced by a licensed professional. Richard was assisted by Capital Mechanical. The tools and materials required to replace the pipes, including the PEX lines, fittings, and the expansion tool, can all be found at home centers and plumbing supply houses. The PEX piping for this project was supplied by Uponor. Future House | Smart Automatic Water Shutoff Valves Ross travels to Los Angeles to learn about innovations being made to automatic water shutoff valves.

How to Keep Your Basement From Flooding | This Old House

Avoiding a soggy disaster with damage-prevention specialist Michael Milligan. SUBSCRIBE to This Old House: http://bit.ly/SubscribeThisOldHouse

Electrical Safety Tips For At-Home Flooding

You can’t prevent a flood from happening, but you can be prepared. Frankie Flowers shares tips to keep you safe from electrical harm when flood waters rise. Learn more here at: https://esasafe.com/

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Commercial Building Water Damage Vs. Residential Water Dama

Commercial buildings have water damages just like homes. There are many differences between buildings and homes that have water damage.

The big difference between homes and businesses is the type of carpet that gets wet. Residential water damages usually have carpet over padding. Not only is the carpet water damaged, but the padding is soaked in many cases or at least wet. The usual process is to remove the carpet from the floor and remove the padding. Then remove the tack strip that holds the carpet down. Many homeowners forget to remove the tack strip and when they add a carpet fan to dry the carpet, the tack strip can actually rip a hole in the carpet as the carpet is flapping up and down.

Commercial buildings usually have wet carpet that is glued to the floor which means there is no padding. Although that is good in one way, it creates another issue. The other issue is getting the bottom of the carpet that is glued to the floor to dry.

Most carpet cleaners and cleaning janitorial companies use an air mover that blows on the carpet to dry the carpet. The problem is that the air mover also known as a carpet fan only dries the surface of the carpet. The problem becomes bigger because unknown to the property manager, carpet cleaner, and janitorial service the bottom of the carpet is wet. The moisture underneath the carpet (remember that the carpet is glued to the floor and no one can feel underneath the carpet) will be a feeding ground for mold and bacteria. Building management professionals will know it's a problem a few days later as they smell a foul odor. That odor is the growth of bacteria and mold growing.

Unless you have a moisture meter to determine if the carpet is wet underneath, you have to assume that the carpet is dry by feeling the surface of the carpet. As we have just learned, that becomes a liability and opportunity for tenants and employees to complain and possibly bring legal action.

Drying underneath the carpet and preventing mold damage and bacteria growth is actually very easy. Remember that mold normally (but not always) takes 36 to 72 hours to start to grow. There are molds that grow faster, but this an average time period for most molds. This information tells us that we have some time to work fast to prevent an issue. Please also remember that this process can be used by untrained and uncertified employees for wet carpet areas less than a 3 feet x 3 feet. Any wet carpet areas more than this will need a IICRC certified professional.

First take the same air mover that you used to dry the wet area and actually keep the air mover on for another 24 hours after the carpet feels dry. You will need to purchase a moisture meter that will test the bottom of the carpet After 24 hours the carpet should read dry, but if not let it run another 24 hours. The reason you can dry underneath the carpet without taking the carpet up, is because through osmosis, drying the surface of the carpet will " suck " the moisture from the bottom of the carpet to the top. Removing the moisture will reduce the possibility of mold and bacteria growth.

There are more differences between drying a water damage in a home and in a commercial building such as fire walls, computer systems, complicated furniture.

Hospitals and pharmaceutical companies and other sensitive manufacturing companies have compounded issues. Because of concerns of dust and mold these issues may interfere with patients' health and manufacturing processes.

The bottom line is to be careful when hiring a water damage restoration clean up company. It's best for commercial property management to start searching now and creating emergency plans to make sure they have all needs covered. Planning your water damage recovery when the pipes burst is not the best way.

Jeffrey Cohn

SI Restoration

IICRC certified

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6746561

How to Salvage Your Valuables After Serious Flooding

Saving family keepsakes after a storm can be painstaking, but it's worth it

Heavy rain and severe weather can upend your life. And if you're faced with mucking out your house and tearing out saturated drywall, recovering keepsakes and family treasures might seem like a task for a later day.

But saving your valuables can be a race against the clock—mold can form within 48 hours. To help, the Heritage Emergency National Task Force, cosponsored by FEMA and the Smithsonian Institution, has developed guidelines for how to salvage what you want and dispose of what can’t be saved.

The first step is to determine what type of water you’re dealing with—salty, dirty, or contaminated by sewage or chemicals. If your valuables have come in contact with toxic water during flooding, you might have to call a professional conservator because trying to clean them yourself can be a health risk. If the water was untainted, then take steps to reduce the humidity around your items as you work to clean and dry them. Here’s how from FEMA’s checklist:

Save Your Valuables

Prioritize. You may not be able to save everything after flooding, so focus on what’s most important to you, whether for sentimental or monetary reasons.

"We always hear about dollar-amount damages, but often the losses that affect us the most are the ones to which a dollar amount cannot be assigned," says Lori Foley, administrator of the Heritage Emergency National Task Force. "What do you own that you’d miss terribly if you lost it? Photographs of loved ones in frames, albums, or shoeboxes? Books and paintings passed down through generations? Grandma’s recipe box?"

Air-dry. Gentle air-drying indoors is best. Weather permitting, open your windows to increase indoor airflow. If it’s too hot and humid, use fans, air conditioners, and dehumidifiers. Avoid using hair dryers, irons, ovens, and prolonged exposure to sunlight, which can do irreversible damage.

Handle with care. Delicate items can be especially fragile when wet, so be careful when you handle them. Separate sodden materials by removing photographs from damp albums and taking paintings and prints out of their frames. Place white paper towels between every few pages of wet books.

Clean gently. Loosen dirt and debris on fragile objects carefully with soft cloths and brushes. Avoid rubbing, which can grind in dirt.

Salvage photos. Clean photographs by rinsing them carefully in clean water. Air-dry photos on a plastic screen or paper towel, or by hanging them by the corners with plastic clothespins. Don’t let the image come into contact with other surfaces as it dries.

Cold storage. Damp objects and items that cannot be dealt with immediately should be put in open, unsealed boxes or bags. If you can’t attend to items within 48 hours, you can put photos, papers, books, and textiles in the freezer and clean them later.

"In general, you can freeze many items that cannot be dried out in 48 hours – photos, books, documents, textiles," says Foley. "Freezing stops mold from growing, ink from running, and dyes from transferring. Freezing items allows you to buy some time to devote to other activities. When you are able, you can return to the frozen items and recover them on your own time."

Dispose of the Debris

Once the waters recede, residents will be able to go back into their homes and start cleaning up, and piles of ruined household belongings will be put on the curb. Cleanup can take months if not years.

Because mold creates a serious health risk, it’s important to remove wet items from your home as soon as possible. FEMA recommends not waiting for your insurance adjuster before cleaning up. Instead, document the flooding damage on your cell phone or camera. Before dragging debris to the curb, check with your municipality on how it wants you to separate items for the garbage haulers. FEMA recommends sorting items into the following six categories:

• Bagged household garbage such as food, packaging, and paper.
• Building materials and furniture, including drywall, carpeting, and mattresses.
• Vegetation debris such as tree branches, plants, and leaves.
• Hazardous household waste, including batteries, paints, and cleaning supplies.
• Large appliances such as refrigerators, water heaters, and air conditioners.
• Electronics such as TVs, computers, and stereo equipment.

For more information and resources, see FEMA’s After the Flood: Advice for Salvaging Damaged Family Treasures.

Article Source: https://www.consumerreports.org/cleaning/how-to-salvage-valuables-after-flooding/