The Flood Co. Blog

With freezing temperatures already here, is your home prepared? There are several things you can do to help ‘winterize’ your home and prevent water damage now, and in the spring. First of all, make sure your sprinkler system is turned off and that the lines have been blown out. Leaving water in the sprinkler lines will make them susceptible to freeze damage, which could break lines and lead to leaks and costly repairs. Second, disconnecting your garden hose will prevent if from freezing. Some hoses have anti-siphon devices which don’t function when it is cold, which can lead to damage inside the home. Finally, blocked or broken rain gutters can cause water to flow to close to the foundation of the home. In very wet conditions, when the ground water table has risen, this can lead to water seeping into the home through cracks in the foundation. A little bit of foresight and planning can save you from costly repairs, so make sure your home is ready for the coldest part of winter, which is still to come.

Recently, I got a phone call late at night from someone that was house-sitting while their brother was on his honeymoon. They had stopped by to check on the property, and what they found was pretty overwhelming. A sink had been left running on the upstairs level of the home. Needless to say, there was water everywhere! It affected most of the upstairs, the main level, and the unfinished basement. Luckily, they hadn’t moved all of their personal possessions into their new home, so most of the damage was structural, and nothing irreplaceable was lost. The water even missed the Christmas tree and all the presents underneath. The homeowners just got back into town today, and I was able to walk the job with them and show them everything that had been done. Luckily, they had good insurance, and all of the damages are being taken care of. It’s not the best time of year to have a loss like this (not that there is ever a good time!), but before long, they will be back to life as normal. A good lesson here is to always have someone check on your property when you are out of town; had this gone undetected until they returned from their honeymoon, the damages would have been much more extensive, and possibly could have led to mold growth and other, more complicated issues.

Just inspected a condo unit in park city, which had suffered smoke fire and smoke damage. The customer was frying some tortilla’s on the stove, and lost track of what they were doing. When it started on fire, the customer tried to use water to put out the fire. Many of you know that you don’t want to add water to a grease fire; instead, you want to cover or smother the fire and remove its’ oxygen. Now, there was obviously some smoke damage, and a burned microwave above the stove, but the biggest problem came from the fire-suppression system, which was pressurized with a glycol-mixture to prevent the lines from freezing. The glycol-based mixture is very sticky, and though it did put out the fire, it also wet a lot of the structure. Getting everything dried out was necessary to prevent mold growth. Also, everything that came in contact with the smoke was cleaned and treated to prevent corrosion from soot. Be careful out there, especially during the up-coming holidays!

Water damage  Utah occurs whether the flooding resulted from pipe breaks inside the property, or from waters entering the home called black water, because it is contaminated with bacterial and physical hazards. Cleaning up after black water flooding requires additional safety precautions against injury or disease.  Water damage Utah cleanup procedures need to be started immediately to prevent the growth of mold, regardless of the type of flood waters.

Safety Procedures

• In the event of black water or when clean water has been standing and allowed contamination to grow, take certain safety precautions. Do not allow the water to come in contact with the skin, and especially any wounds. In addition to wearing rubber gloves, wear face masks to prevent inhaling mold and bacteria. Wear protective clothing  to be removed at the location, to prevent mold and bacteria from being spread into other clean environments.

Life at The Flood Co. I received a flood call at 8pm. The water started from a toilet overflowing upstairs and ended in their basement. As well as water everywhere I ended up finding mold growth in there bathrooms. Luckily they were pro active and made sure that their insurance policy covered mold related to a water damage. So instead of having to pay thousands of dollars to take care of the mold problem there insurance will pay for the mold and the water damage. So to sum it up for the price of their deductible they got the water and mold taken care of, three bathrooms, and one bedroom remodeled.

If your basement was recently flooded and if you are in need of a cleanup service, your best bet would be to hire a professional fire and water restoration contractor who will use their expertise, equipment and know how to clean out your basement in a safe and efficient manner.

Water damage cleanup is tricky as there is often more to it than just what meets the eye. Some homeowners are under the impression that merely pumping the water out is enough. They could not be more wrong about this.

The perils of water damage are listed below and it will hopefully allow you to realize the importance of hiring a fire and water restoration contractor to do a professional job for you.

• Pumping the water out – If your basement has a lot of water, it is very important that you pump out the water at a slow rate. Pumping out water at a very fast rate will result in reduced pressure inside the basement as the pressure outside the basement will increase. This can cause the basement walls to cave in which is definitely something that you want to avoid during the basement cleanup. A professional fire and water restoration contractor will know exactly how to tackle your flooding problem.
• Estimating the damage – Depending on how long the water has been present, it might be difficult to salvage everything after a water damage cleanup. A fire and water restoration contractor will easily be able to tell you if your floors, carpets or walls are salvageable or if they have to be torn down as they are beyond repair.
• Moisture damage – Not a lot of people know that moisture damage goes hand in hand with water damage. This will mean that a basement flood cleanup will also have to address moisture related problems that can affect areas of the house that are untouched by the water.
• Mold damage – When there is water and moisture, there will be mold. You want to avoid mold at all costs and it is best that you let a professional flood cleanup contractor to survey your house for potential mold problems that might have arisen out of your flooding problem.
• Equipment – Unless the flooding is minor, you will need quite powerful equipment that is commercial grade to carry out the basement flood cleanup. Renting such equipment or buying such equipment can be a very expensive process. A much better alternative would be to let a professional flooding cleanup company take care of the cleanup for you as they will already possess high grade dehumidifiers, pumps, water extraction units and other specialized equipment.
• Safety – If you are going to approach a basement flood cleanup on your own, you have to be aware of various problems such as electrocution, natural gas leaks and even watch out for other dangers such as snakes which can suddenly show up in a basement. If you are not sure about any of the above mentioned dangers, you will save yourself a lot of trouble by allowing a professional cleaning company to do the job for you.

Today was fun. One of the things that helps make the job interesting, is the variety. I had two mold inspections this afternoon. The second one was a bit of a suprise. When I showed up there was a film crew. They were filming a reality Tv series about flipping houses; or buying houses fixing them up and reselling them. Alot of the properties are forclosures, and have problems that need fixing. Well some of the problems in todays home was some mold in the basement. They had me sign a release, put on a microphone and then we were ready to start our inspection. We went into the property and looked at the problem areas together. They asked lots of questions, which was a great way to keep the inspection interesting and informative, with cameras rolling of course.

A burst pipe can create serious water damage to your home and belongings. As soon as you learn that you have a burst pipe at home, consider it an emergency and follow the steps below immediately to mitigate water damage.

Stop the Water Flow

Shut off the main water supply by turning off the main stop tap, which is usually either in the area where the main service pipe connects to the home or under the kitchen sink. It is best to ensure that everyone in your family knows where the main stopcock is located and how to turn it off in case of a burst pipe emergency.

Let the pipe drain out the water by turning on all cold taps. Switch off the water heating system and then turn on all hot taps to help in draining the water supply system. Also, flush all toilets. All leaks should stop once there is no more water running from the taps.

Find the Break

Locating exactly where the pipe burst is should be done immediately to prevent further damage. Once you’ve found the burst, you’ll know what you have to do next. For instance, if it’s a tiny crack, patching it up may fix the problem for a while. Also, consider which pipe has burst. If the damage is in a main water pipe, it needs to be repaired and dealt with carefully regardless of the cause or size of the break.

Facing a problem caused by flooded water? Try not to solve the problem with a hair dryer as this will only add to the amount of damages. Call in a water damage restoration service that provides experienced professionals to clean up the property and minimize the damages.

If your home has been damaged by a flood, leakage of a pipe or overflowing tubs, you should take immediate steps to start the mitigation process. First of all, don’t try to clean the property yourselves after the flooding rather get help from the water damage restoration services. Such issues shouldn’t be taken lightly or ignored as these can cause serious damages to property as well as the health of the residents with the growth of the mold.

It is vital for water damage restoration to have the right tools and equipment, whether the disaster is too much or just a little. Different aspects of mitigation require different equipment that only water damage restoration services have. Such services are only a phone call away and you should call them up as soon as possible since flood water damages the home as well as the articles very quickly. To restore the buildings, these services have latest equipment such as wet- dry vacuum unit, wood floor drying tools, industrial driers, dehumidifiers, high powered drying fans, air scrubbers and some others.

When choosing a water damage restoration service, you should consider the services they provide. Many companies provide only the removal of water whereas others provide structural drying along with other services. The basic services offered are:

Assessment of the damaged property – After drying the whole area, the professionals assess the property and find the source of flood (in case of a pipe leakage or sewage breakout ) and fix the problem altogether.

Water extraction – The first thing the experts take on is the extraction of water from the damaged property. They use highly advanced tools to remove the water and dry the entire area thoroughly.

Content manipulation – It is the process in which experts analyze the contents of the home such as furniture, appliances, carpets, curtains and others. The articles that can be saved are referred to drying whereas the others are discarded.

Structural drying – After analyzing the contents of the home, the professional take effective measures to salvage the items that have been affected by the water.

Sanitizing of the property – If your home has been affected by the flood water, it becomes extremely essential to sanitize the property in order to decontaminate the place.

Odor removal – When the water remains in the building, it leaves a musty smell which makes living inside the house even after the mitigation hard. So, you should hire a service that deodorizes the property.

Mold remediation – Mold growth is something that needs to attended to immediately. Make sure your restoration service removes the harmful microorganisms from your home.

Insurance Claim – Some services also provide the insurance claim filing services. You should always file for an insurance compensation since the cost of clean up and restoration after a disaster can be very high.

Employing a service that has good experience and expert work force is crucial to the mitigation process. Only a professional will deal with the different aspects of required restoration and the remediation. The water damage clean up requires proper attention for limiting the damages to the minimal and making the home a safe place to live. So, call in the experts from the services to restore your resident after a damage.

Water damage describes a significant number of possible losses caused by water intruding where it’ll enable attack of a material or system by destructive processes like rotting of wood, expansion, rusting of steel, de-laminating of materials such as plywood, and many , many others.

However fast it occurs, is a major contributor to loss of property.

One’s householder’s insurance policy might or might not cover the expenses associated with water damage and the method of . While a typical cause of residential water damage is often the failure of a sump pump, many home owner’s's insurance policies do not cover the associated costs without an addendum which adds to the monthly premium of the policy. Often the wordiness of this addendum is analogous to ‘Sewer and Drain Coverage.’

Those individuals who are influenced by wide scale flooding could have the facility to sign up for central authority and FEMA grants through the Individual help program. [1] On a bigger level, businesses, cities, and communities can apply to the FEMA Public help program for funds to help after a large flood. For example, the town of Fond du Lac the state of Wisconsin received $1.2 million FEMA grant after flooding in June 2008. The program permits the town to get the water damaged properties, demolish the structures, and turn the properties into public green space.

1 : Water – appertains to a source of water that doesn’t pose important threat to humans and cataloged as ‘Clean Water’.

2 : Water – refers to a source of water that contains a big degree of chemical, biological or physical contaminants and causes discomfort or sickness when exposed or consumed. Examples are toilet bowls with urine ( no feces ), sump pump failures, seepage due to hydrostatic failure and water discharge from dishwashers or washing machines.

3 : Water – Known as ‘Black Water’ and are grossly unsanitary. This water contains unsanitary agents, dangerous bacteria and fungi, causing serious pain or sickness. Type 3 category are polluted water sources that has an effect on the indoor environment. This category includes water sources from sewage, seawater, rising water from streams or streams, ground surface water or standing water. Toilet back flows that originates from outside the toilet trap is regarded black water contamination regardless of obvious content or color.