The Flood Co. Blog

Since I started working for the Flood company, I have been sent to Moab, Price, Birdseye, Bear Lake, and many other parts of the state. However, I had never been to Wyoming, and just yesterday, we got a call from a couple that lives in Evanston. They were having a hard time finding anyone local that could respond right away. Their dishwasher had started leaking while they were at work, so it flooded the kitchen upstairs, as well as the majority of the basement. I went with another guy to help out, and we didn’t get up there until just after 6:00 pm. We ended up staying in Evanston overnight, going back in the morning, and finishing the work. We’ll go back in a couple days, and if everything is dry, pick up our equipment. Then starts the fun task of putting the home back together again.

I’ve always shared with customers that although I’ve never had a flood in my own home, I can sympathize with them through their ordeal. Well that just changed recently. I am moving to Kaysville, found a great place, but before renting, I noticed that the rain gutters had been damaged. The owner confirmed that during the wind storm a few months ago, they were damaged, and she intended on replacing them. While the rain gutters were missing, rain had eaten away at the soil by the foundation, causing a depression in the soil. Once the rain gutters were fixed, the gutters directed the water right to the ground, but because the grading of the soil was reversed, the water was pooling up by the house and seeping in through the foundation. As I went to move in, the first person to carry a box in came back out saying ‘hey, you got a flood’. At first I thought they were just joking, since they knew where I worked. Alas, that was not the case, and the family room and bedroom on the west side of the house were soaked. Carpet, pad, walls, all had to be taken care of. Everything is dry as of yesterday, and repairs are soon to be underway as well. The owner wasn’t happy about it, obviously, but now that it’s fixed, it shouldn’t be a problem in the future. In addition to re-grading the soil, we also put down spout extensions on all of the rain gutters, to get the water further away from the foundation.

I can understand people being careful and cautious about their water damage insurance coverage and how it works. They often times are concerned whether its a covered water damage event for insurance purposes; and then what will it cover. Water damage can spread and get worse by the hour, so collecting estimates and trying to make sense of them is not a good idea. My “customer of the week” was an Ogden Utah water damage and was trying to analyse estimates to see if there is something they might could do themselves. For one thing the estimate is just that; an estimate. The insurance company is not going to reimburse an expense that was not incurred. This couple shared with me that they had a water damage about a year ago. It also was a covered water damage event and was submitted to their insurance. They were reimbursed for the damages and did the work themselves. They also shared with me that they did the mitigation and repairs themselves, and when the work was all completed they were only out of pocket about $2000. That sounds like a “lose, lose” proposition. Their deductible was $500. If they did nothing themselves, called a professional service, had the home professionally dried, repaired and cleaned; their total out of pocket cost should have been $500. What a deal, they got to do everything themselves and and pay $2000 instead of $500. This couple hasn’t learned from their first $1500 mistake, it looks like they may be on their way to duplicating their mistake again.

Lesson to be learned: Don’t take on the water damage insurance process alone. You may luck out, but very often you will lose. Hire a professional. Even if the numbers on the surface seem to be OK, you may still lose. If you botch your mitigation and don’t dry some structural areas quickly enough(And you may not of even been aware they were wet to begin with.). You could lose, because the insurance company would have covered the drying services, but will probably now not cover the mold removal. You only have one chance to get a water damage mitigation right, use a professional.

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.