New Iberia Fire And Smoke Damage Restoration

Water Damage Risk Areas

2008-04-30T13:34:00.000-07:00

Correcting the water damage in your bathroom is usually a time consuming task depending on the severity of it, but the prevention of such damage is usually within the reach of most homeowners. The fact is that preventing this damage is usually much, much easier than the act of having to actually repair it after it has already occurred. Steam from showers and baths can discolor ceilings and cause mold growth, overflowing toilets onto cracked tile can lead to rotting of the floor underneath it, and there is always the possibility of mold growth. You should do what you can to protect this room in your home, since it is one of the most important rooms along with the kitchen.

There are a few different areas of your bathroom that you need to keep an eye on and look for any sign of abnormalities in on a regular basis. These areas that are the most at risk are the toilet, shower, bath tub, and the sink.

The bath tub and shower usually require some special attention, since these are the largest sources of water in the room and present the most risk. Over time, the tiles around the tub and shower can become cracked and if it is allowed to overflow, the floor underneath can become so damaged that the whole floor will need to be taken up and redone. Missing grout can also cause this. Repair the tile floor as soon as you notice cracks in it. Also make sure that the caulking around the tub is not loose or missing and if it is, you should re-caulk this yourself or have a professional do it for you.

Check the plumbing underneath the sink and make sure that there are no leaks. Loose seals in this plumbing should be replaced as soon as possible, as well.

The toilet can also overflow and the tile around this area can also be breached if it is cracked, so in the same manner as the area around the tub, the cracked tile needs to be dealt with. Keep your toilet from overflowing by not putting more paper in the toilet than it can handle. A lid lock can be purchased and put on toilets in homes that have small children that are prone to putting things in the toilet that do not belong there.

If you can see signs of moisture on the drywall, then you might also have a problem in the plumbing running through the walls. You need to call in a professional to deal with this problem.

Dror Klar is a writer and promoter of
Queens Water Removal and
Elizabeth NJ Wet Basement Flooding Emergency Service Which are Certified IICRC Water damage and mold remediation contractors.

How to Sanitize Your Water

2008-04-30T13:33:00.000-07:00

“Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink” is a saying that most of us are familiar with and unfortunately for those of us who live in hurricane and tropical storm prone areas, there may be some real truth to it. The amount of water that is clean and sanitary to drink during these storms is very limited if you do not have enough water saved up in advance.

You need to keep plenty of clean bottled water on hand during hurricane season and doing this is not very difficult. Save milk jugs and store tap water in them. Try to keep them in an area of your home that is high up, so you are sure that flood waters will not contaminate them. Keep around at least one gallon of water for each person staying with you during the storm for every day you expect the storm to last and then some. Running out of clean water is not something you want to do.

Boiling tap water is an option if you have electricity. If not, a small gas powered generator can do the trick if you are without power for a significant period and can really be a life saver. Filter the water first through a cloth to get any sediment that may have gotten into the local water supply out before you let it set for a while. Put the clear water into a pot and boil for about ten minutes or so. This should give you clean water to drink or bathe in. You should never drink water from your faucet during a hurricane or flood, because of the risk of the local water supply being contaminated with sea water or sewage. Flood water or sea water also cannot be boiled to the point of being safe to drink, since it may be contaminated with more biohazards and chemicals than boiling can get rid of.

A couple of drops of bleach in a gallon of water can also sanitize it, but you should not use scented bleach for this. Allow the water to set for about 30 minutes or longer before drinking it. Do not be alarmed about this idea, since bleach has been used in water supplies for years to sanitize the water that we drink.

Water purification tablets are also available for purchase at most outdoor or camping supply stores. These can be used in the place of heat or bleach in sanitizing water.

Dror Klar is a writer and promoter of
Manhattan Water Damage
and
Elizabeth NJ Wet Basement Which are Certified IICRC Water damage and mold remediation contractors.

Which Flooded Items You Can Salvage

2008-04-30T13:30:00.000-07:00

After your home has been flooded, you might walk around it after the waters have receded and wonder to yourself just what you need to try to save and what you need to get rid of pretty quickly, since you know that contaminated items left in the home can infect everything else.

One of the first things that you need to know is that porous items, especially those that have a lot of padding, will need to be thrown away. This is because they need to be completely dried out so that mold does not start to grow in them and because these items can be difficult to disinfect, since padding makes it difficult for the disinfectant to get through the entire depth of it. This means that any bed or décor pillows will need to be thrown out, as well as any stuffed animals that you have for your children. Don't even think of hiring a carpet cleaning company to clean the carpet it is a loss as well.

It will also be very hard to save upholstered furniture. The dirt, silt, and chemicals often found in flood waters will get past the outer fabric fairly easily if the item is in the water for more than a couple of hours and the padding inside will soak up quite a bit of it.

Saving your curtains and other fabric items that are exposed like this depends on how much damage was done to them. The dyes in the fabric may have bled or it may have become stained from being left in the water for so long.

Items like table cloths and towels can be saved if they are washed a few times in enough disinfectant, but even items that have not come into contact with the flood water can become molded after a few days if they are left in the house, due to the high humidity.

Any electric blankets that you may have that were exposed to the flood water will need to be completely thrown away. These items could possibly have wiring damage and can malfunction if you try to use them. They are in no way safe to continue using after being submerged in water.

Blankets can be washed, but you will need to do this a few times in hot water. Chlorine bleach can sanitize these items, but you will need to be careful what you use it on, since the dyes may run on some items. Try to find a laundry detergent that disinfects, as well. Borax detergent can be helpful in killing mold.

Wooden items that have had their finishes breached by flood waters may be contaminated and will need to be disinfected thoroughly.

Dror Klar is a writer and promoter of
Scarsdale NY Water Damage Repair and
Elizabeth NJ Water Damage Repair Which are Certified IICRC Water damage and mold remediation contractors.

Taking Care of a Fireplace

2007-10-18T11:33:00.001-07:00

Lots of people have fireplaces in their homes, but keeping them clean and smoke free takes some maintenance and effort on the part of the homeowner. The fireplace will not maintain itself, even though there are some fireplace cleaning logs on the market these days. These will not completely replace a professional cleaning, though, so you should have one of these done at least every year or two.

You should also have the proper tools stored next to your fireplace and these are available in many different materials and types. Cast iron is a good and durable material, but fireplace tools are also available in brass, pewter, nickel, and etcetera. There is a large selection on the market and you will surely be able to find what you are looking for.

A fireplace blower can help build up the fire and add more heat to it. You have probably seen one of these before and it can be a real help when first starting to build a fire.

Fireplace tongs can be used to move around logs that are obviously too hot to pick up with your hands and this is necessary, since the logs will not always be exactly where you need them to be to get the most heat and longevity out of the fire.

A fireplace poker can be used to stir around coals and spread them so that the heat is more evenly distributed. This helps larger logs catch on fire faster than they normally would.

A shovel is used to clean out the ashes that are left after a fire is out and a small broom is necessary to keep the area immediately outside the fireplace cleaned up.

If you are having problems building a fire that does not spill smoke back into the room, you need to make sure that nothing is blocking the chimney on top of the house. Leaves, bird nests, and sticks can clog it up during the spring, summer, and fall and make it completely unusable.

Using the correct wood is also important; logs that are freshly cut and have a lot of moisture still in them will smoke instead of catch fire. Use logs that are dried out and try to store them in a place where they will not get wet.

Start the fire slowly by building it up with paper and small sticks at first to get the chimney warm. Warming up the chimney is important so that the air inside it becomes warm instead of cold. Cold air pushes the warm air and smoke down and back into the house.

Jim Gaykern is a writer and promoter of quality
Charlotte NC flood water damage restoration and other states such as
Elizabeth, Wayne NJ mold remediation companies across the united states.

Biblical Mold Inspections

2007-10-18T11:31:00.002-07:00

Most people realize that mold is a health hazard if it is let to grow inside our homes in almost any quantity, but trying to file an insurance claim on it is a pretty hard thing to do, since most homeowner’s insurance policies do not allow for mold claims. Unless the mold was caused by something that was covered by the policy and it occurred as a direct result of that event, it is not covered under most policies. A separate insurance policy covering only mold damage needs to be purchased.

Many insurance claims adjusters inspecting your home after water damage that your home was covered for will tell you that mold is not the big issue that everyone says that it is and it will not cause you any harm if you leave it there, but this is completely untrue. They will possibly attempt to get you to agree with them or concede that you may not actually need the remediation done, but unfortunately, this is a trick. If they need proof that mold has been a problem since ancient times, something that you can do is quote the Bible to them.

The texts in Leviticus chapter 14 are the oldest written accounts of mold affecting a home or business building. The book actually calls the infestation a “leprous plague” and it states it as a growth that appears on the walls. Families went to priests for this problem just as they would for any other problem occurring that concerned their homes or their lives and as with any other problem, the advice was always followed. That advice was to take everything out of the home contaminated with the growth and to throw it away far from town in what the scripture called an “unclean place”. After this was done, the house was closed off for a week and when the priest came back to do another inspection, if the growth had returned, then the house was torn down. All the building materials were taken to that unclean place also.

It is thought that even the last plague of Moses could be attributed to mold growth on the grains that the Egyptians stored underground to protect them from the locusts. Stachybotrys atra is thought to have contaminated these stored grains and those who ate them would have likely become sick. In ancient times, the first born Egyptian male was given special privileges that other children were not, such as a second portion of dinner. These children were given special privileges because they were the heirs to whatever property their fathers owned. Since they received more food than the rest of their family members, it is likely it would have been enough to make them deathly sick.

Jim Gaykern is a writer and promoter of quality
New Haven CT Mold Remediation services and other cities such as
Charlotte NC mold removal companies across the united states.

Bursting Water Pipe Prevention

2007-10-18T11:31:00.001-07:00

If you have just moved into a home for the first time on your own or perhaps into a climate that gets very cold during the winter, you might not think about this water damage prevention technique, but in the winter time it is a very important thing to remember. This is the fact that water pipes can freeze, burst, and spill gallons upon gallons of water into or underneath your house. This typically happens when the temperature gets under about 20 degrees.

The water pipes that you can get access to fairly easily should be insulated with something to keep them warm and you need to realize that your pipes need to be exposed to as much warm air as possible during the winter to keep them from freezing up and bursting. If the area of concern is the kitchen or the bathroom, then you can open the cabinets so that the pipes underneath are exposed to the warm air of the household. Leave them this way as long as the temperature is under freezing outside and the pipes should have quite a bit of protection from bursting.

Make sure you know where your stop tap is in case the pipes do happen to burst. Knowing where this is located will make sure that you can turn the water off as quickly as possible should there be an incident. Labeling it is also a good idea.

If you are spending the winter in a warmer climate, you should have a relative or a friend check on your house and make sure that the pipes have not burst or frozen up.

Sometimes leaving a little bit of water running during the coldest parts of the winter is something that you can do to help prevent the pipes from freezing. Flowing water through the pipes is more difficult to freeze than standing water. They are less likely to freeze as quickly as pipes that have standing water inside them.

Your insurance policy will probably cover a burst pipe, since water damage is generally covered under these conditions. The only time that water damage is not covered is when it is caused by a hurricane or a flood and you do not have insurance for these events. Taking care of water spills like a burst pipe quickly is also very important to prevent the growth of mold in your home. This can be a serious health risk to your family and pets if it is allowed to start growing and it usually does after about 48 hours.

Jim Gaykern is a writer and respected contributor to the Water damage restoration and mold remediation Industry. Visit his sites for more information.
NYC Emergency Commercial Flood Service
Newark NJ Document Drying Service

Drying Out A Home to Minimize Water Damage

2007-10-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

If your home has been submerged in water, you are going to want to get it dried out as soon as possible, but there are a few things that you need to be made aware of before you attempt to do this. Floods are often unexpected events and preparing for them physically is usually not possible unless the flood comes as a result of a hurricane and even then, protecting the belongings that you have to leave in the house after you evacuate isn’t very easy to do. You can stop most rain from getting into the house, but not flood waters.

Before you go back into the house after the majority of the water has receded, you need to make sure that going into the house will not expose you to the risk of being electrocuted. You should not rely on the condition of your neighborhood’s electricity and assume that just because the rest of the neighborhood is without power, you are, too. Cut the electricity to the house completely off so that you can go back inside safely.

Get a video, digital, or traditional film camera and begin making a record of just how much damage was done to the home. Include just how long the house was under water, what was damaged, and approximately how much it will cost to repair or replace it. This will help a lot when you have to file a claim with your insurance company.

Help ventilate the house and start drying it out by opening all windows and doors, as long as it is not raining outside. The breeze blowing through the house should help dry things out a little faster, but do not use an artificial heat source to do this task. Drying out hardwood floors and some other items too quickly this way can do more damage to them than good, so using a space heater or a hot air blower is not advised.

Any electronic devices in the house should be let to dry out completely before you attempt to use them again. It is the electricity flowing through an electronic device that damages it to the point of being irreparable, not the water itself. The combination of the two is what does the damage.

Take wet furniture outside and allow them to dry out; put them in the shade, if possible. This is because direct sunlight can bleach fabrics and you do not want to do more damage to your furniture than has already been done.

Jim Gaykern is a writer and promoter of quality
Newark NJ Sewage Damage Cleanup and other states such as
Manhattan NY, NY mold remediation companies across the united states.

Drying Your Home After a Flood

2007-10-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

Drying out your home after a flood or a hurricane is a time consuming task and while you might think that you can just dry everything as fast as possible and fix all the problems, this is not always the case. There are a few things that you need to be aware of when you go to dry out your home after one of these events and they are important to restoring your home to the way that it used to be.

Most of the time you cannot prepare for a flood to come upon your home, but you can do your best to prepare yourself for it mentally. This is done by equipping yourself with the knowledge necessary to dry out and repair the items in your home after the damage has already been done.

Before re-entering the house, you need to make sure that there is no electricity running to it, since there is probably still some standing water inside. This brings along with it a serious risk of electrocution that you need to be aware of. Do not rely on the condition of your neighbor’s electricity to be an indicator of yours. Switch the power off to the entire house before going back in.

Take a video camera and record all the damage. You can also do this with a digital camera or one that takes traditional film, but a video camera is the most recommended method. Make sure you record all the belongings in the house that were damaged and their approximate value, if possible. This will help you out when your insurance claims adjuster comes to assess the damage to your home and decide how much compensation you will receive.

The entire home needs to be dried out as soon as possible, but do not use artificial heat sources such as space heaters or blowers to accomplish this. This will promote buckling or cupping of hardwood floors, if you have them, and may do more harm than good. Open the doors and windows throughout the house. Odds are good that until your home dries out completely, you will not be sleeping there, unless you have second floor that was not affected by the flood. After the carpet is dry you must hire a carpet cleaning company to clean it very well.

Look in the attic and see if your insulation has gotten wet. If it is fiberglass and has gotten wet, you will need to replace it. Wet fiberglass insulation is no longer any good.

Jim Gaykern is a writer and promoter of quality
Newark NJ Sewage Damage Cleanup and other cities such as
New York City mold remediation companies across the united states.