What Can Expect After a Partial Loss?

10/16/2022 (Permalink)

Fire damage in The Woodlands, TX.

After a fire, you may be wondering what to expect from the restoration company. The answer depends on the extent of your loss and the type of restoration project. But no matter how bad it is, you can be sure that we'll be there for you every step of the way. In this article, we'll examine some common questions about partial losses and how they're handled by our local restoration professionals.

What To Expect After a Partial Loss

A property owners biggest fear is to completely lose their home or business in a fire. Rest assured, you can expect to be able to return to your home or business.

You should also expect that a restoration company will evaluate the damage. They may want to make sure that any undamaged items are protected from further damage, and they’ll let you know if there are any health risks involved with re-entering your property. After this initial assessment, the restoration company will begin removing ruined items and damaged machinery/electronics/appliances from your home or business premises.

A restoration company will evaluate your home or business.

A restoration company will evaluate your home or business to determine what items can be restored. They will also provide an estimate for the cost of restoration. If necessary, they'll remove unaffected contents and materials from your property so that they don't become damaged and safely store them in their warehouse.

You can expect the restoration company to dispose of ruined items and debris.

You can expect that your restoration company will remove damaged items from the premises and dispose of them for you. If an item is ruined, but still functional (for example, a lampshade), the company may repair it and return it to you. If an item cannot be fixed or replaced and must be thrown away, the restoration company will remove it from your home or business.

As you can imagine, this process may produce a fair amount of debris, which you can expect the restoration professional to remove promptly and properly. They will also be able to provide you with an estimate of when it's safe for your family to return home. 

You can expect the restoration company restore your property.

Once affected materials and debris has been removed from your property, the restoration professionals will begin the restoration process. From start to finish, you can count on companies, such as SERVPRO of The Woodlands/Conroe, to take care of you and your property. Going through a loss is never easy but knowing that a restoration professional will not only clean up the mess but rebuild your property back to preloss conditions can give you a sense ease.

At the end of the day, a fire can be devastating. But you should know that there are people out there who can help you get back on your feet again. You just need to find them. If your home or business in The Woodlands, TX, suffers from a fire, don’t hesitate and give our SERVPRO team a call today!

3 Tips to Create a Fire Escape Plan

8/30/2022 (Permalink)

By creating an emergency escape plan you are boosting your company's safety

Three Ideas for a Fire Escape Plan

An important part of your fire safety strategy is your fire escape plan. This is the measure that protects your employees from the dangers of a fire. Therefore, you must create a solid plan.

1. Identify Potential Hazards
Inspect your property and write down any potential hazards. These will include cooking areas like kitchens and microwaves. Look for overloaded power outlets. Take note of any mini-fridges or space heaters employees have brought in. Once you have identified these, you can make rules to limit their presence. For instance, you can ban non-essential cooking stations. You can also ban smoking on your property. Measures like this reduce your chances of a fire and your chances of having to call a remediation company.

2. Assign Emergency Roles and Responsibilities
A key aspect of any fire escape plan is to have certain employees in leadership roles. These people need to regularly attend the fire drills, lead others, and understand their responsibilities. The roles you must fill are the fire safety wardens, route guides, and floor monitors.

3. Make an Escape Plan
You can use an online template to start making a fire escape plan for your business in Rayford, TX. Draw out each level of your building with possible routes, fire extinguishers, and first-aid kits. Be sure to include accessible routes as well. Include a meeting place that is a safe distance from your building. It must not be in the way of the fire department.
To keep your plan relevant, check your fire extinguishers regularly to make sure they are working. Also, make sure your first-aid kits are well stocked. If your building changes in any way, be sure to update your plans.
By following these tips to create an emergency escape plan, you are boosting your company's safety. This is because your employees will be prepared and able to get out of the building if a fire occurs.

5 Absolute Musts for Cleaning Sewer Damage

5/27/2022 (Permalink)

A toilet overflow can cause major damage to your property.

5 Things You Must Do If You Have Sewer Damage

Toilet overflows and backups bring water onto the premises and contaminate the location with Category three fluid. Fraught with bacteria and fungus, this liquid penetrates structural materials, making the property in Shenandoah, TX, hazardous to employees and customers. To sanitize the establishment, commercial owners must complete a thorough sewer cleanup. Here are five essential steps to getting the place back in business.

1. Understand the Depth of the Problem
Moisture isn't always visible, especially when a sewer backup seeps into the ground or walls. Use a moisture reader to determine the extent of the saturation. Draw a line a few feet above the current readings to guide your next stages. It's best to treat more of the area to ensure cleaning is sufficient.

2. Remove Soaked Structures
Spores harbor deep within porous objects, especially drywall and carpet, making sewer cleanup difficult. Cleaners such as bleach and soap do not absorb well; thus, they cannot eradicate the organisms. It's best to extract anything drenched to safeguard the space from future growth. Replace it after you complete the rest of the stages.
Be careful during these evaluations. The highly infested water should not be touched or handled without proper PPE. Wear gloves, protective clothing and goggles at all times.

3. Consult Content Cleaning Crews
The flooded toilet may have impacted other rooms as the moisture permeated into an office or retail space. If the dampness affected vital electronics and documents, reach out to a water restoration company. The specialists can use sophisticated technology to sanitize and salvage the belongings.

4. Air Everything Out
A dry room inhibits spore growth, so create adequate circulation with air movers or fans. Run multiple dehumidifiers to pull humidity from the air and framework. Test the moisture levels again before proceeding.

5. Wash Nonporous Items
Care for nonabsorbent valuables by washing them with soap and water. Also, apply bleach or an antimicrobial spray to kill lingering germs.
Work swiftly and carefully when dealing with a commercial sewer cleanup. Focus on gutting sullied materials and airing out the location. The right steps get your operations back up and running.

Tips for Dealing With Mold in Your Business

5/22/2022 (Permalink)

If you find evidence of mold in your Conroe, TX business, it's important to have the area evaluated.

Commercial Mold

If you notice a musty odor in a bathroom or other location in your building, you may benefit from this discussion about commercial mold. Moisture-seeking microscopic fungi are the cause of a mold infestation. They thrive in humid locations, such as laundry rooms, bathrooms or utility areas. Their spores multiply, and they can infest a large area in as little as 72 hours. The presence of mold can also point to an unknown water leak or other moisture problem.
Mold is plentiful and beneficial in nature because it breaks down organic substances in soils. Certain types of mold, such as black mold, can be toxic and quite damaging to your property, so it’s important to know what to look for.

What To Look For
Mold often comes with a mildewy type of odor, and your best mold detector may be your nose. Mold can present as irregular patches of varying colors on walls, ceilings or wooden areas. Here are some locations inside your business where mold could be found:

• Crawl spaces and basements
  
• Drywall surfaces
  
• Book covers and pages
  
• Sink and shower tile
  
• Carpets
  
  

If you discover evidence or even just suspect black mold, it’s important to act quickly. The earlier you catch it, the easier the mold cleanup will be.

What To Do if You Suspect Mold
If you find evidence of mold in your Conroe, TX, business, it’s important to have the area evaluated by a mold remediation expert. They can use various testing protocols and recommend the best cleanup methods for your unique facility. It may be beneficial to avoid the area and keep it ventilated until you receive some professional help.
Mold is a beneficial substance that can be damaging in the wrong environment. Whether you suspect black mold or a less serious form, your best course is to get some assistance with confirming the diagnosis and developing the cleanup protocol. Once you begin the cleanup process, it won’t be long before you have restored your building and your peace of mind.

The Mold Remediation Process

4/4/2022 (Permalink)

Technicians will wear extensive safety gear while removing mold from a property.

Mold Removal Process

The moment mold growth is discovered in your Egypt, TX, property, some questions instantly arise. How long will it take? Do I need a mold remediation and restoration company? What should be expected during the mold removal process? For the first two, the answers depend on the severity of the problem. In most cases, the process takes about one to five days. If the affected area is more than 10,000, enlisting an expert is recommended.

Removal Process

When it comes to the third question, choosing a certified professional provides peace of mind that the job will be done right and eliminate the potential for a future infestation. Below are key steps taken during mold removal.

Technicians will wear extensive safety gear, which includes gloves, goggles, face masks and a protective suit.
A containment system will be set up to seal off the affected area. This is essential to prevent spores from spreading and building a new colony.
The affected area will be treated with an EPA-approved biocide to kill the fungi. This is often a two-step process.
All affected surfaces will be cleaned with high-grade antimicrobial cleaners.
Any materials that can’t be salvaged, such as drywall and insulation, will be safely removed from the premises.
Once the physical mold is removed, an array of high-tech tools will be used, including HEPA air scrubbers and vacuums, which remove airborne spores.
A sealer or encapsulant will be used to reinforce areas prone to water damage.

Peace of Mind

If black mold isn’t properly handled, it likely means dealing with the same problem down the road. Since your time and money are important, getting professional help eliminates future headaches and lets you focus on running your business. Most certified companies also provide restoration services, which makes it much faster to get your business back to “Like it never even happened.”
If faced with mold removal, getting it taken care of the right way is essential. While it may mean added costs and time upfront, it ensures the problem won’t rear its ugly head again.

Why You Shouldn’t Throw Out Your Smoke-Damaged Items After a Fire

1/25/2022 (Permalink)

Pack out in Egypt, TX.

After a fire, Here's Why You Shouldn't Throw Away Your Smoke-Damaged Items

After a commercial fire in Egypt, TX, it’s easy to assume everything caught in the blaze is destroyed beyond repair. While this may be true for items that were caught in the center of the blaze, it’s a mistake to outright condemn everything damaged by smoke. The disaster restoration company that you or your insurance company hired should have equipment that allows them to treat these items and restore them to their pre-fire condition. Here are a few examples of the work they can do to take care of your items and why you should wait on their expertise:

Dry-Cleaning

Contrary to what you may think, items with a layer of soot on them from the fire are not beyond repair, including clothing. While taking these items to a regular dry-cleaning business probably wouldn’t do the trick, fire restoration professionals have equipment that effectively removes thick layers, of dust, dirt, and soot so the items are ready for later cleaning stages if necessary.

Wet Cleaning

After the dry-cleaning process, if an item still requires additional cleaning to remove harmful pathogens or odor, it can undergo a wet cleaning process, so long as such a treatment would not be harmful to the item in question. This second stage of the content cleaning process works great for clothing and other porous items.

Ultrasonic Cleaning

For nonporous items, however, wet cleaning is simply ineffective if not harmful. Ultrasonic cleaning is perfect for ceramics, figurines, windows and blinds, precious metals and plastics. This often brings a lot of relief to business owners, particularly if cherished keepsakes in their offices have been damaged by a commercial fire.

Pack-Outs

In some cases, when a large enough number of contents have been damaged by fire or smoke, restoration professionals will haul the items out of the affected area into a content storage area. This both protects the items from further damage and speeds up the remodeling process later on.