Storm Damage Cleanup: A Step-by-Step Guide

12/11/2024 (Permalink)

Storm damage can wreak havoc on your business. Immediate action is crucial to minimize further damage and prevent mold growth. Here's a breakdown of the initial cleanup steps:

1. Assess the Damage:

• Identify Water Sources: Pinpoint the areas where water has infiltrated, such as cracks, crevices, and behind walls.
• Evaluate Structural Integrity: Check for weakened walls, floors, and ceilings.

2. Remove Standing Water:

• Use a Wet/Dry Vacuum: Quickly remove excess water to prevent further damage.
• Drain Waterlogged Areas: If possible, drain water from flooded areas, such as basements or crawl spaces.

3. Remove Wet Materials:

• Carpets and Padding: These items are often unsalvageable and should be disposed of.
• Furniture: Upholstered furniture may need professional cleaning or disposal.
• Draperies and Curtains: These items can be salvaged if dried quickly.

4. Dry Out the Structure:

• Ventilation: Open windows and doors to increase airflow.
• Dehumidifiers: Use commercial-grade dehumidifiers to remove moisture from the air.
• Air Movers: Circulate air to speed up the drying process.

5. Address Hidden Moisture:

• Remove Wet Materials: Tear out damaged drywall, insulation, and flooring.
• Dry Structural Components: Use dehumidifiers and air movers to dry wood framing and other structural elements.

6. Professional Restoration:

For severe storm damage, consider hiring a professional restoration company. They have the expertise and equipment to:

• Mitigate Water Damage: Quickly address water intrusion and prevent mold growth.
• Structural Repairs: Repair damaged walls, floors, and ceilings.
• Mold Remediation: Remove mold and prevent future growth.
• Cleaning and Restoration: Clean and restore damaged belongings.

Don't Delay, Take Action

Time is of the essence when it comes to storm damage cleanup. By following these steps and seeking professional help, you can minimize the impact on your business and expedite the restoration process.

Need Help?

If your business has been affected by a storm, contact SERVPRO of LaPorte County. Our team of experts is ready to assist you with your restoration needs.

Call us today.

Don't Let Flooding Drown Your Business

12/11/2024 (Permalink)

A flood can devastate your store, damaging inventory, equipment, and the building itself. But with swift action and professional help, you can minimize the impact and get back to business.

SERVPRO of Porter County is Here to Help® you recover from flood damage. Our experienced technicians will work tirelessly to restore your store to its preloss condition.

Our Flood Damage Restoration Services:

• Rapid Response: We arrive quickly to assess the damage and begin the restoration process.
• Water Extraction: We use advanced equipment to remove water from your store, preventing further damage.
• Drying and Dehumidification: We employ powerful drying techniques to eliminate moisture and prevent mold growth.
• Structural Repairs: We can repair water-damaged walls, floors, and ceilings.
• Cleaning and Restoration: We'll clean and restore your inventory, equipment, and fixtures.

Why Choose SERVPRO?

• Expertise: Our technicians are trained and certified to handle flood damage restoration.
• Advanced Equipment: We use state-of-the-art equipment to ensure efficient and effective restoration.
• 24/7 Emergency Service: We're available around the clock to respond to your needs.
• Insurance Claims Assistance: We can help you navigate the insurance claims process.

Don't Let a Flood Ruin Your Business

Call SERVPRO of Porter County today to schedule a flood damage assessment. We're here to help you recover and rebuild.

Don't Let Storm Damage Drown Your Home or Business

12/11/2024 (Permalink)

A storm can quickly turn your home or business into a disaster zone. Water damage, wind damage, and other issues can leave you feeling overwhelmed. But don't worry, SERVPRO® is Here to Help®.

Why Choose SERVPRO for Storm Damage Restoration?

• Rapid Response: Our team is available 24/7 to respond to your emergency.
• Expert Technicians: Our highly trained technicians have the skills and experience to handle any storm damage situation.
• Advanced Equipment: We use state-of-the-art equipment to efficiently dry and restore your property.
• Comprehensive Services: We offer a wide range of services, including water extraction, drying, mold remediation, and structural repairs.

How SERVPRO Can Help:

1. Immediate Assessment: Our technicians will quickly assess the damage and develop a customized restoration plan.
2. Water Extraction: We'll use powerful pumps and vacuums to remove water from your property.
3. Drying and Dehumidification: We'll employ advanced drying techniques to prevent mold growth and structural damage.
4. Cleaning and Restoration: We'll clean and restore your belongings, including furniture, electronics, and documents.
5. Structural Repairs: We'll repair any damage to your property's structure, such as walls, floors, and ceilings.

Don't Wait, Call SERVPRO Today!

Faster to Any Size Disaster™

Don't let storm damage disrupt your life. Contact SERVPRO and let us help you restore your property.

A Frozen Hose Can Spell Big Water Damage Trouble For Your Home In Chesterton

11/29/2023 (Permalink)

A Frozen Hose Outside Can Cause Water Damage Inside In Chesterton

The majority of owners understand the importance of weatherizing their homes long before winter's worst months hit the Chesterton area. While the interior pipes receive insulating wraps to keep them from freezing, a forgotten hose outside can ruin all the best efforts.

A frozen hose can cause water damage to your Chesterton home. This can happen when ice inside the hose swells up and moves into the water pipes inside the home, creating a blockage. When this blockage causes too much pressure, the pipes on the other side break.

If this happens in your basement, you might not realize it until long after the event. This can lead to several feet of standing water in your basement. We can pump this out with our truck-mounted pumps. It is much faster than allowing a sump pump to do the work. An added benefit is that we can then begin working on preventing as much water damage as possible. Finished basements require more restoration work than unfinished basements do, of course, but we need to get either type dry again.

When water soaks into materials like drywall, and they begin to swell, their removal and replacement need to happen to restore the area. Ground floors that become drenched by frozen pipes also require the same, but with electrical outlets in mind. While these certainly exist in the basement, occupants are not as tempted to use possibly compromised outlets downstairs as they are upstairs. We mark affected outlets, minimizing the danger involved. If needed, we have access to portable power sources, keeping our work on schedule.

Working as quickly as possible, we can keep water damage from spreading to other places in your house. This requires the use of machines to dry walls and pull moisture out of the air. While this takes time to complete, we want to assure you that we carry out our work using the most efficient methods possible. Our experience and training mean that not only do we prevent additional damage while mitigating existing problems, we also succeed in making everything just “Like it never even happened” for you.

SERVPRO® of Porter County is always here for you when you need someone skilled at protecting your home from water damage and other disasters. We know these happen when you least expect them, so we are always here, 24/7, every day of the year. Call us at (219) 476-1883.

Click here for more about Chesterton.

The SERVPRO Team Is The Right Team For Portage Home Restoration

11/29/2023 (Permalink)

Why SERVPRO - Cleaning And Removing Fire Damage From Portage Homes

With a border on Lake Michigan, Portage residents have great beach access and can watch the ships move in and out of Indiana-Burns Harbor. Even a town with so many idyllic spring and summer days like this one though has its share of fires and other disasters.

Cleaning up and removing fire damage to Portage homes requires a professional service with access to the latest equipment and training. That is why SERVPRO® should be your first choice to restore your home to its original, clean condition before the fire happened. Our local office connects with a nationwide network to source every cleaning agent or device needed to restore your home.

In most cases, sprinklers or firefighters extinguish residential fires before they consume structural or personal property. That usually means the majority of our efforts center on removing the residues left by smoke and soot on surfaces throughout the home. Residues fall into four categories: Dry, Wet, Protein, and Fuel Oil.

Dry residues contain few aerosols, so they are often powdery and easier for SERVPRO technicians to remove than other residues. They are the result after a fire burns very hot and leave fewer stains along with a less pungent set of odors. The only drawback to having dry residues is that the hotter fire destroys more property than cooler fires. Cleaning these residues can often be accomplished with dry sponges and a spray bottle of water or a mild detergent to break up thicker layers.

Wet residues contain more aerosols from liquids like solvents and varnishes. Fires that generate them burn slower and cooler, so while the residues are harder to remove, they are not spread as far throughout the home, affecting fewer rooms and surfaces. Technicians require stronger cleaning agents to remove the residues, and may also require a mechanical agitation device to carefully break up thicker residue layers without harming the surface underneath them.

Protein residues come from kitchen fires and are the result of burning fish, meat, and poultry. They are harder to see since the color usually runs from yellow to almost clear and only slightly discolor paint and wallpaper. Since they are greasy, the odors are far more pungent than dry or wet residues. Since odors travel farther and faster through a home than residues, even a small kitchen fire often forces us to deodorize an entire residence.

Fuel oil residues result from puff-backs. These only happen with oil burners that incorrectly ignite, jarring loose old soot, and push particles into the ductwork of a home. Few residences still use oil burners of this design, so the puff-backs only happen in older homes in Indiana and other parts of the Northeast. Removal is usually not difficult, but our technicians are careful not to scratch covered surfaces.

At SERVPRO of Porter County, our goal is to return every home to its clean, pre-fire damage condition. If you need our services, call our office at (219) 476-1883 today. We are here for you.

Visit the Lakefront and Riverwalk click here for more information.

The Use of Air Movers Stops Water Damage from Spreading within a House in Valparaiso

11/29/2023 (Permalink)

The convenience of a bathroom on every level of your Valparaiso home also means that disasters caused by water can happen in upstairs areas that might have otherwise never experienced problems. Many newly constructed homes house the water heater in the attic area or in another enclosed space overhead, as opposed in the basement.

When an upper-level bathroom's fixtures or pipes overflow or leak in a house in Valparaiso, water damage can spread downward quite rapidly. We use air movers and Injectidry systems to stop this from spreading after we arrive at your front door. 

Forcing air into enclosed wall cavities and across their exteriors means that water continually evaporates. Because of this steady evaporation, water cannot spread deeper into materials or spread to currently dry areas. Seepage stops, and drying begins.

With overhead leaks, water can end up inside not only walls but also inside the ceiling of the downstairs rooms and hallways. We drain this trapped water and then again use an Injectidry system to remove the remaining moisture. Although we must drain small weep holes initially to drain the water, we often use an already-existing hole, often for the room's lighting fixture, to insert the flexible tubing for the Injectidry system. 

In a hallway, an overhead fixture might not exist. Our Water Damage Restoration Technicians (WRTs) might use the area behind a smoke detector for this, or some other inconspicuous area. If our work leaves the area marred, our building services department can assist in restoring the area near completion of the job.

Another factor in restoring homes with water damage involves their HVAC and electrical systems. Ventilation ducts, once damp, can harbor microbial infestations, and this can lead to odors and unwanted health effects. Electrical wiring can short out when damp. Light switches might begin failing or working oddly. Our building services can help with these issues, also. Our Odor Control Technician works with customers closely to eliminate odors from water, fire, and other causes. 

SERVPRO® of Porter County trains our WRTs in how to use air movers and our other pieces of water damage restoration equipment and related tools helping your home's damage remain a temporary event with no long-lasting impact on your property. We answer our 24-hour services line, (219) 476-1883, every day of the year, helping ensure We're Faster To Any Size Disaster to all our customers across Portage, Chesterton, and Kouts.  

To learn more about Valparaiso, click here.

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Valparaiso Property Owners Know SERVPRO Provides the Total Cleanup and Restoration Package

11/29/2023 (Permalink)

Why SERVPRO Makes Sense for Restoration Services in Valparaiso

For many decades, our SERVPRO® of Porter County team has worked to provide every customer in our service area the same fast response and quality output regardless of the disaster or its severity. We have continued to grow, and now we offer a comprehensive, full-service approach to recovery and restoration services, including specialized niches like air duct cleaning and biohazard cleanup along with full-scale rebuilds and construction solutions. We can help you to get your property back to preloss conditions quickly.

Water Damage
Water damage in Valparaiso is a nearly constant threat for our home and business owners, and a situation that our professionals must remain prepared to face at all times. For this reason, many of our staff have accreditations with water restoration through the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) so no customer ever has to wait for qualified and experienced professionals to reach their address.

In this niche of the restoration industry, our SERVPRO professionals are experienced and knowledgeable. Many of our management overseeing our technicians on water damage recoveries in Valparaiso homes have more than a decade of experience on their own – adding a level of depth and expertise to each job that we do. Along with being accredited through the IICRC as Water Restoration Technicians (WRT), many of our team members also pursue the added coursework of Applied Structural Drying (ASD) to become even more valuable assets when disasters strike.

For as widespread as water damage can become throughout Valparaiso homes and businesses, we have the tools, products, and equipment to help noticeably reduce its presence the same day that we arrive. From our inventory of extraction machines to our mighty air movers and dehumidifiers, we can quickly gain control on issues like saturation and standing water damaging your property.

Fire Damage
When you are addressing fire damage in Valparaiso homes and businesses, it is essential to have a team of professionals that understand how quickly these situations can get out of control. From the spread of soot and smoke effects to the infiltration of harsh odors into materials and clothing in the house, our SERVPRO professionals have effective strategies, equipment, and products to overcome these damaging circumstances right away.

Our team has experience and continual education in employing the latest practices and approaches for fire loss recovery in Valparaiso homes. Not only do we arrive with advanced products like our HEPA vacuums, chemical sponges, cleaning products, but we also utilize the Esporta Wash System to help clean textiles and soft contents better than ever before. Also, we can address lingering odors in the house with multiple deodorization units for different scenarios and affected materials, such as:

•    Thermal & UV Foggers
•    Hydroxyl Generators
•    Ozone Machines

We are a full-service contractor to help our customers through fire loss scenarios in their Valparaiso homes and businesses as well. We have a construction arm led by a senior manager with decades of experience, helping us to complete jobs quickly and up to our high standards. When emergencies occur in your property, we can also help you deal with the insurance company to get the approval process started as promptly as possible.

Storm Damage
Much of our successes with our disaster relief team rely most heavily on our ability to manage storm damage to Valparaiso homes and businesses fast. The primary concern in these scenarios is the harm that has occurred to the outside of the structure, which could leave the property vulnerable to flooding and other harmful situations. We can offer a full-spectrum approach to restoration and mitigation in these circumstances, helping to both address breaches to the exterior of the house and to begin drying and cleaning out damages to the residence.

Our contracting division is led by one of our production managers with decades of experience, helping to provide the most effective and efficient approaches for your Valparaiso home. We can help to quickly address structural concerns temporarily with board up and tarping services to allow mitigation work like extraction and drying to begin. Once the storm even has passed, our team members can work on projects like tree removal and full-scale build back and reconstruction to make a structural compromise “Like it never even happened.”  

We contend with many natural disasters in our area, including tornadoes, heavy snowfall, hailstorms, and other compromising situations. Flash floods and unnatural flooding that occurs from structural breaches in your Valparaiso property require a fast and confident response with extraction, drying, and cleaning equipment. Our SERVPRO professionals arrive with the full measure of our deep inventory of recovery machines and products to get your residence back to normal quickly.

Mold Damage

While our entire team boasts decades in various facets of the restoration industry, many of these same managers holding multiple certifications from the IICRC, remediating mold damage in Valparaiso properties involves our most experienced and highly trained professionals. This division of our SERVPRO company gets led by a senior management professional boasting more than 20 years of experience in mold remediation.

Colonization can get out of control quickly, often spreading wildly out of sight in Valparaiso properties. We must work first to reduce the moisture feeding this organism by employing multiple drying tools like our air movers and dehumidifiers in key locations throughout the property. With moisture content readers, we can help to determine when relative humidity has dropped back below the established baseline, and it is safe to begin colony removal and recovery efforts for damaged construction materials.

Our team offers wrap-around support, walking you and your property through every phase of remediation, repair, and reconstruction your Valparaiso home needs when facing mold damage concerns.

We have been a prominent presence throughout the Greater Valparaiso area for decades, helping our friends and neighbors to overcome the worst of disasters that affect their properties. Our SERVPRO of Porter County team offers a comprehensive approach that can take your home or business through initial inspection, mitigation, restoration, reconstruction, and cleaning stages. Give us a call anytime disasters strike at (219) 476-1883.

https://www.ci.valparaiso.in.us

SERVPRO Tips: How to deal with torrential rains when they hit your home or business

10/1/2022 (Permalink)

When the sticky, hot air common during the “dog days” of summer collides with a cold front hinting of fall, Portage can be deluged with torrential rain. Areas of the city struggle with stormwater runoff issues, with flash flooding threatening to invade the lower levels of homes in locations with poor drainage history. If your home is the unfortunate recipient of unwanted water because of overland flooding, we can help manage it safely and quickly.

Poorly Maintained Gutters and Downspouts Contribute to Flooding

If it has been some time since your roof drainage system has had attention, clogged gutters and disconnected drains could be making flood damage in Portage more intense. When the system does not guide roof runoff properly, excess water saturates the ground right next to your foundation and can seep inside. The water moves through cracks or even straight through the semi-porous materials like cinder blocks or concrete that form the walls of the foundation. Wet moves to dry, and if the extra water has nowhere else to go, it can force its way inside to flood your basement.

Flood Water Contains Contaminants

Professional mitigation and remediation follow a thorough professional assessment of all aspects of residential flood damage. Our managers and technicians complete comprehensive training developed by the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) before working on your project. We master the techniques needed to pump and extract and then contain floodwaters. Our technicians expect that water is contaminated with road and landscaping chemicals, sewage, organic waste such as dead animals and vegetation, topsoil, and silt. Our team follows local regulations when disposing of contaminated fluids, for your health and welfare and also that of the community. We clean and disinfect all affected surfaces with EPA-registered products to inhibit mold and other pathogen growth.

Thorough Structural Drying Must Follow Flood Water Removal

Removing flood waters is just the first step to complete flood damage mitigation and remediation. We follow up with a drying plan designed to return the moisture levels of structural components to normal readings. We use air movers and heaters to facilitate the transfer of absorbed water to vapor. Then we use evaporative or desiccant dehumidifiers to capture the moisture for off-site disposal.

SERVPRO of Porter County is ready to respond if your home suffers flooding from late summer storms. Call (219) 476-1883 day or night, secure in the knowledge that We’re Faster To Any Size Disaster.

Click here to see more of Portage. 

Why SERVPRO? 24/7/265 Restoration Company

9/24/2022 (Permalink)

Fire damage can occur at any given moment. It typically happens at the most inconvenient time, when you least expect it. If that’s the case, you need a 24/7 fire damage restoration company that’s Here to Help.® We come to your family’s rescue. That’s what we exist for. The heroes at SERVPRO are available 24 hours a day (including holidays), 7 days a week, 365 days of the year. We are here to make the fire damage at your residential or commercial property “Like it never even happened.” 

When you’re on vacation, enjoying the sun, playing in the sand, spending quality family time together on the beach, or, perhaps, when you’re at work giving a presentation, that’s typically when fire damage may strike. And once your neighbor makes that phone call informing you there’s a fire at your home, that’s when everything changes everything. That’s when everything comes to a halt. Again, it tends to occur at the most inconvenient times. No time is ever a good time.

If your home or business is hit with a fire, here are some fire damage emergency tips for you: 

• Limit movement in the home to prevent soot particles from being embedded into upholstery and carpets.
• Keep hands clean so you don’t further soil upholstery, walls and woodwork.
• Place clean towels or old linens on rugs, upholstery and carpet traffic areas.
• If electricity is off, empty freezer and refrigerator, and prop doors open.
• Clean and protect chrome with a light coating of petroleum jelly or oil.
• Wash houseplants on both sides of leaves.
• Change HVAC filter.
• Tape double layers of cheesecloth over air registers.

The experienced and qualified team at SERVPRO is faster to any size disaster. We will get your property back to pre loss condition. We’re committed to responding immediately -- no matter the time of day or night. Did you know a faster response helps prevent secondary damage, and it helps reduce costs? It’s true. That’s why we are big on quick response time. 

Smoke and Fire From a Home After Damage is Tough--Not For SERVPRO Though

9/24/2022 (Permalink)

While many effects linger throughout your home after a fire occurs, homeowners do not have the resources and advanced equipment to handle removing and restoring them on their own. Our professionals offer effective and fast service following a fire, and that includes restoring and combatting threats to the indoor air quality including smoke damage, contaminants, and a persistent harsh odor.

When it comes to removing the effects of smoke and fire odor from your Valparaiso property, time is of the essence to get the right trained professionals to your home to get the processes started. Recovering from a fire gets more difficult the longer that you wait to secure restoration services, so it is important to reach out to our SERVPRO professionals as promptly as possible once the first responders and firefighters have extinguished the blaze and secured the property.

Smoke damages can affect your home in many ways from a residue or powdery film on contents and surfaces throughout the affected areas to the lingering odor that can become embedded into surfaces and materials as pores open more in the excessive heat of a fire. In many ways, these pungent odors can get concealed in the materials themselves and not re-emerge until specific atmospheric or temperature conditions release them. That is why professional cleanup is vital, as we can identify these problems and address them during our restoration.

We have many advanced tools and equipment that can help us to eliminate odors from the recent fire in your home permanently. For fire recovery, we often rely on our hydroxyl generators and our thermal foggers for deodorization. They can both work in different ways to neutralize odor molecules and leave no discernable scent behind. Unfortunately, a situation known as phantosmia has no solution from our SERVPRO crew.

While there might be many concerns that come with restoring your home after a fire, many find that the lingering odor can make comfortable living a challenge. Let our SERVPRO of Porter County emergency response team help you through all facets of fire restoration by calling (219) 476-1883.

Here is the VFD.