How Can My Home's Flood Damage Be Remediated?

9/18/2020 (Permalink)

SERVPRO Leaves Your Flood Damaged Home in Downtown Manhattan Only When It Is Dry and Ready for Rebuild.

Downtown Manhattan Flood Damage Remediation Companies Employ Various Methods to Return Your Home to Its Pre-Flood Condition.

Residents of Downtown Manhattan are no strangers to powerful coastal storms and the flooding damage they often cause.  Whenever this flooding affects you, it’s crucial that you quickly have it professionally cleaned up.

Downtown Manhattan flood damage cleanup companies, like SERVPRO, have a time-tested process for safely dealing with the hazardous results of flooding.  This is important because if your home isn’t properly cleaned after such an event, it could lead to negative long-term health effects, substantial ongoing damage to your residence, and persistent foul odors.  In order to avert these adverse effects, our technicians do the following things:

Quickly remove standing flood water from your home with powerful extractors

Use ultra-low volume foggers to inject antimicrobials into affected surfaces

Neutralize airborne microbes with thermal foggers

Make interior temperatures less favorable for microbial growth with heated extractors and refrigerant dehumidifiers

Use dehumidifiers to lower interior humidity to less than 60%, slowing the proliferation of bacteria and fungi

Employ injectidry systems to dry difficult-to-access areas behind structural elements

After SERVPRO workers complete these steps, residents are better protected from potentially harmful health effects and their home is less susceptible to developing mold/mildew damage, dry rot, and unpleasant smells.

Why Should I Not Attempt to Clean Up Flood Damage Myself?

Floodwaters are generally dangerous waters that have flowed over various surfaces, picking up a multitude of hazardous substances.  These waters often contain one or more of the following:  animal or human corpses, human and animal excrement, and toxic chemicals.  It, therefore, takes the expertise and equipment of a company like SERVPRO to safely handle floodwater remediation.  If you attempt to perform one yourself, you risk getting sick and likely cannot effectively eliminate the harmful microorganisms that cause long-term home damage.  

With all that said, if your home is ever impacted by a flood, call SERVPRO of Alphabet City/Downtown Manhattan at (646) 665-4195 for help.

See more about Downtown Manhattan.

Is My Wood Flooring Ruined After A Flood?

9/18/2020 (Permalink)

SERVPRO Can Often Save Flood-Damaged Hardwood Flooring with Our Advanced Equipment and Expertise

SERVPRO Restores Flooring in Downtown Manhattan Properties

Floodwater impacts virtually everything in its path, and unfortunately, your Downtown Manhattan home may be in the track of an oncoming flood. The added element of contamination makes the cleanup process more challenging because of the additional protocols relating to floodwater. After technicians remove the black water (level 3) with extraction equipment, it is time to examine your flooring to determine the level of damage. Our trained project manager or team leader scope the damage to your home before creating a complete restoration plan.

What Can SERVPRO Do to Save My Floors?

Technicians Use Equipment and Techniques to Dry Flooring

SERVPRO Uses specialized equipment after flood damage in your Downtown Manhattan home. SERVPRO technicians focus on mitigating further damage, such as preventing buckling, cupping, or permanent warping of materials. Hardwood floors require a moisture stabilization rate of about 12% before technicians can refinish them. The level and flat surface of the planks may require light sanding. If the floors are over-dried, they can splinter and become permanently damaged, and under-dried can cause moisture to sit and foster mold growth and the wood to rot. An effective extraction method for wood flooring is through the use of drying mat systems.

How Does the Injectidry System Operate?

This system is one method of using specialized advanced equipment for water extraction.

• Injectidry or Dri-Eaz systems consist of a hardwood floor drying mat, which acts as a "tent" to create a closed area to increase the effectiveness of suction, and an extractor.
• A single mat or multiple connected mats lay on top of the flooring, connected to the truck-mounted or portable extractor with a vacuum hose for excess moisture removal.
• Technicians periodically check under the mats to physically wipe excess water and to ensure they extract the appropriate amount of water from the flooring and monitor the mats for moving them to optimize the extraction.

What Other Things Can We Do to Protect Your Floors from Further Damage?

• Manage humidity in your home through the use of dehumidifiers and air movers.
• Remove baseboards for adequate access to flooring.
• Properly ventilate the impacted area by drilling small holes in the baseboard area and using tubing with the injecti-dry system for either positive or negative airflow.

For assistance after a flood, contact SERVPRO of Alphabet City/Downtown Manhattan at (646) 665-4195. We're Faster To Any Size Disaster.

Are There Ways to Protect My Home After A Flood?

8/5/2020 (Permalink)

After your home suffers flood damage, you need a team of professionals to assist you with cleanup. Call SERVPRO right away! We are always available.

With a fast response and experienced technicians, our SERVPRO team can help your Downtown Manhattan home return to preloss condition quickly. 

After a flood loss in your Downtown Manhattan home, you can wonder if things will ever look and feel the same again. Standing water alone can cause devastation throughout affected areas of your home, providing an overwhelming sight for the DIY restorer. Our SERVPRO team can help with a fast response to these emergencies when you call and the equipment and expertise to manage the current conditions and return your home to its original state. 

While there are multiple degrees of flood damage in Downtown Manhattan homes after a loss incident, several of the approaches necessary to restore the current effects are the same. We have pre-stocked trailers loaded with water restoration equipment like extractors, air movers, dehumidifiers, and potent cleaning products to help. Arriving quickly with these tools and technologies already in hand ensures that vital mitigation begins as soon as possible and that there are no further opportunities for irreparable structural damage. 

What Are the Main Threats of a Flood Scenario?

Every flood situation comes with threats and risks to your home and its occupants. In many ways, this disaster is one of the most devastating that can befall a home, and that is why our professionals stay ready to respond to these water restoration needs as soon as you need it. Understanding some of the main threats to your property can help you know why you need to secure professional restoration to protect your house. Some of these pressing concerns include:

• Material Deterioration – Direct exposure to standing or migrating water after a flood can weaken construction materials. 
• Microbial Threats – Moist and damp conditions created by the presence of floodwater and saturation of many materials can present the appropriate conditions for mold growth in as little as 48 hours. 
• Contaminants – Natural flooding gets considered to be a blackwater incident, meaning that the likelihood of contamination and health threats are elevated. 
• Structural Damage – The longer that materials stay exposed to water, the more likely that they become weakened and deteriorate.

Is There a Way to Help Before SERVPRO Arrives? 

Often, homeowners want to do more to help their situation as soon as possible once disasters like flooding strike. While We’re Faster To Any Size Disaster and can often reach your property within hours of the first notice of loss, there are still ways to prepare for these possibilities and act when disasters strike in the small window before our competent professionals get there. Here is what you should do:

• Emergency Plan – Emergency plans are an excellent way to prepare for any loss situation that could impact your property. It assigns all of the occupants of your house with a path and destination so that they can safely get out of the house during a disaster. 
• Keepsakes and Heirlooms – There is no doubt that you have some irreplaceable valuables in your home that can become ruined by rising or spreading floodwater. If possible, in the earliest stages of this emergency, you can relocate some of your home contents to other areas of the property or take heirlooms and treasures with you when you vacate the house.
• Turn Off Utilities If Possible – If it is possible for you to get to them safely, you can cut the electrical service throughout your home by severing the primary breaker in the box, shut off water service with a valve where the water comes from the meter into your home, and other similar steps. These steps prevent damage to these elements that can amplify the hazards or work to get done.

What Can I Expect from Professional Restoration? 

While there is an allure to cleaning and restoring your home yourself, this is rarely feasible with flood losses, as so many areas of your property can become damaged without you even realizing it. We have sophisticated equipment to track water migration and the success of drying and restoration solutions that we implement. We have multiple strategies that set our professional restoration apart, and people have come to trust our SERVPRO team thanks to our immediate actions after a flood, including:

• Content Management
• Extraction
• Muck Out 
• Drying 
• Cleaning 

No matter how detrimental a flood loss situation can be, the right preparations and fast responses can make a substantial difference. Our SERVPRO of Alphabet City/Downtown Manhattan team can help with experience and capable equipment to make flood losses “Like it never even happened.” Give us a call today at (646) 665-4195.