How Can a Staging Area Help During Storm Damage Cleanup?

11/25/2020 (Permalink)

SERVPRO technicians streamline the restoration of Coram properties through the use of multiple applications.

Flood damage in a Riverside home can happen in many ways, and multiple areas of the structure can receive the effects. One common denominator during the restoration services is how SERVPRO techs handle the cleanup. They use a logical course of action that gets applied to fit the individual circumstances of the property that make each mitigation unique. The staging area for cleanup is one of those actions and usually has the following key elements:  

• Situated near a water source in the home such as a bathroom or laundry room in case the need for mixing specialized products arises
• The floor gets covered with a heavy-duty drop cloth for cleanliness  
• All of the tools needed for the restoration services get placed in an organized fashion so they can be found easily by the techs

Can Flood Damage Occur From a Backed Up Storm Drain?  

When flood damage happens in a Riverside home that affects the drainage of a storm drain in a garage, the resulting mess can be ugly. When these large outtake pipes back up due to getting overwhelmed, there is very little individuals can do. These pipes do not just drop water in the home; they bring debris and usually a smelly, black sludge that coats everything it touches. It is not uncommon for the water to have receded by the time SERVPRO techs arrive on the scene, mostly the sludge is still present. This type of cleanup requires multiple application, including:   

• Manual tools such as shovels to pick up the solids  
• Portable pumps to assist in removing any remaining water  
• Power scrubbers to remove stuck-on residues

Safety During Mitigation is Key  

Until the water gets tested by the techs upon arrival, there is no way to know if any harmful elements are in the water in the home. If it receded quickly, those elements could be in porous materials such as sheetrock or through seepage, and be resident within the subfloor. SERVPRO techs generally advise homeowners to keep both residents of the property and pets out of the work area, mainly until the water gets tested. After testing to determine any hazards present, the techs treat the water with their professional biocides and antimicrobial agents. During the cleanup, they wear protective clothing and set up air scrubbers and often negative air chambers to keep airborne droplets either captured or flowing out and clean air from outside the home flowing in. In some cases, the techs may set up containment around the worksite to inhibit any cross-contamination.

The flooring of all types is the article in the home that needs the most assistance after this type of damage from water.  Concrete is semi-porous. While it does absorb some moisture, the use of the drying equipment SERVPRO utilizes forces the embedded moisture to rise. Then the surface can get disinfected to sanitary levels for reuse. The techs have access to a vast selection and cleaning solutions. Several types developed explicitly for use on concrete to leave no efflorescence, the white powdery residue that occurs when salts and minerals in the concrete come to the surface.  

The final step in the restoration of this type is odor control. While the use of the cleaning solutions goes a long way towards limiting the odor from the water. Other actions include:   

• Removal of articles and building materials too damaged for restoration  
• Use of odor control equipment such as hydroxyl generators and thermal fogging  
• Scoping the property post-drying to ensure all areas show no residual moisture

Once the restoration services complete, the crew chief takes the homeowner through the property and goes over the actions taken, the items disposed of with permission, and any repairs that need to occur in the home. Once this walk-through completes, the property owner gets a written report that includes photographs of items with a detailed description of all restoration for the homeowner to use to file any insurance claims. Assisting individuals in expediting their reimbursement for the damage is another way that SERVPRO tries to make the bad situation in the home a little less stressful.

SERVPRO of West Riverside City at (951) 351-8033 cleans up and restores homes from any size flood damage. The certified technicians arrive quickly and work to make the water damage a thing of the past, "Like it never even happened."