Water Damage Restoration
We at DISASTER EXPERTS, INC. know that having water in your home or business where it’s not supposed to be can be a very traumatic situation. We also know that not many people are enthused about meeting a professional water restorer at 3a.m. One of the most important things is to respond to this rapidly. Below is a checklist of do’s and don’ts when you have water damage in your home or business.
WHAT DO I DO!?
Remove the source of the water if the source is known and/or call a plumber
Stay calm
Call DISASTER EXPERTS at 770-943-4002
Call your property insurance company to notify them of the loss; tell them you have taken prudent steps to preserve and protect your property as most likely is prescribed under the terms of your policy
Turn off circuit breakers to the affected area; unplug small electrical devices such as electronics, televisions and lamps and remove from the affected area
Remove contents and furnishings to avoid possible staining of the flooring; for heavy furniture it may be possible to put plastic or foil under the legs
Pin up draperies and bedding skirts that may come in contact with wet flooring materials to prevent water marks
Check under furnishings, bedding and closets for contents that may become damaged or ruined
Remove and secure items that are breakable, sensitive to moisture or of high value
Plan for the water damage restoration crew to move heavy furnishings to dry areas of the structure
Wash hands thoroughly after handling wet items
Remain calm – we can restore almost anything to its pre-loss condition
DO NOT:
Remove any flooring materials since contaminants can be released into the respirable air
Use a vacuum cleaner or shop vac due to electric shock hazards
Put newspaper on floor since ink may transfer to the flooring
Walk on wet floor more than necessary to prevent more damage and because of risk of falling when stepping from carpeted floor to a hard surface
Handle items or turn on any air moving equipment if the water is suspected to be contaminated with SEWAGE- see the section entitled SEWAGE for these procedures
When we arrive at your dwelling, a structural drying specialist will first identify health and safety issues, then discuss with you procedures that he or she recommends.At this time payment of your insurance deductible will be collected. A rough estimate may be given to you in writing regarding the work necessary. A water damage loss can be broken down into three categories: mitigation, coordination and completion .
First we must mitigate, or keep to a minimum, the loss by responding rapidly, removing any standing water and preventing damage to contents. We have specialized equipment that removes up to 95% of the water from the structure making it easier to dry the rest through dehumidification and airflow. There are no two losses the same. However, many are similar and we have encountered just about everything when it comes to water damage. In many cases we can restore the structure without removing the flooring materials, which reduces to cost of the claim and gets you back to normal living more expeditiously. We then use psychrometry to determine the amount of water that must be removed once evaporation begins to take place. Drying is a science. We have the expertise to know which equipment is necessary and how many are needed. We must let you know in advance that the equipment may be too loud for normal living. We assure you that the equipment will only be there until the structure is dry.
Next we coordinate with your insurance adjuster to determine what must be done to restore you to a pre-loss condition. This is where the fun starts. We have built relationships with certain insurance companies that are familiar with structural drying. Unfortunately, there are others that we call “old school” that think they know what’s best for you.
Some insurance adjusters claim that your pad under your carpet must be replaced or mold will grow. On a clean water loss that we respond to within the first 24 hours this is simply not the case. The problem is that most companies don’t have the proper equipment or technical training to remove the water from the pad. Therefore, they take the pad out, charge for this, move all your furniture around, charge for this, dry the carpet, charge for this, replace the pad, charge for this, and reinstall the carpet, charge for this as well. We find in many cases when this procedure is followed the carpet reinstallation is not done according to proper industry standards, which can be downloaded for free by anyone at www.carpet-rug.com The documents are CRI 104 and CRI 105 which are carpet installation standards.
After we extract the water from the carpet and cushion you can pull up the carpet in one corner, grab the pad with your fist and squeeze – you won’t get one drop of water! Once we remove the excess moisture from your structure we will install drying equipment that will finish the job. We will monitor the drying process daily to determine when the structure is dry. The drying time will depend on what got wet. If it was just a floor it may be dry in one or two days. If it went through multiple levels total drying may take more than a week.
There are cases when structural materials have to be replaced and contents are destroyed. We will discuss this with all parties involved and help you receive new materials of like kind and quality in order to restore you to a pre-loss condition. In some cases regarding your contents the insurance company attaches a monetary value to the contents and reimburses you financially. If you have items that have sentimental value such as pictures, we can restore those in many cases.
Finally, completion of the job is when you are satisfied that we have done everything we said we would do to your satisfaction. You sign a completion certificate and we submit the bill. Your only financial obligation to us is the deductible payment before we start mitigation. We will follow up with a survey, which we ask that you please submit to. Without your input we can’t find areas where we can improve that we might not have thought about.