Ice Dams

12/11/2023 (Permalink)

Ice dams can be a little-known, but major problem during the snowy season. They form when heated air melts roof snow downward into water dammed behind still-frozen ice. When the trapped water cannot safely flow or run into the gutter system, it can backflow under the roofs shingles and into the structures interior areas, as well as causing gutters and shingles to move or fall.

Icicles can be an initial sign of an ice dam, according to Travellers.com. To spot ice dams inside, “check for water stains or moisture in your attic or along the ceiling of exterior walls of your house. Water stains or moisture may be an indication that an ice dam has formed and water has penetrated the rood membrane.”

Removing an ice dam as soon as it is found is vital to. Helping prevent damage to your property and can be done using heated cables, a roof shovel, or calcium chloride ice melted.

Fire Fears

10/11/2023 (Permalink)

A backdraft of emotions often sweeps over the homeowners after a fire ravages a home. Fear, uncertainty, stress and doubt can overwhelm the homeowner long after the flames have been extinguished and the smoke has cleared. The first 48 hours after a fire damage can make the difference between restoring versus replacing your property and personal belongings. SERVPRO® of Aurora can help prevent fire damage from creating long term problems. SERVPRO of Aurora provides timely response with mitigation services ranging from fire, smoke and soot removal to contents claims inventory and document restoration. These services help ensure your property, belongings and memories are restored to preloss condition when possible.

So after the first wave of heroes have rescued the property, let SERVPRO of Aurora help you restore it. With the industry approved training to employ rapid response, the utmost professionalism, cutting edge technology and open communication, we strive to restore not only the home, but the customer's peace of mind as well.

SERVPRO of Aurora is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to help you regain control quickly.

Emergency Water Damage Tips

10/11/2023 (Permalink)

Floods are among the most frequent and costly natural disasters.  Conditions that cause floods include heavy or steady rain for several hours or days that saturates the ground.  This is especially true when the ground is still frozen or too dry.  Flash floods can occur in the country or city, where runoff from buildings, parking lots and streets can overwhelm municipal storm water sewers. Fortunately, you can help prevent the water damage that floods can cause your home.  Here are several flood control fixes you can make to help manage storm water runoff and prevent flood damage to your home:

1. Slope soil away from your home's foundation.               
2. Clean out gutters and downspouts in the fall and spring.  You can also use downspout extensions to carry water farther away from your foundation.           
3. Plug holes or cracks in you gutters, downspouts and downspout extensions.                                                
4. Set up a downspout to empty into a rain barrel.            
5. Look for holes or cracks in your foundation and completely fill them.                                                  
6. If your home is prone to flooding, having a sump pump installed is the most convenient flood control.      
7. Review with all family members how to shut off utilities in an emergency.                                                        

You will be better prepared to withstand a flood, or any disaster, if you have an emergency plan in place.  Plan and practice an evacuation route and have an emergency kit packed and ready to go.

A BUSINESS PLAN FOR FIRE EMERGENCIES

10/11/2023 (Permalink)

An emergency escape plan is not required for all businesses; however, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recommends building an emergency action plan to protect yourself, your employees, and your business during an emergency. OSHA suggests the following steps when developing such a plan.

Organize an Emergency Preparedness review with your employees to review your company's emergency plans. You may wish to select an individual or team of individuals to lead and coordinate your emergency plan.

Once a plan is developed, post evacuation procedures, including routes and exits, where they are easily accessible to all employees. Ensure all exits and routes are clearly marked and well lit.

Conduct office evacuation exercises and drills. Once completed, evaluate how well the plan worked and if additional training or exercises are needed.

When Floodwaters Rise

10/11/2023 (Permalink)

If your home or business has been damaged by a severe flood, it is natural to want to get back to your property to begin the cleanup process. However, the first rule is safety. The FEMA website warns us to be aware of roads or bridges possibly weakened or damaged by the flood. Flood waters are often considered "black water," meaning they may contain contaminates such as oil, gasoline, raw sewage and more - all of which may be harmful upon contact.

Electric lines are often down following a severe flood, and this can be a severe hazard. FEMA cautions us to stay away from any downed power lines and return home only when authorities tell us it is safe.

If flood strikes your home or business, call SERVPRO® of Aurora and we will make it "Like it never even happened."

Handling your Commercial Property with SERVPRO

9/25/2022 (Permalink)

There are over 21 million commercial establishments in the United States, occupying 4.9 million buildings. These buildings cover over 72 billion square feet or 1.6 million acres. The U.S. adds about 1.6 billion square feet per year—nearly 110,000 buildings annually, or roughly half-a-million buildings every five years. The sheer magnitude of annual growth in commercial real estate is astounding.

How are you planning on protecting your property?

Most companies attempt to treat a commercial project like a “really big house”, which is a big mistake. Calling and hiring a restoration company without the right education or credentials can cause further damage and business interruption.

With residential homes, the primary purpose is to house a family, whereas commercial structures have a variety of uses and functions. All these factors can affect the restoration process. 

Commercial facilities, if they are greatly impacted by damage, require more time for scoping, planning, and estimating. Additional square footage affected raises the requirements of the commercial project, meaning additional management staff, labor, equipment, and supplies will be needed.

At SERVPRO, we have a highly trained, experienced, and certified team, able to handle all your property damage needs. Our staff receives ongoing training from our corporate training facility to meet and exceed IICRC industry certifications. This ensures we provide the proper assessment and repairs.

When your property is the victim of a disaster or damage, such as water and fire damage, fire and smoke damage, or storm damage, every minute counts to minimize the effect on your building.

Every time we enter a commercial large loss project, we focus on the differences that occur in a commercial building over a residential home. We consider how our communication, planning, and even our conversations might have to be altered to provide the highest level of customer service on a commercial restoration project when speaking with either an owner or property management team.

Our cleaning and restoration team can provide support from water damage cleanup and water damage restoration to fire damage repairs and mold remediation services. As a locally owned and operated facility, we provide commercial cleaning services, residential cleaning services, biohazard cleanup, carpet cleaning, air duct cleaning, mold removal, and more.

When you have a disaster or water emergency call us at SERVPRO of Lockport, Lemont, and Homer Glen, your trusted leader for restoration services, 24 hours, 7 days a week to restore your home or business. We are centrally located, and you will receive an immediate response. Faster to any size disaster. Make it "Like it never even happened."

Top Things to Know About Mold

9/22/2022 (Permalink)

We’ve all have seen mold before. Whether it’s in a bathroom, on an exterior wall, in the fridge on some food, or other damp areas; we’ve all experienced mold before. While many people are quite familiar with mold and battling it in their Lockport, Lemont, or Homer Glen home, most may not know everything about this nuisance. In this blog, we go over some of the top things most people may not know about mold in their businesses and homes.

Mold Is Practically Everywhere

Mold at it’s smallest form travels as microscopic spores through the air we breathe. It is in the air outside our home and inside our home. There is no simple way to remove all traces of mold from your home. It is naturally occurring and exists everywhere. While there is very little you can do to keep mold spores from entering your home, you can take steps to keep those spores from colonizing and growing into a bigger and more visible mold growth problem. Keep the air circulating throughout your home and eliminate any moisture problems.

Mold Can Grow In Many Places

The key to mold growth is moisture and organic material. In the home, organic material can include carpeting, wood framing materials, drywall, cardboard boxes, clothes, wallpaper, and furniture. In the forest, mold grows or feeds off of dead organic matter like dead trees and fallen leaves. Mold can also grow from the dust on a concrete floor or in your air ducts. If there is organic material and moisture present, mold will find a way to grow.

Moisture is Mold’s Best Friend

While you can’t eliminate organic material from your home, you can take away the fuel that causes mold growth -- moisture and standing water. The reason why you will often find mold in basements, bathrooms, and crawl spaces is because that is where you also tend to find moisture in the air. Since mold spores and organic material are present in most environments, including homes and businesses, it is just a matter of introducing moisture to cause mold to grow.

In basements, you can reduce the moisture with a dehumidifier, In a crawl space, you can line the bare ground with a moisture barrier lock i.e. plastic sheeting. With bathrooms, you can make sure to keep the exhaust fan on when showering and leave the bathroom door open afterward to allow the moisture to dissipate.

If you should have a basement flood or a roof leak or a broken water pipe, it’s important to get the water and the moisture out quickly to inhibit mold growth. Since water can get into areas that may not be so easy to dry, most homeowners and businesses contact a water damage restoration and mold remediation company, like SERVPRO of Lockport, Lemont, and Homer Glen. They have the equipment and the expertise to remove all of the water and all of the moisture and treat the areas to prevent mold from taking hold. If mold growth has occurred, they can also remediate the mold and eliminate the moisture problem.

Mold Has a Distinct Smell

Mold can’t always be spotted with the naked eye. Sometimes it is hidden underneath or deep within carpets. Sometimes it starts inside walls or in air ducts or in other hidden and unseen areas of your home. If you don’t see the mold occurring, the other tell-tale sign of the presence of mold in your home is the smell of mold. Mold has a distinct musty smell that many may acquaint with a basement or crawl space or wet forest. The smell is the result of the mold eating and metabolizing the organic material it is feeding off of. The material can include most organic matter like wood, carpeting, clothes, cardboard boxes, drywall, and furniture. In the forest, mold feeds off dead organic matter like fallen trees and dead leaves.

Call the Mold Remediation Professionals

If the mold should get out of hand or you discover mold growth in your basement or crawlspace, call the mold remediation experts at SERVPRO of Lockport, Lemont, and Homer Glen. They have the expertise and equipment to safely remove and remediate your mold problem. If your home should suffer flooding or water damage, it’s important to quickly remove the water and moisture to reduce or eliminate potential mold growth. SERVPRO can also help homeowners and business owners out with water damage restoration. Give them a call any time and any day for your water damage and mold problems.

24 Hour Response. Here to Help.

9/21/2022 (Permalink)

Here at SERVPRO of Lockport, Lemont, and Homer Glen, we are available 24 hours a day for water emergencies, large or small. So, when you are dealing with water damage, immediate action is crucial. A delay of just a few hours can greatly increase the severity of the water damage.

We understand when you call, you may be feeling confused, stressed, and vulnerable. You need an expert to guide you through. SERVPRO has the specific water damage training and experience to help you through this tough time. We specialize in water damage restoration as the cornerstone of our business.

When you call, you can expect several questions from us regarding your water damage emergency. These questions will help us determine what equipment and resources to bring, including how many trained SERVPRO of Lockport, Lemont, and Homer Glen technicians may be needed.

Here are some of the questions you may be asked:

              Your name and contact information

              Your insurance information (if applicable)

              The street address of the water-damaged home or business

              When did the flooding or water damage occur?

              What caused the water damage (if known)?

              Is there electricity available (on-site)?

We specialize in the cleanup and restoration of residential and commercial property after a fire, smoke or water damage event. Our staff is highly trained in property damage restoration. From initial and ongoing training at SERVPRO's corporate training facility to regular IICRC-industry certification, rest assured our staff is equipped with the knowledge to restore your property.

How to protect you home against flooding

9/13/2022 (Permalink)

Flash Flood Warning-- the alert that many of us dread. By calling SERVPRO of Lockport, Lemont, and homer Glen, we can help make it "Like it never even happened."

How to Protect Your Property:

• Keep insurance policies, important documents and other valuables in a safe-deposit box. Make sure you store them where it's least likely to be damaged by a flood.
• Raise your furnace, water heater and electric panel to higher floors if there are areas in your home that are capable of being flooded. 
• Install check valves in building sewer traps to prevent flood water from backing up into the drains of your home. 
• Seal walls in basements with waterproofing elements to avoid leakage through cracks. 

Kitchen Fire Damage Prevention

9/13/2022 (Permalink)

SERVPRO of Lockport, Lemont, and Homer Glen understands the importance of keeping families and loved ones safe. According to the NFPA, “House fire claims over the five years have caused $6.9 billion  in property damage.” SERVPRO is dedicated to being a resource when you need us most. We want to make sure that our community is taking all the precautions necessary to prevent house fires. The following are tips to avoid fire damage in the kitchen.

Kitchen Fire Damage Safety

• When cooking food, stay at home and keep an eye on it.
• Keep children away from the kitchen when you are cooking
• Avoid food and grease buildup on cooking surfaces
• Solvents and flammable cleaners should be kept away from hot surfaces.
• Never store fuel in your home or business.
• Check that no electric cords from your appliances are hanging from the counters.

Smoke Detectors

• Replace smoke detectors every six months.
• Check the status of your smoke alarms.
• Plan a fire escape strategy for family members including pets.

In the event of fire or smoke damage, please contact SERVPRO of Lockport, Lemont, and Homer Glen to help restore your home or property. Our certified technicians focus on helping you restore your home to the pre-fire condition you know and love. If you have any questions about what we do after fire damage or need help recovering from a fire damage incident, give us a call at any time.