PuroClean Learning Center

When the topic of winter weather home maintenance comes into focus, the emphasis is typically put on preventing frozen and broken water pipes, a common issue that homeowners experience in the cold months that can escalate into a full-blown water loss if not taken care of properly and promptly. But one other aspect of winter weather home maintenance that homeowners need to be aware of is ice dams.

In April 2010, the EPA Renovation, Repair, and Painting Rules (RRP) went into effect regarding renovation, repair and restoration in homes and other structures that might contain lead paint. Since that date, there have been several lawsuits filed by environmental and consumer groups. As a result of those lawsuits a number of significant changes to the program.  The RRP program impacts so many homes and other structures in virtually every community in the United States, it is important to understand the changes and how they affect you.

Over the years, there has been an abundance of misconceptions and non-truths involving property damage and restoration procedures. Professional restoration companies are trained to see beyond the misconceptions and misinformation that often complicate a claim. If someone doesn’t act quickly enough or doesn’t take the right actions due to these misconceptions, they can end up with even more damage to deal with, that could have easily been avoided.

Whenever property is damaged by water, it is essential to dry that property and all contents as quickly and effectively as possible.  In the past, water damage restoration contractors had few options available to them when performing water damage restoration.  Equipment was limited in its availability, variety, efficiency, and effectiveness.  Mitigating water damage and restoring structures to a pre-loss condition was often ineffective.

Restoration professionals are often asked if they are able to remove cigarette or tobacco smoke odors. For instance, a home may need to be deodorized when it is being sold; an apartment may need the service between tenants; an automobile may need odor removal; etc.                                          

Due to the recent floods throughout the United States, much of the nation has experienced violent weather in recent months and literally millions of people have had a deluge (rain or flood) hit their community! These storms have resulted in water damage impacting hundreds of thousands of homes. If that water damage is not dealt very quickly and professionally, the inevitable result will be mold.

In today’s homes, finished flooring materials are becoming more popular than carpet. This changes how we handle the restoration process, as a result of water damage. How the flooded material will be taken care of is dependent upon the following circumstances: response time, flooring type, replacement value, type of wood, type of finish, method of installation, amount of moisture, and the degree of water damage already evident.

Dealing with the aftermath of a fire is difficult for a few reasons. If you are cleaning up after a home fire, it is both mentally and psychically tough. You are looking at what may be left of your home from the fire damage. In 2009, there were 377,000 residential fires in the United States, or 78% of the total number of structural fires, a residential fire occurred every 84 seconds, and $7,796,000,000 of property losses from fire damage occurred in residential properties, alone.

Flood situations are never something to mess around with. They often require professional restoration services. The biggest concern is drying everything as quickly as possible to restore the property to pre flood conditions. Concrete is often challenging to dry because it has unique properties in flood conditions.