Water and Fire Damage in New Providence

9/8/2023 (Permalink)

SERVPRO of Lancaster East and Southern Lancaster County was called to assist with a home in New Providence after the property suffered both water and smoke damage.  During these types of losses, we utilize our advanced equipment to perform the proper fire and water damage restoration procedures to help restore your home or business to preloss conditions!

Water damage events require our mitigation techniques followed by our air movers, which help to remove more of the water droplets that attempt to hide in your walls and floors.  This equipment is necessary in order to prevent further water damage or the potential growth of mold.

Our air scrubbers are also utilized in the role of removing smoke damage inside a structure.  This equipment captures and eliminates even the smoke that we can’t see through our IICRC-certified restoration procedures.

These techniques and equipment are just the beginning of the resources and expertise we offer for our Lancaster clients!  Should you experience fire, water, storm, or mold damage, SERVPRO of Lancaster East and Southern Lancaster County provides free consultations and estimates!

Summer Maintenance and Tips for Fall

8/23/2023 (Permalink)

Summer is coming to an end shortly, but there are still safety measures we should regularly follow in order to help keep our homes and businesses intact!  We list several of those for both summer and the upcoming fall below.

Summer Checklist

• Keep your home cool and regularly wipe down areas that are prone to moisture.  Showers and windows are two areas that quickly grow bacteria that can lead to mold damage.
• Check your insulation.  Repair any gaps to help with cooling costs.
• Check your grill for leaks and other issues.  Grills should be routinely cleared of grease to prevent a fire.
• Bonfires should be kept away from your property and any tree branches.
• We are still in hurricane season!  Ensure that your sump pump is working and that any necessary structural issues have been repaired to help prevent storm damage.

Fall Checklist

• Have your HVAC and heating systems inspected for signs of failure.
• Clear your gutters of leaves and other debris throughout the season to help prevent a buildup that can lead to water damage.
• Change your filters.  If they are clogged, this will increase your heating bill.

Routine maintenance should also be completed for your interior systems to ensure the utmost efficiency:

• Change the batteries in your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors annually.  Doing so before the temperature drops is a good plan since our heating systems are used over the winter.
• Dryer vents and ducts should be checked for issues or signs of debris.  A buildup can potentially cause a fire.

Stay safe, and remember to follow all proper safety procedures for your home or facility.  Should you suffer a fire or water damage event, or just need a routine duct or dryer vent cleaning, SERVPRO of Lancaster East and Southern Lancaster County is here to help!

Document Drying and Restoration

7/3/2023 (Permalink)

After fire or water damage has occurred, important documents are often damaged and left beyond repair.  However, there are times when these documents can be restored to preloss conditions.  With proper handling, SERVPRO of Lancaster East and Southern Lancaster County’s restoration professionals can help to restore your files.  There are several ways to perform the document restoration process:

Vacuum Freeze Drying

The most effective method of document drying after a water loss, this process uses sublimation to prevent further damage.  During this procedure, the liquid stage is skipped to allow a solid to turn directly into a vapor to properly remove signs of smoke or water from your files.

Gamma Irradiation

When documents are contaminated by bacteria after a flood or sewage disaster, this method is used to disinfect those files.

When documents can’t be recovered after a water or fire damage event, our restoration team can also provide certified destruction services.  In order to protect your sensitive information, we destroy the files entirely.

Storing your files electronically is another alternative to saving your critical information without the need to restore or replace those documents after a fire or water damage event.

SERVPRO of Lancaster East and Southern Lancaster County provides 24/7 emergency services for water and fire damage in our local area.  When smoke, soot, flooding or water damage affects your property and content, our restoration team responds immediately to make the disaster “Like it never even happened.”  We utilize specialized techniques and equipment to help recover your structure and the items inside that suffer any form of damage.  To learn more about our specialties and our document restoration services, give us a call!

Preventing Mold

6/30/2023 (Permalink)

When your Lancaster home or business suffers mold damage, it is critical to act immediately since mold can quickly spread throughout your home in as little as 48 hours.  Mold often occurs when moisture is present or when a space is wet and humid.  By frequently inspecting and cleaning the areas of your property that are prone to these conditions, mold growth can be prevented.  These areas include the following:

• Basements
• Bathrooms including the shower and floor tiles
• Window and door molding
• Refrigerator door seals
• Areas around your air conditioner

Preventing moisture is key to stopping mold in its tracks.  If mold damage does occur, a mold remediation professional can properly handle the removal and help to prevent further damage.

Attempting to remove the growth on your own can lead to further issues.  Mold spores can travel throughout your home and cause various health issues if proper equipment isn’t set to capture and remove those spores.  SERVPRO of Lancaster East and Southern Lancaster County utilizes our specialized air scrubbers to remove all harmful particles and sustain your healthy indoor air quality. Our advanced mold removal techniques also allow us to help ensure mold is no longer a threat to your property.

We follow guidelines outlined by the IICRC to assess each mold damage situation, perform the proper remediation techniques and restore a structure back to preloss conditions.  SERVPRO of Lancaster East and Southern Lancaster County is here to make any size mold damage disaster “Like it never even happened.”

Stay Safe This Hurricane Season!

6/29/2023 (Permalink)

Hurricane season has begun, posing the threat of severe storms until the end of November.  SERVPRO of Lancaster East and Southern Lancaster County provides 24/7 emergency services for when disasters strike in our local area!  We also are part of a nationwide network of franchises who answer the call for help when hurricanes or tornadoes leave a devastating impact on a community.

During hurricane season, it is important to be aware of the risks for your area and to prepare for the worst.  Check your local weather alerts and news channels for warnings of severe weather.  Before and after a storm occurs, inspect the interior and exterior of your property for signs of structural issues that can lead to water or storm damage in the future.

Evacuation plans and emergency kits are critical during extreme weather circumstances and power outages.  If your property is drastically damaged by a storm and you have safely exited the premises, do not re-enter the structure until you are told it is safe to do so by the authorities.  Electrical surges, roof collapses and other highly dangerous factors can come into play after a storm has occurred.

After a storm damage event, SERVPRO of Lancaster East and Southern Lancaster County’s restoration professionals are here to help restore any size property to preloss conditions.  We are proud to assist the local area with their needs, and we also provide a free Emergency READY Profile to help prepare facilities for when storm, water or fire damage occurs.  This assessment includes critical information about a building such as water and gas shut-offs so that business owners can quickly prevent further damage to the structure and lessen the time it takes to get the business running again.

SERVPRO assists local homeowners and business owners with their disaster recovery needs throughout the entire process.  We are proud to have the resources, knowledge and expertise to provide these emergency services to the Lancaster area!

Media Blasting

6/27/2023 (Permalink)

When significant fire damage occurs, SERVPRO of Lancaster East and Southern Lancaster County provides a range of advanced services to help restore what was lost.  Often, the fire damage restoration process requires smoke and soot cleaning, content cleaning and removal, odor deodorization techniques and other professional services to make the damage to a property “Like it never even happened.”  We also offer even more advanced techniques for when fire damage is too substantial to be removed with our routine methods.

One of these techniques is called media blasting, which helps to remove fragments of fire, smoke and soot damage from a structure.  Media blasting involves using high pressure to force an abrasive material onto a surface to remove the damage on that surface.  Baking soda, dry ice and garnet are a few of the materials that are often used to do this.

This technique has been shown to help remove difficult signs of fire damage from many surfaces so that we can restore any size property to preloss conditions.  SERVPRO of Lancaster East and Southern Lancaster County uses media blasting when necessary in order to efficiently remove all signs of fire damage from a property.  Our specialized fire damage restoration procedures allow our team to provide the utmost service for your home or business when disaster strikes!

Choose SERVPRO

7/8/2022 (Permalink)

Ceiling damage from fire

In an industry that has a large variety of competitors, we strive to be the PREMIER restoration business- not in the state- but in the world! You may think that is a hard feat- and you're not wrong, but with your help we can certainly make it happen!

When you put your restoration needs in our hands, you are sure to receive the absolute best care! Just ask our customers!

The heart of our business lies in that we simply care. As a local family run business, our goal is to personally connect with you and your families needs, so that we can affectively get the job done right and meet YOUR standards. We train our crew with the same standards, so that the entire process is smooth and efficient. 

SERVPRO Knows Mold!

7/8/2022 (Permalink)

Mold in a customer's basement.

Molds are everywhere in our environment and are a vital part of the ecological system. Molds have existed a long time, and mold contamination was known in biblical times. Yet in recent years, due to increased knowledge about the subject of molds, a new emphasis is given to the proper handling of mold contamination. Molds are impacting the restoration market, and many people in the industry want to know more about them. In recent years, interest and sensitivity regarding the subject of molds have increased. From the legal and insurance professions to the science and indoor air quality fields, consumers have become more interested in mold information. 

SERVPRO has highly qualified technicians that are trained in the proper practice of removing mold efficiently and correctly.

Oh No- Wet Carpets!

7/8/2022 (Permalink)

Wet carpet.

One of the main issues we face when confronted with water damage is the dreaded wet carpets. How does SERVPRO address this you may wander? First off, we have to assess the extent of the damage. The perimeter of wet carpet and pad can easily be determined with a moisture sensor or an infrared camera. Delamination is the separation of the primary backing from the secondary backing. Delamination can easily occur due to overly aggressive extraction, an improper handling or the wrong pad being installed under the carpet. When saturated with Category 3 water, the carpet will be contained and removed for proper disposal. Carpets that have been affected by Category 3 water will be replaced; if any materially interested party disagrees, we can talk with your insurance company. As for carpet padding – that will be removed and disposed of if saturated with Categories 2 or 3 water.

Basement Water Damage.

7/8/2022 (Permalink)

Equipment is set.

This job came in as a water loss due to a pipe burst in a half finished basement mechanical room with carpet  Although the water was turned off shortly after, the drywall, baseboard, and insulation was still affected heavily. We sent a crew out immediately to asses the damage and get to work! Our crew began extracting water from the basement, which took quite a bit as there was over 1 inch! Afterwards, we removed the content that was affected from being stored in the basement. Since there was a lot of content, we called in some extra technicians to make sure we handled this as quickly and efficiently as possible. Once the standing water and content was taken care of and stabilized, we set our equipment and let the magic happen!