One of the first things I have learned is that it is important to inspect the exterior of the home to make sure that natural forces can’t bring water inside.  For instance, by keeping my roof in good repair, I can reduce the probability that a downpour will result in water damage.  Rain gutters are another thing that are easy to check, but that often get forgotten.  They get clogged and can allow water to enter the house.   I know that I have kept water out of my home by keeping my gutters cleaned out.  In addition, it is a good idea to inspect the foundation for signs of problems.

I have also found that a regular inspection of my pipes is a good method for water damage prevention.  I can look at my pipes, faucets, taps and hoses to see if everything checks out.  If there are any leaks or cracks, I can get them fixed before they create a much larger problem.  I always try to remember to look at appliances like the washing machine and dishwasher when I check my pipes.

Bathrooms are notorious for water damage, and are one of the places where water damage prevention is very necessary.  Over time, the sealant or caulking around the tub, sink, and toilet can become deteriorated.  Re-sealing these areas doesn’t cost me much or even take very much time, but it can sure prevent future costs that water damage can cause.

Other problems from water are related to the humidity levels in the bathroom.  By making sure my ventilation fans are clean and working, I can prevent humidity from building up in there.  High levels of humidity can provide a great place for mold or mildew to grow, and the damage they cause can be expensive.

I put myself on a regular schedule for water damage prevention so that I can keep up with any problems as they begin.  Of course, there are often issues that are not expected and couldn’t really be prevented, so I keep the number of a good disaster relief company handy so that I can make the call as soon as I notice a problem.

It was a crazy experience, with a disaster relief company coming to determine the cause, and wondering what would need to be done.  We ended up having to rip out quite a bit of the floor that was rotting because of the mold, as well as the exterior wall behind the pantry.  The culprit was a poorly flashed roof, so the insurance only covered the interior damage, but that was pricey enough that I was glad I had homeowner’s insurance that covered at least a part of the cost.

Once it was all cleaned up through mold remediation, and the pantry and floor replaced, repainted and re-floored, no one would ever be able to tell it had ever happened.  However, I felt I had better learn a little more about how mold grows and what it can do.  First of all, I found that mold grows very well in high humidity and can even grow in temperatures as cold as 40 degrees.  Mold can grow behind such things as wallpaper and under linoleum and tile.  All mold needs is a food source, such as wood, and humidity.  As the mold eats into the wood, it begins to rot, which can go on for a long time, in my case for years.

After it had all been cleaned up, my cough went away.  I think I was allergic to the mold!  Mold can cause allergies, breathing difficulties such as asthma, and can even cause rashes.  Some molds can even contribute to cancer or damage to the nervous system.  As you can see, it is important to watch for signs of a mold problem and have it taken care of as soon as possible through mold remediation.  Damage caused by mold can be fairly expensive, as the mold must be removed, and if wood is rotting, walls or other structures will need to be replaced.

Christmas is a wonderful time of year, but sometimes people are so busy being concerned about the festiveness of the season that they don’t take enough precautions for preventing fire damage during the holidays.  There are a number of different causes of fires during the holiday season.  Candles, overloaded electrical circuits, lights on the Christmas tree, and cooking accidents.

I have learned that it is important to never leave candles unattended.  It is much better to blow out a candle when you leave the room and relight it than to have to deal with a fire that has been started by a candle that has tipped over or been knocked over by a pet or a child.  Although I love the look of candles as well as the scent of many of them, I am very careful to never light them without making sure I watch them.

There are so many beautiful decorations, and it is easy to find many that run on electricity that really make my home festive.  However, simply using extension cords or surge protectors doesn’t mean that I am not overloading the circuits.  Even if I don’t plug in so many items that my circuit trips, if I am pulling a lot of amps for a long time, the wires can overheat and can start a fire.  With the Christmas tree, I usually plug my lights in sequence, like most other people do.  However, if I plug too many lights in sequence, I am forcing those small cords that are designed to pull just a few amps to pull more than they can handle, which means that the wires may melt or even start a fire.

Another tip for preventing fire damage during the holidays is to be very careful with Christmas tree lights on a live tree.  I know that if I haven’t kept the tree in water or if I have had it for too long, it can be susceptible to the heat from the lights and catch fire.

With so many wonderful treats and foods that are cooked for the holidays, it is no wonder that cooking fires are the number one culprit during the holidays.  Taking sensible cooking precautions is a big step toward preventing fire damage during the holidays.  If a fire starts, slide a pan lid over the flames when it is a grease or oil fire and turn off the heat.   Baking soda is used for other types of food fires, but don’t use water.  I always keep a kitchen fire extinguisher nearby when cooking.

Smoke damage restoration professionals in Arizona understand that different kinds of smoke create different kinds of damage and will require specific cleaning processes.  For instance, a smoldering fire tends to have lower heat and often creates wet smoke, and the results can be a sticky mess that is challenging to clean, even for smoke damage restoration specialists.  Hot, fast-burning fires usually leave a dry powdery residue.  There may be other types of smoke related to protein residue and fuel oils, for instance, which need to be addressed.  In addition, the means used to put out the fire can also leave residues and cause damage, such as residue from a fire extinguisher.  You want a smoke damage restoration company that understands the best methods of cleaning different kinds of residues that result from a fire.

Professional smoke damage restoration companies in Phoenix understand that smoke can leave soot that is visible as well as odors, which are not.  They also know that each fire burns different materials and that the smoke issues must be cleaned with different products depending on what the fire was burning.

Different materials will require different methods and cleaning solutions.  For instance, you will not clean clothing, drapes, and carpets in the same way you clean the walls or hardwood floors.  This is why using a smoke damage restoration company in Phoenix, Arizona that understands the different materials and methods required to clean them is definitely preferable to trying to take care of it yourself without the proper knowledge or materials.  Although you may think you can save money by doing it yourself, you could actually cause damage that is irreparable so that items that may have been able to be restored by a professional smoke damage restoration company in Arizona will now need to be replaced.

Odors left from smoke are even harder to eliminate unless you have professional equipment.  The heat of a fire tends to open up the pores in the walls, which allows them to fill with the smoke from the fire.  As the fire cools, those pores close back up.  However, when you get warm days those pores can open up again and the smoke odor can enter back into the room.  Only professional smoke damage restoration companies have the equipment needed to open up those wall pores and get rid of this smoke odor.

As you can see there are many things about smoke damage that the average homeowner doesn’t really understand and does not have the ability to mitigate on his own.  By working with a professional smoke damage restoration company in Phoenix, you can eliminate the smoke damage that has occurred, have your things restored to their pre-fire state, and begin to move forward again with your life.

In addition to walls and furniture that are destroyed or damaged by the fire itself, you will find that included in fire damage is smoke damage, which can cause problems in areas that you may think were unaffected by the fire.  Fire restoration professionals understand what smoke can do, and how it travels.  For instance, hot smoke will move to the upper floors of the home or building, and smoke is also prone to flowing around pipes, which can allow it access to other areas of the building, including lower floors.  This can cause smoke damage as well as odor problems.

Fires can be termed simple if they are burning from pure fuels such as wood, and these tend to result in a more complete combustion, which makes fire restoration a much easier job.  However, most house fires are actually complex fires because the fuels they draw from include the synthetics that make up the things in your house, such as carpet, paint, furniture, and so forth, and fire restoration specialists know this.  The combustion from these synthetic fuels is not complete, so the residues left behind can be much more challenging to take care of.  This is why you need a professional fire restoration company that understands the way different fires burn and how to mitigate the damages to handle the job for you.

When you are looking for fire restoration assistance in Phoenix, you want to select a company that will send someone out quickly to look at the damage.  It is important to note that disturbing a building after a fire, even to get your belongings, can cause additional damage, so getting professional fire restoration technicians there to handle that for you is preferable to trying to do it yourself.  They can analyze the situation and let you know whether it is safe for you to enter undamaged areas.  Fire restoration professionals will also help you to determine if you need to remove your things while your house is being put back in order.

Fire restoration specialists in Phoenix, Arizona know exactly how to separate and protect areas of the home or business that were not damaged in the fire so that soot cannot damage those unaffected areas.  Professionals who do fire restoration are trained to know whether items can be restored or will need to be replaced, as well as how long it will take to do the job.  They understand the best methods for removing smoke damage and soot and will help you to understand what the costs will be.  When you have a tragedy such as a fire, it is best to contact professionals who understand the art of fire restoration.

If you have standing water, you will need water damage restoration to include water extraction services.  It is important to you that the professionals that you hire understand how to do your water extraction properly, because if it is not done correctly, you could have issues with mold later on.  These types of issues are often not manifested for quite some time. You want to work with a water damage restoration company that understands these issues and can restore your water damaged home to its original condition.  They should use dehumidifiers and understand exactly how to dry everything out properly as well as how to restore things that have been damaged.

In addition, you want a water damage restoration company in Arizona that understands the importance of working with electricity.  If you have experienced a flood or a broken pipe in a wall, you may have some electrical wiring or electronic components that were soaked by the water.  In order to reduce the possibility of short circuit problems, you want your water damage restoration company to be skilled in handling this sort of problem so that they are not in any danger, and so that your family is also protected from these types of issues.

It should be important to you that the water damage restoration company in Phoenix, Arizona that you select uses the procedures dictated by the IICRC and the RIA for companies in this industry.  You want to know that they are certified and licensed.

When you are looking for a water damage restoration company in Phoenix, Arizona, you can ask friends and neighbors who they have used or you may look online to see what is available.  Another option is to call your insurance company to get recommendations on which water damage restoration company they prefer to use, especially if you feel that the damage is going to cost you more than your deductible and you will need to file an insurance claim.  It is helpful to get a couple of names from your insurance company so that you can make comparisons.  Online testimonials and reviews by customers can tell you a lot about a company and how people felt they handled the problem.  You will want to find a company in Phoenix that has great reviews telling you how professionally they handled the problem and how pleased the customer is with the results.

The first thing that needs to happen when you find evidence of mold is to call a mold remediation company to help you locate the source.  For instance, if the mold remediation company finds evidence of mold under your kitchen linoleum, you may wonder how to locate the source.  This is where the mold remediation company in Arizona can be extremely helpful.  They can bring in a specialist to help you determine the location of the water that is allowing the mold to grow.

The mold remediation specialist will have a meter that can detect water in walls and will check to see if there is evidence of a leaky pipe.  It is possible that the mold remediation specialist will find high moisture readings on an outside wall where there is no pipe.  If this is the case, you may need to look at your outer wall and see if there is any evidence of water damage to it.  If your outer wall is stucco, you could have water running under the stucco and wetting down the wall, allowing the water to travel from the outside of the house to the inside of the house where it seeped under the kitchen flooring.

Once the mold remediation specialist has determined what the source is for the mold, you will want to do what is necessary to help dry out the area, whether that means fixing the roof and replacing the exterior wall or cutting out an interior wall and repairing a leaky pipe.  The Arizona mold remediation company will test the mold to determine more about it and then will let you know what they can do about it.  The mold remediation company may tell you that flooring may need to be removed if the mold problem is quite bad, and areas such as joists or studs may need to have the mold removed and may need to be cleaned.  Having professional mold remediation technicians do the job is important because they have the proper protective equipment as well as the proper solutions to actually clean the mold and remove it.  Doing it yourself is never recommended because most homeowners do not have proper safety equipment or cleaning products like the specialists at the mold remediation companies have.  They will work hard to get it cleaned up for you as quickly as possible.  Once this is done, you can breathe freely again.

Choose Firestorm 24/7 for emergency fire damage repair, experienced contracting, remodels, and complete fire restoration. They offer restoration services including soot and smoke removal, contents clearing, and demolition if necessary. They even do preventative maintenance and repairs to help ensure your building won’t require fire restoration or smoke damage repair in the future.

Remember, as thankful as we are to enjoy the sunny weather, we Arizonans need to take extra precaution when it comes to fire safety. But should you find yourself in need of a quick and effective fire restoration in Arizona, rest assured Firestorm 24/7 will be there to take care of you.

Firestorm 24/7 is currently located in the following cities.

• Scottsdale
• Tempe
• Phoenix
• Glendale
• Avondale
• Peoria
• Chandler
• Gilbert
• Mesa

Do …

• Turn off the source of the water … this may include the main supply
• Remove as much excess water as possible by mopping and blotting
• Wipe water from wood furniture after removing lamps and tabletop items
• Remove and prop up wet upholstery cushions for even drying
• Use aluminum foil or unstained wood blocks to shield furniture legs from wet carpeting
• Turn on air conditioning, if possible, for maximum drying in summer
• Open drawers and cabinet doors for complete drying (do not force)
• Move oil paintings and art objects to a safe place
• Protect the safety of your family and pets by keeping them away from affected areas

Firestorm 24/7 use specialized, heavy-duty equipment to help speed the drying process and reduce the damaging effects of mold and bacteria.

Don’t …

• Use a household vacuum cleaner to remove water
• Use any type of electrical appliance while standing on wet floors
• Leave books, magazines or colored items on wet carpets or floors

Insurance Claims

Firestorm 24/7 works directly for you. Our team of licensed, professional water removal technicians is experienced in negotiating with all major insurance companies to help you get the service you need. In most cases we are able to ensure you have zero out of pocket cost. We have staff on call that are here to help 24/7.

• Create a visual record of the damage by taking photographs or making a video recording
• Make a list of any damaged items to assist you in the claims process
• Keep an accurate record of all repair costs, including receipts for all your expense