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SERVPRO is always here for you!

10/19/2022 (Permalink)

How SERVPRO of Laguna Niguel/Laguna Hills Can Help

Having a restoration plan in place can save you a lot of money and grief after flood damage has caused damage at your Laguna Hills/Laguna Niguel property. The first thing to do is seek professional help. The sooner professionals can start the restoration, the better.

It is equally important to acquaint yourself with some of the things that are going to happen after a flood damage incidence to your Laguna Hills/Laguna Niguel home or business. Here are a few things that can help you prepare better to handle the situation when it comes.

Is the water clean or dirty? 

One of the most important things to note is whether the floodwater is clean or dirty. If the water is clean, it might take less time for the professionals here at SERVPRO to get your home back in pre-disaster condition. However, if the water is dirty or contaminated, the restoration might take longer as additional disinfection steps might be involved.

What do professional restoration services do?

As soon as you call in the experienced IICRC-certified SERVPRO professionals, they assess the situation and develop a plan. Once the plan is finalized, they get to work and depending on the amount of water and the quality of water (clean, dirty or contaminated), they start its removal. Apart from the floodwater removal, our professionals also remove any flood sludge and silt. Once the water has been removed, we clean the belongings and take care of the residual moisture as well. We make sure that even the last traces of residual moisture are removed from your property to prevent secondary damage.

Who covers the cost? 

Flood damage restoration can be expensive. Filing an insurance claim is not always easy. If you need help, SERVPRO professionals can guide you in filing your insurance claim as well. Our technicians have years of experience in dealing with insurance companies, and they can help you through the process.

Being prepared is one of the essential things in flood damage restoration.

Call SERVPRO of Laguna Hills/Laguna Niguel at (949) 472-8090

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So You Were Hit With a Storm

9/14/2022 (Permalink)

You have no control over what kinds of damages the weather inflicts on your home. After heavy rains or a robust snowfall, you might be left to cope with a variety of storm damage related incidents on both the inside and outside of your house.

Cleaning up flooding, repairing hail damage, thawing out frozen pipes, and removing an ice dam can be difficult and beyond your capabilities. To get your home back in livable condition after it has been hit by storm damage, you can get the best results by calling a professional home restoration company today like SERVPRO of Laguna Hills/Laguna Niguel

What do the professionals do?

Many storm remediation companies are available around the clock to respond to flood water, ice damage, hurricane damage and more.

When the restoration professionals arrive, they will get to work assessing what kind of water, hail, or ice damage you might be dealing with as the homeowner. They will look all over your property for signs of damage. Once they know the full extent and have a damage report for what you're dealing with, they can then assess a home restoration plan to get your house back into safe and livable condition.

The storm restoration plan may include using equipment like a flood pump to pump out ground water left behind by river flooding or frozen pipes. A flood pump is a standard piece of equipment used by companies that specialize in thawing frozen pipes, repairing an ice dam, and other types of home remediation. Depending on how much ground water is found inside and outside of your home, the flood pump might be the only option for getting rid of river flooding and undue this type of flooding damage.

Flood water can also enter your home through a roof leak. If your property has sustained significant wind damage, you may have suffered a roof leak and roof damage. That includes loosened or missing shingles and torn away tar paper. If your house has flooding coming in through the walls, foundation, and roof, partial or full roof repair may be part of the plan put together by the company you hire for storm remediation. It may sound like a lot of work, but in the end you and your people will be much safer in the long run.

You get the final say

You have full control over the storm restoration services carried out by the contractors doing the storm remediation. The home restoration professionals will consult you every step of the way so that you are in charge of the water restoration and storm damage cleanup. Giving you full control over the home restoration process spares you from paying for flooding, hail damage, and wind damage services that you may not really need.

Most storm restoration contractors in this line of business understand how nerve wracking it can be to go through extensive storm remediation. The water restoration people you hire will not start an ice damming or roof repair project or use equipment like a flood pump without your approval. They realize that you might find the repair process easier to deal with if you have a say in how the restoration work is carried out.

Likewise, you will be kept awhere of all repair work done to the outside or inside of your house. Even if the hurricane damage done to your house is extensive and more than you can take in at first, you will have a full say in what kinds of roof repair is done and in what manner ground water is removed from the property.

After the repairs

Dealing with the aftermath of river flooding, wind damage, roof damage, or ice damming left behind by a storm can be difficult.

When you don't know how to reverse damages repairs, you need to hire storm restoration professionals trained to any and all types of storm remediation.

Call SERVPRO of Laguna Hills/Laguna Niguel at (949) 472-8090

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SERVPRO - Professional Restoration Services for FIRE AND WATER Damage Clean-Up

9/14/2022 (Permalink)

before and after photo Give yourself peace of mind, call SERVPRO

Water and fire are the two most common disasters to befall a home. Fire damage is usually easy to see, because fire leaves behind smoke damage even in places the fire never touched. Water damage is also easy to spot if your home or business had been flooded or you have a serious plumbing problem. However, water damage can also be hidden behind walls, in flooring, in the attic or basement, which is just as dangerous.

Dealing with Water Damage
Water Damage restoration in Laguna Hills/Laguna Niguel, is often required after a fire because of the use of water to extinguish the fire. This water may cause even more damage to the property and belongings than the actual fire. Carpets, upholstery, clothing and other absorbent material may have become soaking wet and would need to be removed and replaced. Only a professional water damage restorer, such as SERVPRO of Laguna Hills/Laguna Niguel, CA, can determine what items can be cleaned to their pre-damaged condition and what items need to be replaced. 

It is recommended that action be taken immediately, because the longer the damage is left unattended, the bigger the chances of it eventually becoming a breeding ground for bacteria, mold, fungus and mildew. The excess water needs to be removed and the area completely dried. A SERVPRO professional will also have the expertise and equipment to detect hidden moisture that could develop into mold.

Putting Out Fire Damage

Fire damage in Laguna Hills/Laguna Niguel, CA, meanwhile may consist of blistering on the walls, soot settling on everything and the odor of smoke on clothing and furniture. This odor is not removable by standard means and requires the special equipment of SERVPRO professional restoration experts who use ozone neutralizers and other means.

When looking for a water or fire restoration company in Laguna Hills/Laguna Niguel, CA, it’s recommended to approach a company that will give immediate help, like SERVPRO.

You can expect highly trained technicians to use the latest restoration equipment. Whether you have a small kitchen fire or a completely destroyed room, it’s worth calling a professional to examine the area. It’s the same for flooding. Even the most minute exercise of due diligence can help save your house from an even bigger damage. It’s a simple step to make, with little cost attached to it, especially when you look at it from the perspective of saving your home as much as you possibly can.

Call SERVPRO of Laguna Hills/Laguna Niguel at (949) 472-8090

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Salvaging your documents

8/25/2022 (Permalink)

Laguna Hills got its name because of its proximity to the famed Laguna Beach. Just a stone’s throw away from the shore line, Laguna Hills is popular among tourists and California residents alike. Its close proximity, however, also means that it gets more than its fair share of rainfall every now and then. When this happens, one of the things that most homeowners around this area will need to deal with is damage brought about by strong rainfall.

There are many ways by which water damage restoration can be done, be it air drying, dehumidifying, or vacuum-freeze drying. Choosing which water damage restoration technique to use will often depend on what kind of material was damaged in the first place.

Documents, Paper and Books

If the document has been damaged by brackish water, the first thing that you need to do is rinse it with cold, clean water. If you are dealing with onion skin, vellum, or other kinds of fragile paper, it is recommended that you lay them out on a flat surface and spray the documents with clean water until the dirt has been washed off. Make sure that you do not expose them to direct sunlight as this could cause wrinkling in the paper.

Once you have laid out all the paper, use an oscillating fan in order to speed up the drying process. Make sure you do not direct the airflow towards the document itself. Instead, allow the fan to dry the room which, in turn, will dry the documents. 

If you are dealing with water-logged books, you should do inter-leaving or putting absorbent paper in between leaves. If the book has already developed a moldy smell, you might need to use an ozone gas chamber to deodorize safely the document. This is the same processed used in restoring documents that have been through fire damage.

Water Damaged Photos

Water-damaged photos should be attended to as soon as possible. Keep in mind that waiting for more than 48 hours before working on the photographs can result in growth of mold and mildew, which could damage your pictures.

If the photos are still contained inside a picture frame, do not try to separate the picture from the glass. What you can do instead is place it under running water until the picture can be retrieved.. The same is  done if you have two pictures stuck together. Take great care not to touch the printed side of a photograph, as this could result in smudges.

Call SERVPRO of Laguna Hills/Laguna Niguel at (949) 472-8090

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Tips To Prevent Mold Damage

7/13/2022 (Permalink)

Mold growth in your home can cause a lot of trouble. It can damage the structure of the house and weaken its appearance by discoloring drywall, creating black spots on siding, darkening decks, and causing grout lines in the shower.

You can deal with mold infestation with the help of companies specializing in mold damage restoration like SERVPRO in Laguna Hills. However, in order to prevent it from happening again, you need to take steps to ensure that there’s no place for mold to breed in your home.

Find the Source of the Problem

The first step to addressing any problem is to determine its source. Check every corner of your home and see where mold could be growing. Because mold thrives in moisture, find the areas that are exposed to water. If the basement gets flooded or if there’s a leak in the roof, then those can be a breeding place. Once you determine the source of the problem, address it immediately so that mold doesn’t have time to breed and grow.

Keep Areas Dry

Mold will only grow if there’s moisture. So, make sure that you dry wet areas immediately. Clean and dry the basement after a heavy storm, fix leaky pipes, and avoid leaving a spill on the carpet. When you take a shower, dry the floor and walls as much as possible. Also, don’t leave wet clothes in the washing machine because this is a perfect place for mold to spread. If you don’t have a drier, hang the clothes outside and let the sun or air circulation dry them.

Ventilate

Proper ventilation is key to having a mold-resistant home. Activities such as cooking, doing the laundry, and taking a shower can encourage the growth of mold because of the moisture these activities create. Given this, make sure that there’s enough ventilation in high-moisture areas like the bathroom, laundry room, basement, and kitchen.

A home that is mold-resistant provides a more comfortable and healthier home environment. Sometimes though, the presence of these organisms is inevitable. This is why the moment mold growth becomes too much and uncontrollable, call a professional trained in mold and water damage restoration in Laguna Hills immediately.

Call SERVPRO of Laguna Hills/Laguna Niguel at (949) 472-8090

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Did You Know Your Drapes Need Cleaning

7/6/2022 (Permalink)

A good rule-of-thumb is to clean drapes approximately every two years. A recent survey by SERVPRO disclosed that the average customer believes drapes should be cleaned when they look dirty. Depending on your heating system, the amount of smokers in the home, and other factors, drapes may not show soil for two to six years. The oily atmospheric soil will gradually cause the fabric to deteriorate. Often, direct sunlight is unjustly blamed for this. You may triple the life of your draperies through professional cleaning, which is relatively inexpensive compared to replacement costs.

Professional Cleaning

When your draperies need cleaning, make certain they are dry cleaned ONLY. Only a small percentage of materials can be laundered. If in doubt, call us for advice. Be discriminating in your choice of professional dry cleaners. Some cleaners have equipment designed for clothes cleaning, while others have equipment specifically designed for draperies.

SERVPRO of Laguna Hills/Laguna Niguel has an exclusive process of dry cleaning draperies right in your home. There’s no need to have your home or office exposed while your draperies are out being cleaned. We inject a specially formulated solvent into your drapery under pressure and extract the chemical, leaving your drapes clean. This special process results in no damage or shrinkage to the material. Most importantly, you will get quality cleaning at a reasonable price.

Call SERVPRO of Laguna Hills/Laguna Niguel at (949) 472-8090

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We Can Fix Water Damage In Schools Before It's Too Late

7/5/2022 (Permalink)

Water damage does not discriminate; even academic facilities are fair game for its ability to do long-term deterioration. This requires effective repairs to ensure that educational services continue with minimal risk to either students or teachers.

The schools in California may be familiar with leaks in buildings within their campuses. For example, a dorm building had a small crisis when its cast iron water pipes went very close to a full burst. The pipes were eventually replaced with ABS piping per building code but the place had to be shut down for them to be installed. When places of learning are badly affected by water inundation, it’s time to have it fixed through water damage restoration companies like SERVPRO of Laguna Hills/Laguna Niguel.

Nitty-Gritty

A thorough inspection of the subject location with a preferred restoration crew must give ample clues as to what happened.

When a return steam line at the basement of OU’s Hudson Hall was damaged and later triggered a small flood. University administration was forced to shut down the building’s power supply and reroute a generator to it while the steam line was replaced.

Molded Business?

Water-damaged basements often carry the danger of mold growing, particularly when some water ls left after pumping out the place. Your preferred remediating contractor can use special heating methods to fully dry out the affected area and apply anti-microbial solutions.

Under Fire?

There are situations where the water can prompt a short circuit and result in a fire. For example, when drips of water touch connections and triggers a spark that starts a fire.

Laguna Hills, CA fire damage remediation team can be called in to assist after the flames have been doused and assess the level of repairs.

Water or fire damage of any kind should never be downplayed for they can affect the safety of facility occupants in the long run. It’s never too late to seek help from damage remediation professionals like those from SERVPRO, so make that call today.

Call SERVPRO of Laguna Hills/Laguna Niguel at (949) 472-8090

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SERVPRO Can Help You With Slab Leaks

6/23/2022 (Permalink)

slab leak on concrete Slab Leak on Concrete

At SERVPRO of Laguna Hills/Laguna Niguel, we see first hand all the ways a business or home can be affected by water damage. One of the most popular sources of water damage we see is caused by a slab leak. A slab leak occurs when the water lines beneath your business or home’s concrete slab start to leak. When this happens, the leak can end up damaging multiple areas throughout your home or business. 

But fortunately, companies like SERVPRO of Laguna Hills/Laguna Niguel exist to help remove the water damage from your home or business. Our staff has the experience and knowledge required to remove water damage properly and efficiently. To learn more about our services, contact SERVPRO of Laguna Hills/Laguna Niguel.

Call SERVPRO of Laguna Hills/Laguna Niguel at (949) 472-8090

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3 Steps After a Pipe Break

6/20/2022 (Permalink)

A pipe break can happen during any time of the year but is more likely to occur during the winter if the pipes are in an uninsulated area of your property. Be advised that bursting pipes can cause extensive water damage which is why it’s important to call a restoration company such as SERVPRO of Laguna Hills/Laguna Niguel as soon as possible. Here are the three steps to take after a pipe break.


1. Stop the Water Flow


Turn off the water immediately. After you shut off the main water supply, you need to drain the pipes. To do this, turn on the cold water on every faucet on your property and flush every toilet at least once. Then turn off the hot water heater and run the hot water on every faucet. Taking these crucial steps ensures the leak will stop. But you’re not done yet.


2. Reduce and Fix the Damage


At this point, it’s best to reach out to the professionals so they can fix the broken pipe. However, you might be able to locate the broken pipe yourself. Don’t walk in water as this increases the risk of getting electrocuted. It’s recommended that you turn off the electrical power no matter if the water is one foot or only one inch high. Furthermore, unplug appliances and turn off the furnace. If safe, you can move valuable items, electronics and fabrics to higher ground. 


3. Call a Water Restoration Company


Opening the windows and running fans run won’t prevent mold growth from bursting pipes. No matter how extensive you think the damage is, contact a water restoration company as there might be damage you are not able to spot. Mold and mildew begins to grow only 24 to 48 hours after such an event. You don’t want to risk your health and more damage to your property. 

When your plumbing breaks, there’s little time to spare. Take these three steps immediately to reduce the water damage in Laguna Hills/Laguna Niguel due to bursting pipes.

Call SERVPRO of Laguna Hills/Laguna Niguel at (949) 472-8090

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Restoring Your Damaged Home

6/20/2022 (Permalink)

Flood in Laguna Hills Canyon Flood in Laguna Hills Canyon

When assessing how best to address storm damage, it is absolutely crucial that you first consult with a licensed water restoration contractor at SERVPRO of Laguna Hils/Laguna Niguel. Going into the repair process equipped with an objective and professional perspective is the only way that you can ensure a successful and safe home restoration. Whether your property endured flooding, hurricane damage, wind damage, storm damage, or ice damage, for your safety, it’s best to evacuate the premises until the storm remediation process is completed. Your damaged home may contain dangers like ground water in the basement or you may have hazards like roof leaks or flood water. Whatever the case, you’ll want an expert to evaluate the premises before stepping foot in your damaged home.

Flooding

Seasonal storms are often accompanied by river flooding, so qualified storm restoration and water restoration services take into account any flooding that may have affected your property.

Storm remediation often entails the removal of gallons upon gallons of flood water, an arduous process which requires a flood pump. In cases of hurricane damage and storm damage, ground water often comes to the surface and can enter the home, at which point it can only be removed by a flood pump. Water restoration crews always carry flood pumps as part of their toolset since they are the first people to call when you find flood water in the home.

Depending on your region and the time of year you may also need a roof repair or have ice damage, hail damage, have frozen pipes and or have ice dams.

Ice Dams & Frozen Pipes

One type of ice damage that requires immediate storm restoration is ice damming. If you see an ice dam on your roof it’s imperative that you act quickly to reduce the amount of roof repair your home will need. After a heavy snowfall and several days of freezing temperatures ice dams are likely to form on your roof and damage it. This roof damage can quickly result in roof leaks making it critical that you have someone perform roof repair immediately to mitigate the storm damage. Ice damming can quickly lead to other issues such as flooding if not taken care of with proper storm restoration.

Wind damage, ice damage and hail damage can all cause roof leaks. However, ice damming can be the most harmful to your roof and should be immediately removed by a professional storm remediation service. A roof leak or any roof damage can quickly lead to just as much moisture damage as river flooding or ground water in no time. If you have any roof damage, arranging for prompt roof repair along with a complete home restoration is a must.

Preparing for Storms

As long as people continue to live in areas where storms are common, properties will still be prone to hurricane damage, wind damage, and river flooding.

In the winter months, hail damage, ice damming and frozen pipes are to be expected. While there’s not a lot that can be done about the weather besides moving somewhere else, discovering professional home restoration and storm remediation resources within your community can help protect you against roof damage, ground water flooding and frozen pipes.

Storm remediation is too great a task to do it alone, so it’s important to get the help of water restoration and storm restoration professionals in your area, SERVPRO of Laguna Hills/Laguna Niguel can take care of any wind damage, hurricane damage or hail damage you have had or may have this year. And remember, safety always comes first, so make sure to have your home professionally assessed before setting foot on the property.

Call SERVPRO of Laguna Hills/Laguna Niguel at (949) 472-8090

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