How To Undertake A Mold Removal And Remediation Project

8/1/2021 (Permalink)

Hiring a professional duct cleaner or HVAC technician for mold removal and remediation is better than investing in deodorization.

How To Undertake A Mold Removal And Remediation Project

Molds depend on carbon atoms to survive. When the wood begins to rot, it releases the carbon by-products that the molds require to thrive. In damp conditions, mold has adequate nourishment to develop in any part of your home. Surprisingly, mold can also develop in a clean home. If the home provides the necessary conditions for the mold to grow, the spores can germinate in a short time. The deodorization of the indoor air to get rid of the smelly odor is a futile endeavor. Mold removal entails creating a formidable remediation and mitigation plan. When planning your mold removal regimen, you must inspect the mold damage to develop a budget that considers the mitigation. The wet areas in a home include the basements, utility rooms, bathrooms, laundry areas, and kitchens.

How to Control Mildew and Fungus

Commercial mold damage can affect the walls and floors significantly. Remove all mold in home gutters and repair them to avoid spillages. While planning for mold removal and mitigation, you must assess the extent of mold damage. It is vital to inspect the drainage systems and floor traps where the black mold is likely to develop. Be sure to take drastic steps to curb mold growth by keeping every surface clean and dry. Molds can grow on stones, wood, outdoor benches, and logs. Commercial mold damage can also affect your business negatively. Remediation and mitigation involve taking the right steps to eliminate the fungus and mildew. Eradicating the mold growth is almost impossible since the spores can spread to different locations in your home. You can use the following tips to prevent this menace in your home:

Improving the Ventilation

The remediation of mold damage entails removing the molds and eliminating the spores in the air. Poor ventilation in the basement leads to the accumulation of vapor and moisture. These damp conditions favor the growth of fungus, mildew, and molds that have a smelly odor. Improving the ventilation is a great way to dissipate the moisture in a natural way and avoid the cost or deodorization. Look out for mold in home footpaths and walkways. While deodorization can be a temporary solution to the smelly odor, adding another window will help to bring fresh air into the basement. You might also want to invest in a fan and a dehumidifier to circulate the air. Avoid exposing your home to the ravages of the mold damage by improving the ventilation and keeping the spores out of the bay.

Fix foundation cracks

Mold damage comes in many forms. Small cracks in the foundation can provide the habitat for mold growth since they allow some water to percolate into the foundation walls. Besides sealing the foundation cracks, you should inspect the gutters regularly. Remember to seal the window and door frames with the appropriate sealants to prevent the rainwater from seeping into the house. Ensure that you remove the mold in the home HVAC and plumbing systems to curb the spread.

Avoid Stacking Items

Stacking items in your garden can also create dark and wet conditions that favor the growth of mildew and fungus. Items such as firewood and broken furniture can create the perfect breeding ground for the molds. When these molds produce the spores, they can get into the bathrooms and kitchens. Avoid trapping moisture by organizing such items in a proper storage facility. The mold in home terraces and patios requires special attention during removal and deodorization.

HVAC systems

Commercial mold damage comes in many forms, but the HVAC systems can escalate the problem by distributing the spores in the entire building. When handling commercial mold damage, start by cleaning the HVAC system. The heating and ventilation systems require regular checkups to keep them free of molds. Remember to clean the heating systems, air ducts, filters, and air conditioning systems regularly. This intervention will prevent the mold from spreading and growing in the entire home. The HVAC systems allow the spores and smelly odors to travel throughout a home quickly. Hiring a professional duct cleaner or HVAC technician for mold removal and remediation is better than investing in deodorization.

Call our SERVPRO of La Mirada/South Whittier team for more information on mold removal and remediation.

6 Reasons To Avoid DIY Mold Testing Kits

6/17/2021 (Permalink)

DIY mold testers often fail to deliver reliable results.

Reasons To Hire A Mold Removal Specialist

You've seen them in La Mirada, CA, tempting you to buy them from hardware store shelves. Mold testing kits promise to inform you of the existence of destructive spores within your home. Unfortunately, these DIY mold testers often fail to deliver reliable results. Here are six reasons why you should hire a mold removal specialist to perform a fungal analysis instead.

1. Overall Inaccuracy
This is the biggest reason to avoid using a personal mold kit. Their accuracy is so bad that Consumer Reports has issued them a rating of Not Recommended.

2. Damage Potential
Variables such as getting knocked around during shipping can negatively alter a mold tester's performance. A lack of expiration dates makes it even more difficult for users to determine whether a mold testing kit will give reliable results.

3. No Accreditation
Most commercial home testers come without certification. They are not recognized by any accredited agency and critical data points are often omitted from their readouts.

4. Dead Spores
Home testing kits only focus on living spores. Any deceased spores inside your home will go undetected. This opens you up to thinking there is no mold problem when one actually exists.

5. Skimpy Data
Most mold kits offer little information other than a positive or negative hit. Other forms of testing can be much more enlightening. Hygrometers, infrared cameras, and digital moisture meters give a better sense of where an issue exists and how to tackle it. There's no substitute for a professional wielding these tools.

6. Black Mold
Even though this form of fungus is particularly dangerous, DIY mold testers can have trouble identifying it. It is critical that black mold be caught and removed as quickly as possible.
Mold testing is a task that should never be taken lightly. Off-the-shelf testers are simply inadequate. Hire a mold contamination expert to verify mold's presence, or lack thereof, inside your residence.

A Family Franchise

4/4/2021 (Permalink)

Every day throws a new curveball at us and we are still swinging.

Many businesses are run strictly on guidelines and rules, the workers clock in and clock out, working every day just because they need to support themselves. Here at our SERVPRO in La Mirada, we love what we do. Helping others gives our employees the motivation to go out and do their best.

Every day throws a new curveball at us and we are still swinging. Our SERVPRO is family-run, helping us to stick close, work honestly, and improve ourselves. Healthy relationships are made between everyone working here and it makes our franchise run to the best of its ability. When we go out on jobs it makes us feel good to see that we are helping other families in the community get back into their daily routine and notice that we are not just a business we are a family franchise you can trust!

If disaster strikes, give us a call today - (714) 735-8927.

A Brief Guide to Kitchen Fire Extinguishers

3/30/2021 (Permalink)

A fire extinguisher is an important safety feature for any home chef. Be sure there is one nearby and learn how it functions!

Besides their immediate danger, uncontrolled blazes have the potential to create serious fire damage that a residential restoration service is best equipped to repair. This makes it critical to have a fire extinguisher on hand. Learn how to prevent cooking disasters and how to use one of these life-saving tools in the face of uncontrolled flames.

Kitchen Fire Prevention
Even better than quickly dealing with a fire in La Mirada, CA, is avoiding one altogether. Do so by:

Only cooking when awake and sober
Moving combustible materials away from heat sources
Staying nearby while food is cooking

Following these precautions contributes considerably toward assuring that your kitchen is not set ablaze. However, always have an escape plan in place and leave as soon as you experience a fire bigger than you can reasonably handle.

Kitchen Fire Extinguisher Usage
Acquire an extinguisher in case your best efforts at stopping an inferno from breaking out fail. Make sure you purchase an extinguisher appropriate for your needs. Get one large enough but not so heavy that it cannot be comfortably wielded.

Douse flames by pulling, aiming, squeezing and sweeping. These steps are made easy to remember by the acronym P.A.S.S.

Begin by pulling the pin to break the tamper-proof seal. Find both at the top of your device near the handle.

Aim at the base of the fire for maximum effectiveness. Secure your grip and then firmly squeeze. Never touch the discharge horn, as the level of cold that CO2 extinguishers produce is dangerous to the skin.

Move the extinguisher back and forth in a slow and deliberate sweeping motion. Only stop once the fire has gone out. Even after flames have died, the blaze could reignite. Hold onto your device and observe closely until the surface is cool enough that you remain confident the threat has been neutralized.

A fire extinguisher is an important safety feature for any home chef. Be sure there is one nearby and learn how it functions so you can feel confident in the event of a fiery emergency.

What Every Homeowner Should Know About Mold

3/25/2021 (Permalink)

A bad smell in your home may mean that you have black mold.

A musty odor in your home in South Whittier, CA, could be due to mildew or stale air, but it also could be a sign of black mold. To determine the appropriate steps to get rid of the smell, you first have to find its source and understand the best way to handle it. Here are a few facts about mold that you may not know.

Causes of Mold Growth

Every home has mold spores in the air. Outside, they attach to clothes, pets, hair and shoes to enter your home. Spores in the air only collect and grow when there is a source of excess moisture:

• Unmitigated water damage
  
• Pipe leak
  
• High humidity
  
  

Many people try to prevent a mold problem by filtering spores out of the air, but this is not an effective solution. The best way to prevent the need for mold cleanup is to take care of the moisture issues that lead to growth.

Solutions to Mold Problems
If your home has confirmed black mold growth, you need professional mitigation. Certified mold remediation specialists have the knowledge, experience and equipment to get rid of it. They do more than just scrub the patch of fungus away. A thorough assessment with an environmental hygienist determines the extent of the problem. If the growth is large, technicians may have to remove infested drywall, carpet, or grout and replace them with new materials. They can also repair the water damage that led to the growth or let you know what other repairs need to be made so that new moldy patches don't form.
A bad smell in your home may mean that you have black mold. A quick assessment and remediation are vital to keeping it from getting larger and causing more damage. Specialists can not only get rid of the fungus growth but also give you tips on how to prevent such issues in the future.

5 Facts About the Insurance Claims Process

2/25/2021 (Permalink)

Mold removal services in South Whittier, CA.

Here Is Everything You Must Know About The Process

After any disaster, both you and your insurance company want you to return to business as quickly as possible. However, you should know a few things about the insurance claim process to make this happen. 

1. Your Initial Payment Isn’t Final
In most insurance claim cases, an adjuster inspects the damage and offers you an amount of money based on your policy. However, this first check is typically an advance to help you start rebuilding and hiring a restoration company, such as SERVPRO.

2. You Can Receive Multiple Checks
Between your structure and your reported inventory, you can receive two checks. Additionally, if you can't operate your business during repairs, you could receive lost income checks. If you purchased a separate flood insurance policy and the damage came from a flood, you could receive another check for this.

3. Your Lender May Receive Part of Your Payout
If there is a loan out on your site in South Whittier, CA, then your lender will get a payout as well. This is because your lender will typically ask to be included in the insurance policy, and they receive payment for any situations that arise in the structure. Since they are your co-insured, your check may be split between you and your lender.

4. Your Contractor Directly May be Paid Directly
A qualified disaster remediation company may ask to work with a client's insurance company directly. However, before permitting them to file your insurance claim, make sure you read the document and avoid giving them your entire payout. If in doubt, ask your agent for help. Assigning your claim to your contractor can remove you from the payout entirely.

5. Your Business Interruption Check Is Written to You
Your lost income check is not related to your structure. Therefore, make sure this is written to you rather than your lender. This covers your loss of income and additional expenses from the disaster.
Dealing with an insurance agent and the claims process can be taxing. However, if you know more about the process, you can help it go smoother.

Why Choose SERVPRO for Cleaning and Restoration Services

11/24/2020 (Permalink)

SERVPRO has highly-trained cleaning professionals

There are many cleaning and restoration services out there and you may be wondering why you should choose us. Here are some good reasons why you should choose SERVPRO!

24-Hour Emergency Service

We know cleaning disasters can happen at any moment which is why we are always available 24 hours a day, seven days a week! Call us anytime and our team will be at your location as soon as possible.

Highly Trained Restoration Technicians
We assure you that our team has undergone the necessary training and have the experience to conduct proper cleaning and restoration for your home or business property. 

Advanced Restoration and Cleaning Equipment

You deserve only the best which is why we’re only using the best restoration and cleaning equipment available. This will ensure you receive the best service available.  

If you need cleaning and restoration services for your residential or commercial property in La Mirada / South Whittier, call us at (714) 735-8927 and we will be more than happy to help you!