immediately once the fire is out. He or she can provide advice on restoration or replacement of damaged items. If you rent, notify the owner so both of you can assess the damage. Your insurance agent may be able to recommend a professional

fire restorer. Fire restorers can provide hints to prevent further damage, help determine which items can or cannot be refurbished, and provide estimates and services for thoroughly cleaning and

deodorizing your home.

How Does Wind Cause Damage?

During high winds, wind speeds fluctuate and winds may change directions. This puts enormous pressure on all parts of a building. Keeping your home well sealed on the outside will prevent wind from getting into your home and causing damage. In addition, debris carried by high winds can penetrate your home, causing damage and possible injury.

Start at the Top

The roof is one of the most vulnerable parts of your house. The connection between the roof and walls must be strong enough to resist the “uplift” effect of strong winds. Have a building professionally inspected, and install specially designed metal connectors that are appropriate for your roof type (gabled or flat) and wall construction (wood or masonry).

Make sure the roof sheathing is properly installed. From the attic check to make sure the nails penetrate the rafters or trusses. You may need to re-nail some of the sheathing. Our professionals can do these inspections.

Protect the Windows and Doors:

Windows should be protected to reduce the risk of damage or injury caused by flying debris and pressure changes. Here are some options: permanent storm shutters or temporary plywood covers. In the event of an emergency, permanent storm shutters can be quickly and easily closed to protect the windows. Temporary plywood covers are more economical, but are less convenient and attractive. Don’t forget to cover any glass sliding doors, French doors, and skylights.

Check to be sure your entry door is secured with at least three hinges and a deadbolt security lock. Solid wood or hollow metal doors are more likely to resist wind pressure and flying debris.

Don’t Forget the Yard:

Trim the trees around your house that could pose a threat by falling or hitting your home. Put away any yard furniture, barbecue grills, tools, toys, and anything else that could become a flying missile. If you are planning to plant new trees in your yard, try to choose varieties that can withstand high winds.

Garage Doors:

Garage doors (particularly two-car) are also vulnerable to damage from high winds. If installing a new garage door, be sure to get one that’s designed to withstand high winds. For an existing door, there are fitted bracing kits available to provide additional support.

Be Sure You’re Protected:

Contact the insurance company that holds your homeowner’s policy to be sure your home is adequately protected in the event of wind damage.

Our team of IICRC certified and trained fire and smoke damage restoration technicians are ready at a moments notice to respond to any fire or smoke damage situation to board up, secure, Tarp or start the restoration process. We have the technology, equipment and manpower needed to handle from the smallest to the largest fire or smoke damage projects.

Preventing Ice Dams

To prevent an ice dam, don’t heat the roof, keep it cold. That way, the snow on the roof eventually dissipates without making large amounts of meltwater. The underside of the roof deck should not exceed 30 F. The best way to maintain low temperatures is by ensuring that there is adequate insulation and sealing gaps that let warm air pass into the attic from the house. The attic must also be ventilated, so that cold air is introduced into it and heated air escapes rapidly. Increased insulation in an attic will help to prevent ice dams. First, insulate the areas between the roof rafters. It is important to keep an air space between the roof deck and the insulation in order to prevent a condensation buildup that can delaminate the roof deck. Prior to insulating, install polystyrene rafter air channels, which are available at home centers.  If there’s a hatchway into the attic, build a cover for it out of rigid poly-styrene insulation.

If the gable and ridge vents do not generate sufficient air movement to dissipate the heat, you will need a motorized vent at one end of the attic to exhaust the heat, and an adequately sized vent on the opposite end of the attic to draw in cold air from the outside.

Mold is one of the top hazards encountered during flood restoration. Areas that have been wet for more than 48 hours will start sprouting mold. Get any items that have been wet for more than two days outside the house before continuing with the flood restoration—even if your insurance claims adjuster has not yet reviewed your property. Surfaces that cannot be moved outside should be cleaned and disinfected thoroughly as soon as possible.

The first step to flood restoration is to make sure that your utilities are turned off. Do not stand in water to turn your utilities off. If that situation is inevitable, call the utility company first, even if it delays the flood restoration. Next, your flood restoration professional will remove any standing water from your home. Standing water can breed disease and destroy your home’s structural integrity. Your flood restoration professional will use industrial wet vacuums, drying chemicals and other tools to complete the process.

If mold does grow on such carpeting (and it is not unusual), it is because of the organic matter that has accumulated in it. If one uses deep extraction cleaning one can save a carpet even it is already fuzzy. I know of a couple of such cases in school and other buildings where carpeting was successfully remediated and thus saved.

When carpet is cleaned after a flood, many remediators/cleaners apply a biocide as a final cleaning procedure. These usually work very well and post-cleaning airborne spore counts are very low.
These symptoms are not typical of mold. In one case (not a school) I measured significant concentrations of acrolein, a potent mucous membrane irritant. Some common biocides work by producing formaldehyde as a decomposition product. Some contain 50% glutaraldehyde, a very potent mucous membrane and pulmonary irritant.

The use of biocides for post -flooding remediation is problematic. It virtually eliminates the potential for mold growth and human exposure. However, some biocides may pose exposure risks of their own. In most cases it is not easy to tell whether a particular biocide will pose a human exposure concern or not