After water enters your home/business, water mitigation is our priority! To ‘mitigate’ means to make a situation less severe. To do that, we first remove any standing water in your home/business. Then an IICRC certified technician uses professional equipment to measure moisture levels at different locations within your home/business. This identifies where and how much water there is. This valuable information informs the technician in how to slow the spread of the water (thus preventing further water damage) and how to best dry out the building’s materials. If a full investigation into the extent of the water damage is not done, water could unknowingly remain in building materials, potentially causing further structural damage and/or mold growth dangerous to your health. We are here to care for you and your home/business!
For our full water mitigation timeline, see Water Mitigation Timeline
Learn more about Water Mitigation and how it differs from Water Damage Restoration [link to ‘Water Mitigation vs Water Damage Restoration’ post]
Common Causes of Water Damage:
Unfortunately, there are many common causes of water damage in a home or business. These include:
- Sewer back-up
- Sump pump failure in the basement
- Frozen pipes
- Roof ice damming
- Cracks in the roof or outer walls that let moisture in
- Foundation seepage
- Leakage from damaged pipes, worn hoses, or damaged fittings
- Sewer ejector pump failure
- Bathtub/sink/toilet overflow
- Broken gutters or downspouts
- Appliance (refrigerator, washing machine, water heater, dishwasher) overflow
- Over-the-ground flooding from natural disasters
While cleaning up small spills yourself is fine, when large amounts of water flood your home, it is crucial that you get professional help! Water spreads easily, often getting absorbed into parts of your home/business that are not visible to you (for example: the backs of walls, the sub-floor, insulation). That is when professional water mitigation technicians and equipment are needed to detect and resolve your water damage.
Steps in the Water Mitigation Process:
Water Removal
When there is standing water in your home/business, we use powerful vacuums to suck up the water. This safely removes the bulk of water from your home. Rest assured, no amount of water is too large for us to handle. When standing water has been removed, materials will still be wet and require professional drying.
Moisture Mapping
Once standing water has been removed, moisture readings can then be taken by an IICRC certified technician. These moisture readings tell us where the moisture is in your home/business, and how wet specific materials are. To return your home/business to its original state of dryness, the technician establishes a baseline ‘dry standard’ to aim for when drying your home/business. To establish the ‘dry standard’, moisture readings are taken of areas of your property not damaged by water. All moisture readings are then mapped on the architectural plan of your home (created by JCL Restorations). A plan for most effectively drying your home/business can then be created.
Sewage Cleanup
As with standing water, sewage in the home must be removed before any further damage is done. Containment barriers will be erected to prevent the spread of contaminants (in the sewage) to other parts of the home/business. The contained area will then be cleaned and sanitized. Moisture readings can then be taken and a plan for drying your home/business created.
To learn about Water Damage Restoration, see Water Damage Restoration