Tools for Efficient Floodwater Removal in Seal Beach Properties

9/22/2023 (Permalink)

Our SERVPRO team specializes in construction, even after a flooded property in Los Angeles. "Like it never even happened."

Floodwater Cleanup and Seal Beach Home Repair with SERVPRO®

Floods are among the most prevalent natural disasters in the world. The negative impacts of floodwaters are many and can take months to restore. Floods can damage your home’s foundation, causing stuck windows and doors. The water can also cause framing to swell and warp. As it wicks through drywall, mold growth can develop on walls. Luckily, with proper interventions, a flooded Seal Beach home isn’t necessarily a total loss. Rapid floodwater removal is crucial for minimizing damage. We can build back properties to preloss condition.

Safety is a priority before attempting floodwater removal in your Seal Beach home. Floods saturate entire areas, but it doesn’t take long before the local infrastructure drains the accumulating water. It is recommended to wait until the water recedes before entering your home. Even after this happens, a professional assessment of hazards by a professional is essential. SERVPRO has experienced crews with the expertise to quickly and efficiently restore your house to its preloss condition. We have the equipment to help with quick moisture extraction. We also clean and disinfect your property, preventing mold growth.

Flood extraction equipment

• Extraction units
• Pumps
• Deep extraction tools
• Wet/dry vacs

Our crews may employ various extraction equipment if the water level is significant. For example, a submersible pump can efficiently eliminate large quantities of water. To ensure efficacy, we place the pump at the lowest flooded area and ensure it is completely submerged. In case the water contains solid materials, a self-priming trash pump is appropriate. A wet/dry vacuum can be effective for areas inaccessible using a pump. We use the vacuum to remove water from upholstered furniture, carpets, and other surfaces.

Drying and Dehumidification

After extracting the bulk of the water, you still have to deal with the humidity and moisture in the air. These conditions may initiate microbial growth. Dehumidification is vital in addressing humidity and wet materials. We place air movers in affected areas to evaporate the embedded water from materials and dehumidifiers to extract the water molecules in the air.

Drying equipment for effective moisture removal

• Structural cavity drying equipment
• Air moving equipment includes axial air movers and centrifugal air movers
• Dehumidification equipment includes refrigerant dehumidifiers
• Air filtration device

Call SERVPRO of Seal Beach / Los Alamitos / Cypress for rapid floodwater removal at (562) 431-9400. We’re Faster To Any Size Disaster.

Certain Rooms of Seal Beach Homes Are Prone to Mold Damage

5/14/2023 (Permalink)

Dealing with mold damage in your home can be difficult. Call SERVPRO to be your partner during this difficult time. Our technicians are standing by.

Remediating Mold Damage in Your Seal Beach House

An unfortunate aspect of home ownership is contending with situations like mold growth when moist conditions exist in your house. The presence of mold is alarming and concerning, spreading quickly to hosting materials in the affected space to be an overwhelming growth. Certain rooms are more prone to this damage than others,  but our SERVPRO team is ready to remediate the infestation.

Where is the Mold?

Mold damage in Seal Beach homes can occur in many areas. Understanding where to expect these colonies can make this part of a routine property inspection. With many local homes contending with high humidity and water damages from severe weather, understanding what rooms are likely to show mold points to where your search should focus:

• Bathroom
• Attic
• Crawlspace
• Kitchen
• Garage

Remediation Experts Are a Phone Call Away

Once you suspect mold, remediation should begin immediately. AMRT- Certified professionals can reach the structure fast after the first notice of loss and complete initial mitigative steps. Containment is critical at this stage, keeping active spores from finding new homes on materials in adjoining rooms.

Remediation takes multiple forms, from surface cleaning to media blasting. We evaluate the property's needs based on the infestation's severity, the damage's location, and the salvageability of hosting materials.

Completing Needed Repairs to Prevent Mold's Return

With a general contractor license, our SERVPRO team is ready to help with repairs and build-back services necessary. For example, overcoming moisture concerns often relies on sealing structural vulnerabilities, repairing plumbing leaks, or completing other rebuilding forms.

The threat of mold damage is significant in your home or business. SERVPRO of Seal Beach / Los Alamitos / Cypress professionals can respond fast to help from our nearby location. Call our team at (562) 431-9400.

You Need the Pros to Deal with Mold Damage in Seal Beach

4/13/2023 (Permalink)

Count on the technicians at SERVPRO to assist with any mold damage in your Seal Beach home.

How SERVPRO Technicians Ensure Safety While Cleaning Mold Damage in Seal Beach Homes?

Mold damage in your Seal Beach home can affect you in various ways. An unaddressed mold situation can quickly get out of hand and might even cause structural damage to your property. Also, safety should be paramount while dealing with it.   

Professionals like SERVPRO have the training and experience to safely handle mold damage in your Seal Beach home. One of the prime objectives during the remediation process is to prevent the release of spores, fragments, and dust from surfaces into the indoor air. It is crucial to control air movement from a contaminated area to unaffected areas of the building as it can carry airborne spores and spread the contamination.

Establishing Containment During Mold Remediation

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the first line of defense should be engineering controls to ensure safety while dealing with mold. Some of the engineering controls that can enhance the safety of the operation include-

• Erecting isolation barriers
• Creating pressure differentials
• Suppressing dust formation and aerosolization
• HEPA vacuuming and filtration

In most situations of fungal damage, SERVPRO technicians build a structural enclosure to separate the microbe-affected area from the unaffected area in your Seal Beach home. SERVPRO technicians use PVC pipes, wood framing, or spring-loaded expansion poles to build an enclosure covered with 6-mil polyethylene sheeting. These structural supports are not always necessary if the technicians can securely attach the isolation barrier to walls and ceilings. SERVPRO always uses fire-retardant polyethylene material with a flame spread rating of 25 or less to minimize fire hazards.

The restoration industry often refers to isolation barriers as 'critical barriers.' They may be used to isolate portions of buildings, mechanical systems like HVACs, and other openings in the structure.

Using Airflow to Maximize Safety and Efficiency of Restoration

Controlling the airflow between the microbe-contaminated and uncontaminated portions of the structure is crucial for the safety and efficacy of the remediation process. SERVPRO technicians use Air Filtration Devices (AFDs) to achieve this goal.

When technicians use AFDs to create negative pressure within the affected area, they are called Negative Air Machines (NAMs). A series of filters in the AFDs can filter the air removing airborne spores and particles of mold from the air.

For instance, the primary and secondary filters in AFDs prevent the overloading of the primary HEPA filter, which can remove 99.97% particles greater than 0.3 microns.

Apart from the HEPA vacuum systems, SERVPRO technicians also use standard wet-dry or canister vacuum systems during the restoration process. However, they are used only in specific circumstances, including:

• Vacuuming outdoors that too with appropriate precautions for preventing worker, occupant, or public exposure
• Used in high-volume laminar-airflow cleaning chambers
• When the exhaust from the vacuum system is vented outside the building
• In situations where the aerosolized particles they exhaust don't create exposure issues, or the particles can be adequately contained with engineering controls

SERVPRO takes a lot of effort to ensure that mold remediation is safe and efficient. Our goal is to restore your home “Like it never even happened.”

If you suspect that you might have contamination issues in your home, call SERVPRO of Seal Beach / Los Alamitos / Cypress at (562) 431-9400; our trained technicians are always ready to answer any questions you might have.

Professionals are Quick to Repair Fire Damage in Seal Beach Homes

4/13/2023 (Permalink)

SERVPRO has a large selection of professional equipment and the experience to handle Seal Beach fire restoration of any size or type.

What Makes SERVPRO Efficient in Fire Damage Cleanup of Seal Beach Properties?

Fire damage restoration of your Seal Beach property is a complex process with many moving parts that requires a team of skilled and knowledgeable professionals. SERVPRO technicians excel at job site management, making them quick and efficient in handling any size disaster.

SERVPRO technicians acknowledge that every fire damage incident in Seal Beach presents unique challenges. Rather than having a 'one-size-fits-all' approach, we focus on developing custom strategies that would be most applicable in a given situation. A lot of time and resources go into the planning phase of the restoration process to ensure the best possible outcome. Managing the contents of a fire damaged home can be challenging and how they are handled has a significant impact on the project's overall success. 

Setting Up and Managing the Work Area After Fire Damage

Once SERVPRO’s fire restoration crew arrives at your Seal Beach property, the first challenge is to determine the room or area from where the restoration should begin. While SERVPRO technicians try to clean contents onsite as much as possible, it is necessary for some situations to pack-out salvageable contents off-site for restorative cleaning.

The setup crew conducts the following activities to set up and manage the work area:

• Manipulate the content and remove the debris to ensure a clean workspace
• Identify and sort salvageable and non-salvageable items
• Set up a packing/inventory station for boxing up salvageable items
• Sort the salvageable items based on the cleaning method to be used
• Tag and inventory

Once the technicians prepare the work area, the next steps in the restoration process can begin.

Controlled Demolition and Cleaning Ceilings and Walls

Most fire and smoke restoration processes require some level of demolition. In some cases, demolition might be very light, like removing a piece of drywall or trim. However, removing all finished surfaces (drywall, floors, and cabinets) might be necessary if the damage is extensive.

Cleaning activities are a critical part of a fire damage restoration process. SERVPRO technicians ensure that they occur top-down, starting with the ceilings, moving to the walls and onsite contents, and finally, the floors.

Ceiling and wall surfaces are often covered with paint, textured plaster, acoustic tiles, or wood paneling. Hence the restorers need to use several cleaning methods to suit each surface type. SERVPRO technicians use three methods that address most ceilings and walls:

• Cleaning using the dry sponge: If the soil is non-greasy and the coverage is light to medium, the restorers often use a dry sponge to remove the soot particles. Technicians also use steel wool pads for heavily soiled areas that offer more abrasive force.
• Wet cleaning with products: Painted, metal, or wood ceilings with light-to-heavy oil-based residues are cleaned by this method. SERVPRO technicians used various cleaning products made using an aqueous or non-aqueous base.
• Peroxide active cleaning: SERVPRO has developed a special process for acoustic ceiling tiles. Peroxide active cleaning preserves the sound-deadening qualities of the tiles while restoring their appearance. The solution that technicians use during this process is a stabilized hydrogen peroxide solution that can remove soot particles even from porous surfaces.

Once the damaged ceiling and wall surfaces are cleaned, the crew can focus on deodorization. It is common for SERVPRO to use multiple deodorization techniques to ensure proper odor removal. We work hard to have your fire-damaged home “Like it never even happened.”

If you need help to deal with a fire incident in your residential or commercial property, call SERVPRO of Seal Beach / Los Alamitos / Cypress at (562) 431-9400; We’re Faster To Any Size Disaster.   

Water Damage Repair in Seal Beach Properties Needs Professionals

4/13/2023 (Permalink)

When your home in Seal Beach suffers water damage, call SERVPRO's experts for swift action.

How SERVPRO Technicians Speed Up Drying After Water Damage to Seal Beach Properties?

Water damage to your Seal Beach property, whether due to burst pipes, ceiling leaks, or plumbing issues, can have disastrous consequences if not addressed promptly. The longer the water penetrates various surfaces, the more extensive damage it can cause.   

Hence, the primary objective of SERVPRO technicians during the restoration of water damage to your Seal Beach properties is to dry the structure as quickly as possible. Our Institute of Inspection, Cleaning, and Restoration Certification (IICRC) certified technicians use various strategies to create conditions that favor rapid evaporation. The goal of these strategies is to-.

• Remove the excess moisture from the air
• Increase the airflow across the wet surface
• Increase the temperature of the drying air

Combining these three factors shift the natural equilibrium in favor of the drying process. 

Removing Excess Moisture from the Air

SERVPRO technicians use dehumidifiers to remove excess moisture from the air in your water-damaged Seal Beach home, which results in a reduction of humidity ratio. As the dehumidifiers remove water vapor from the air, the rate of evaporation increases as more moisture can now leave the wet material and enter the air. The SERVPRO technicians ensure that the amount of moisture removed by dehumidification equals or exceeds the moisture added by the evaporation process. The technicians strategically place the dehumidifiers throughout the wet structure so that the conditions always favor drying. 

SERVPRO technicians use different types of heavy-duty dehumidifying systems, including:

• Refrigerant Dehumidifiers: Perhaps the most common type of dehumidifiers used in the restoration industry, they work similarly to a refrigerator. A refrigerant is circulated through coils in the equipment, which cools them down. When moist air passes over them, the water vapor condenses and is collected in collection tanks. The equipment works best within the temperature range of 700-900F.
• Low Grain Refrigerant (LGR) Dehumidifiers: Although they work similar to refrigerant dehumidifiers, they can dry space to a lower humidity ratio. An LGR manages this by re-cooling the air before moving across evaporator coils.
• Desiccant Dehumidifiers: These pieces of equipment use chemicals called desiccants to absorb moisture from the air. Desiccants can reduce the humidity ratio much lower than equipment based on refrigerants.

Increasing Airflow Across Wet Surface

SERVPRO technicians use air-moving equipment to blow dehumidified air across the wet surfaces. As the moisture evaporates from the surfaces, the layer of air closer to the surface becomes saturated with water vapor, slowing down the evaporation.

Air movers can replace this stagnant layer of air with drier and warmer air from the dehumidifiers and increase the drying rate.

SERVPRO technicians use two types of air movers during water damage restoration projects:

• Axial air movers: These pieces of equipment can generate low-pressure, high-volume airflow. They are ideal if a large area needs to be dried.
• Centrifugal air movers: These produce a high velocity, low-volume airflow. Centrifugal air movers are ideal for targeting smaller areas and are great for 'floating' carpets due to their high-velocity airflow.

Increasing the Temperature of Drying Air

SERVPRO technicians use portable heaters and indirect-fired furnaces to increase the drying air temperature. As the temperature of the air increases, so does its moisture-holding capacity.

Combining these three techniques allows SERVPRO technicians to restore your water-damaged home “Like it never even happened.”

Call SERVPRO of Seal Beach / Los Alamitos / Cypress at (562) 431-9400; We’re Faster To Any Size Disaster.   

Issues That Complicate Water Damage Repair for Seal Beach Homes

4/11/2023 (Permalink)

We removed water damaged drywall and flooring to dry this home after storm damage.

Seal Beach Water Restorations Are Easier With SERVPRO 

Most cases involving water intrusion require cleaning and drying only to restore a property to its preloss condition. However, water damage, especially after a storm, may necessitate significant repairs to reverse the changes from moisture action, deep soiling, and other problems. SERVPRO provides the equipment and technical skills necessary for most of the repairs your Seal Beach home might need.

When someone mentions water damage repair at your Seal Beach home, you may envision tasks that require tools to hammer, cut or scrape materials to facilitate restoration. Sometimes repairs involve construction work, but in other cases, the intervention is subtle. One advantage of utilizing SERVPRO in your restoration is superior management, which can help you avoid dire outcomes.

Things that determine the type of repairs needed

• The level that rising water reaches in the house
• Contamination levels in the intruding water
• How long the property remains submerged
• How you respond to water intrusion 

Every extra inch of rising groundwater accumulating in your house complicates the repair process further since it saturates more structural materials in the floors and walls. The water might also reach utilities like electric outlets and air ducts. Such problems require demolition to remove structurally unsound or contaminated materials. Patching up the torn-up areas is also part of the process. Even though the damage from rising water is uncontrollable, SERVPRO can help ease the response by doing controlled demolition, which saves salvageable structural materials.

How Your Response Affects the Repair Process

Responding to water intrusion involves different things apart from extracting the stagnating water. Therefore, even if the water in the surrounding areas is yet to recede, there are actions you can take to minimize the impact it has on the property. A suitable response can limit the complexity of repairs.

Professional actions that ease final repairs

• Installing roof tarps if there are loose shingles
• Removing some wooden floorboards to ensure swelling does not lead to buckling
• Drilling weep holes in walls or ceilings to release trapped water safely

SERVPRO of Seal Beach / Los Alamitos / Cypress is a reliable water damage repair service. Call us at (562) 431-9400 for assistance.

Water Damage Repairs in Seal Beach Require Much More than Just Airing Out the Place

3/26/2023 (Permalink)

Water damage is hard to deal with on your own. Let the professionals help, call SERVPRO 24/7.

Drying Subfloors, Carpets, and Personal Items is Critical for Effective Water Damage Remediation

More and more homeowners in Seal Beach and the rest of the country decide to handle home repairs independently. A quick internet search can yield hundreds of tutorials for anyone to tackle home projects from reupholstery to installing impact windows. However, some things are better left to the experts. Water incidents are among those projects that, if done incorrectly, could compromise the whole household and escalate into a huge problem.

To properly handle water damage repair in Seal Beach, call SERVPRO. If you are a do-it-yourself kind of homeowner, you will quickly understand the importance of having the right equipment for each job. Our staff has the latest in water remediation and restoration at its disposal, and we’re ready to use it. We are happy to guide you through each step of the process and share our carefully documented steps. By calling our professional crew, you mitigate your exposure to secondary damage and its unfortunate costs.

One area that is often overlooked is wall cavities. Areas behind walls where wiring and insulation typically live are also favorite spots for humidity to accumulate. The result of damp spaces is mold, compromised drywalls, and secondary damage. Our SERVPRO staff uses advanced technology to identify and treat these problem areas. The equipment we typically use in this process includes-

• Moisture meters to detect abnormal readings and guide our drying efforts
• Air movers and injecti-dry technology circulate air and dry the space
• Insulation vacuums and desiccants to help restore normal humidity levels

Whatever your level of expertise is for home projects, let SERVPRO of Seal Beach/ Los Alamitos/ Cypress become your ally when a water incident occurs. Call us at (562) 431-9400 and let us leave your home “Like it never even happened.”

Seal Beach Businesses Rely on SERVPRO for Water Damage Repair

2/12/2023 (Permalink)

When your business has water damage, time is of the essence. Contact SERVPRO for fast action for your commercial water damage situation.

SERVPRO Fast and Efficient Water Damage Repair Saves Seal Beach Businesses

Commercial water damage can be a major headache for any business owner. Not only can it disrupt operations and cause costly downtime, but it can also seriously damage the building and its contents. SERVPRO carries out fast and efficient water damage repair of your Seal Beach property to get you back on track in no time.   

SERVPRO’s IICRC-certified technicians use modern tools and equipment during water damage repairs of Seal Beach commercial properties. Our multi-faceted approach ensures that the restoration is completed in the shortest possible time to limit the extent of lasting structural damage, fixture damage, and loss of inventory.

Drying the Structure and Contents After Water Damage 

A water incident in commercial spaces can damage different types of material. While drying these materials might take different times, the strategy to accelerate drying is more or less the same. SERVPRO techs use strategically placed dehumidifiers and air movers to create ideal drying conditions. 

The dehumidifiers remove the excess moisture from the air to reduce the humidity. The air movers ensure that the wet, damp air close to the surface is replaced with warmer, drier air from the dehumidifiers. When both these pieces of equipment work in tandem, SERVPRO techs can create a ‘sink’ condition that allows water to evaporate faster from the wet surfaces, accelerating the drying process.  

Steps to Enhance the Rate of Evaporation 

The SERVPRO techs ensure that the evaporation of water happens fast by:

• Managing psychrometric conditions of the air, like temperature, humidity, and airflow
• Create conditions to encourage the water absorbed into the material to come to the surface 
• Promote evaporation at a constant rate by maintaining sink conditions throughout the process  

Call SERVPRO of Seal Beach / Los Alamitos / Cypress at (562) 431-9400 to discuss your water restoration needs with our experts.

Fire Restoration Tactics in Seal Beach

1/6/2023 (Permalink)

In case of fire, pull down and then call SERVPRO for fire damage cleanup and restoration in Seal Beach.

SERVPRO Can Help with Fire Restoration in Seal Beach

Anytime a fire breaks out on your property, several types of damage could occur. Once the flames ignite, they can start to consume your contents and building materials while they spread. The smoke from the blaze can also cause several issues, including covering surfaces of your building materials with soot residues. Smoke can also penetrate porous materials and cause unpleasant aromas to linger.

Whenever our SERVPRO team works on fire restoration in Seal Beach, we know that mitigating issues caused by smoke can become a big portion of the project. Even if the blaze was minor, the smoke it put out can travel throughout your structure and cause issues far from where the fire started. To find all of the places the smoke went, we can conduct a thorough inspection of your property. During the inspection, we can look for any safety hazards and mitigate them to ensure the work area is safe for all occupants.

We can then inspect your property to find all your contents and building materials that were negatively affected. If we find surfaces that contain soot residues, we can conduct a wipe test during the initial inspection. The wipe test will help us determine what type of soot residues exist and find the best methods and chemicals to remove them.

Services we can offer after you have a structure fire:

• Removing burnt debris and building materials
• Cleaning soot residues from your walls and ceilings
• Restorative carpet cleaning
• Structural deodorization

If foul aromas still exist in your building after cleaning all affected surfaces and removing all burnt debris, we can take further steps to deodorize your structure. Sometimes, we can use an ultra-low volume (ULV) or thermal fogger, which breaks down deodorants into microscopic particles that mimic the smoke's behavior and penetrate affected materials. In other cases, we can utilize an ozone generator that dispenses unstable O3 particles that can neutralize unpleasant fragrances.

If you ever suffer from a minor structural blaze igniting at your residence, call SERVPRO of Seal Beach / Los Alamitos / Cypress at (562) 431-9400

SERVPRO Offers Premier Flood Damage Restoration in Seal Beach

11/9/2022 (Permalink)

Trust SERVPRO to extract contaminated flood waters from your Seal Beach property.

Go with a Trusted Name for Flood Damage Restoration in Seal Beach

Removing the standing water is the first step in flood damage restoration of your Seal Beach home. SERVPRO techs use several pumps and extraction units to remove the water before drying the structure. The more excess water restorers remove with extraction equipment, the less time they need to spend to evaporate and dehumidify the remaining moisture.

SERVPRO techs use various extraction equipment during flood damage cleanup of your Seal Beach home. Some of the extraction tools that we use include-

• Extraction units
• Light wands
• Deep extraction tools
• Submersible pumps

The Role of Extraction Units in Flood Restoration

Extraction units or extractors can remove standing water accumulated after a flooding incident. The most common type of extractor SERVPRO techs use is the portable extractor that operates on electricity. These extractors are ideal for high-rise buildings and can be taken to almost any area of the structure.

When the water damage is extensive and more powerful equipment is needed, the SERVPRO techs use truck-mounted extractors. These bigger extractors generate a more powerful vacuum and can remove a large volume of water in less time. Also, as these large extractors run on the vehicle's fuel, they can be used when there is no power supply to the property.

Deep Extraction Tools

Deep extraction tools are usually attached to the extraction units and are used to remove water absorbed in the carpets and pads after a flooding incident. SERVPRO techs use stationary and self-propelled extraction units to squeeze water from rugs and remove it with the attached extractor. Deep extraction tools can remove the bulk of free water from the carpets, so they dry faster once techs place dehumidifiers and air movers.

Call SERVPRO of Seal Beach / Los Alamitos / Cypress at (562) 431-9400; We’re Faster To Any Size Disaster.