PDR Blog
PDR Blog
An ongoing series of informational entries
An ongoing series of informational entries
Quick Ways To Prevent Basement Flooding
Quick Ways To Prevent Basement Flooding
May 2, 2023
A flooded basement causes lots of headaches for homeowners. It's an expensive problem to have to deal with. Check out these quick ways to help prevent basement flooding
1. Test your sump pump
Pour 6-7 gallons of water into the sump pit. If it is in working order, the sump pump will turn on and remove most of the water from the sump pit.
2. Have a backup power source for your sump pump
A backup power source can be a gem if the power goes out during the rainy season.
3. Check and clean your gutters
Rain water needs a route to flow unobstructed through your gutters. When your gutters are full of dirt and leaves water can rainwater can overflow and filter into your houses foundation instead of being directed away from your house.
4. Divert rainwater appropriately.
You may need to lengthen your rain gutter pipe to make sure water is directed away from your house's foundation.
How A Sump Pump Fail Can Cause Thousands of Dollars of Damage to your Residential or Commercial Property
How A Sump Pump Fail Can Cause Thousands of Dollars of Damage to your Residential or Commercial Property
April 25, 2023
What is a Sump Pump?
A sump pump help keeps lower levels of your property dry, especially after intense storms, melting snow, and flooding. Sump pumps are usually located in the lowest part of your home or commercial property.
How does a Sump Pump Work?
Sump pumps work by collecting water in a basin beneath the pump. When the water reaches a certain level, the pump starts to remove the water to a location outside the property, far away from the property. A sump pump that is not correctly working can cause significant damage to your property. It’s important to regularly maintain the integrity of your sump pump. Make sure sump pump parts are in working order and that a battery backup pack is present.
How Paul Davis Restoration of Central Connecticut Can Help if Your Sump Pump Fails:
Paul Davis Restoration offers cleanup and restoration services. In the event that your sump pump fails, Paul Davis will quickly arrive onsite and implement a water damage restoration process. If your business or commercial property has experienced significant water damage, do not hesitate. Call Paul Davis today at 860-633-7733.
The Truth About “Black” Mold In Your House or Commercial Property
The Truth About “Black” Mold In Your House or Commercial Property
April 19, 2023
Getting rid of mold is just part of the solution. Remediation services take out the mold however, they do not tackle the cause of the problem. You may need to pull in other necessary parties to correct the problem so mold does not reoccur.
The process of remediating mold is similar regardless of the type of mold.
- Remediation specialists seal off the work area by building a containment using plastic sheeting creating a negative air system.
- Mold is then physically removed by hand-wet wiping and removal of porous materials such as sheetrock, carpet, and carpet pads. Sheet rock may not be removed entirely and is often given a flood cut to salvage non-affected portions.
- After demolition and removal of microbial materials and thorough hand cleaning have occurred, all surfaces are thoroughly cleaned using a HEPA vacuum.
If your business or commercial property has experienced significant water damage, do not hesitate. Call Paul Davis today at 860-633-7733.
Water Damage Timeline
Water Damage Timeline
April 11 2023
Within Minutes
- Water disperses throughout the property and soaks anything in its way.
- Water absorbs into floors, walls, upholstery, and personal belongings.
- Furniture finishes, colored carpets, and printed media may bleed and permanently stain carpets
- Media such as photographs, magazines, and books absorb water, swell, and warp.
Within 24 Hours
- Drywall begins to swell, warp, and break down
- Wooden furniture can start to swell and crack
- Metal surfaces can start to tarnish
- A musty odor may become present
Within 72 Hours
- Mold may grow and circulate
- Wood flooring can start to swell and warp
- Doors and windows can start to swell and warp
- Paint can begin to blister
- Metal starts to rust
- biohazard contamination can occur
After 1 Week
- The time and cost to restore property dramatically increase as the damage has become extensive at this point in time.
- Mold, biohazard contamination, and structural safety may substantially harm occupants.
If your business or commercial property has experienced significant water damage, do not hesitate. Call Paul Davis today at 860-633-7733.
What to Do and Not To Do After Water Damage
What to Do and Not To Do After Water Damage
April 4th 2023
What to Do and NOT to do After A Water Damage
Immediately after water damage, your first concern is always safety. Ask yourself these questions:
- Is the house safe to stay in?
- Are there electrical or slip-and-fall hazards?
- What activities are safe for me to perform? Remember to be careful, wet materials can be VERY heavy!
Water damage can create serious damage to your house. Make sure to call your insurance company to start a claim as soon as possible. You should contact a water restoration damage company such as Paul Davis Restoration of Central Connecticut as soon as possible to start repairs and prevent mold and structural damage to the home.
What To Do After Water Damage
What To Do After Water Damage
Try to find the source of water and stop additional water from entering your home if it is safe to do so.
- Gather any loose items from the floor. Remove and prop up wet upholstery or cushions to dry.
- Place a barrier such as aluminum foil between furniture legs and wet carpeting.
- Wipe excess water from wood furniture after removing tabletop items.
- Remove excess water from the floor by blotting or mopping
- Remove art objects to a dry place.
- Utilize fans, wet vacs, and dehumidifiers to start drying out your home as soon as possible.
What Not To Do After Water Damage
What Not To Do After Water Damage
- Don't use your household vacuum to remove water
- Don't turn on ceiling fixtures if the ceiling is wet.
- Don't leave colored items such as books, magazines, or colored rugs on wet carpet floors.
- Don't leave soaked fabrics in place. Hang them up to start the drying process.
If your business or commercial property has experienced significant water damage, do not hesitate. Call Paul Davis today at 860-633-7733.
Commercial Restoration Services
Commercial Restoration Services
March 22, 2022
Your commercial property is always at risk of being damaged by natural elements. If your business gets hit by a disaster, you’ll need a commercial restoration company with real-world experience and the resources to return your property to its normal state.
Paul Davis Restoration has over 50 years of experience in residential and commercial restoration services. Our team of experts offers:
Commercial water damage restoration
Commercial fire damage restoration
Commercial mold damage restoration
Commercial storm damage restoration
Our professionals have the training and equipment needed to restore your business after common issues with minimal interruption to your daily operations. Paul Davis also provides disaster planning to ensure that your property is fortified in case future damage strikes.
At Paul Davis, we offer 24/7 commercial restoration and reconstruction services for damage caused by water, fire, smoke, mold, storms, and other disasters.
Why Paul Davis Commercial Restoration?
What makes Paul Davis Restoration different from other commercial restoration services? We offer multiple services through one point of contact. This means you only need one number to reach our reconstruction, emergency services mitigation, contents cleaning, training, insurance claims assistance, and disaster planning teams.
You can depend on us for additional commercial damage services like cost savings, streamlined catastrophe planning, and minimized disruption.
Paul Davis has a longstanding heritage dedicated to innovation, resourcefulness, empathy, and outstanding customer service.
Our franchise organization is proud to provide fast, high-quality cleanup and restoration services to both commercial and residential properties. We always put your property first at Paul Davis.
If your business or commercial property has experienced significant damage, do not hesitate. Call Paul Davis today at 860-633-7733.
4 Steps to Finding a Reputable Disaster Restoration Company
4 Steps to Finding a Reputable Disaster Restoration Company
October 10, 2022
When water, fire, mold, or any type of damage occurs to your home, your safe haven is turned upside down and the one thing you want to do is turn back the clock. Since that isn’t possible, let’s look at how to find you some help, and keep it affordable at the same time.
One thing to remember: Unless the issue is minor, such as a pipe breaking while you are staring at it and you turned off the water supply within five seconds, you will probably need help from trained pros — plus the financial support of your insurance company. After all, that’s why you pay premiums.
Here are four simple things you can do.
Call your insurance company
Get the claim on record, give your agent a call and get the paperwork started. If you don’t, you may find down the road issues with coverage and paying for repairs. If disaster happens, call the insurance company.
Search and call a professional restoration company (your insurance company may have a list of preferred companies or even say you must use someone in their network. That isn’t true. It is your home and your coverage, and you have a lot of influence on who comes into your home to do the repairs. While you can get a recommendation from your insurance carrier, it’s your decision — look at local companies, analyze their reviews, and if you can, use companies that have been referred to you by someone you trust).
Make sure the company you use is certified. Proper training in water damage restoration, fire and smoke cleanup, mold remediation, and other restoration jobs is a must. This often means a certification, and you might look for companies that have training by the IICRC or the RIA, two globally recognized certification organizations. No matter what, you want to use a company that has proper training. This is a great way to do that.
Are they responsive?
If you contact a company and they don’t answer their phone or call you back right away, you might wonder if they will show up to do the repairs. Sure, they may promise on their website they are a 24-hour-a-day company, seven days a week… but if they are, why don’t they answer their phone? You don’t want to be chasing a company to do the work they promised you to do.
When disaster strikes, don’t try to handle it all alone. Get help from a reputable company. After all, it pays to call a pro!
Restoration – July 2022 Glastonbury, CT
Real Issues Behind Lead Paint
When it comes to the health and safety of your family, you do all you can to protect them. That’s why when water damage occurs, you call your favorite restoration company because you know that without proper remediation, more damage can occur and even mold growth, which is potentially dangerous.
One aspect of home maintenance that many aren’t aware of, and that can be dangerous to health, is when you work with old paint. Perhaps you are remodeling. Or just working on stripping off old paint and repainting. What you are working with could include some element of lead paint.
We all know lead paint can be deadly. What some don’t know is how long lead paint has been with us. Some reports indicate that lead was used in some paint as early as the 4th century BC, and it was used as a thickening agent.
In modern times, lead paint was popular and known to accelerate drying, increase durability, resist moisture, keep a fresh appearance over time, and is easy to clean. But because of the health effects of lead poisoning, it was banned in 1978 for consumer use by the federal government. What was once accepted and embraced and even used in children’s toys was now poison.
One danger of lead paint is that it causes nervous system damage, stunted growth, kidney failure, and more. Children like the taste because it is sweet, so they might put lead chips or flakes they find on the ground, or toys with lead, in their mouths.
If your home was built before 1978, an inspection for lead paint should be done. It has probably already happened, but you need to verify that. For a visual inspection, lead paint will display what is called “alligatoring”. This happens when the paint cracks and wrinkles, so the painted surface looks like it has scales. This doesn’t guarantee you have lead paint, but it is a sign. You can also obtain a lead paint test kit from a home improvement or paint store. They are easy to use. You can also have a professional home inspector or restoration company check for lead paint. You want peace of mind.
If you have lead paint or suspect you do, the best thing to do is call your favorite restoration company. They know what to do with any restoration situation, and lead paint is something that must be handled by experts. After all, it pays to call a pro!
---> Paul Davis Restoration 860-633-7733
Mold Season + Exterior Surfaces
Mold Season + Exterior Surfaces
June 22, 2022
Most think of mold inside the home as a big problem — and it is. But what about that mold that grows on the outside of your home, such as on vinyl siding and other surfaces? While not as much of a health concern, it’s still a nuisance that must be handled.
Mold typically does not grow on clean, dry surfaces. And most materials, such as the plastic construction materials used on homes, is not a food source for mold. So why does it grow? Because of the dirt, soil, grime, and other organic matter that builds up on surfaces. While your vinyl siding may be vertical, it still gets dirty, and mold will grab onto that and grow like wildfire. And when there are trees and vegetation around your home, they release particles that attach to exterior surfaces and that just makes the problem worse.
The solution? Cleaning. Keeping surfaces clean, and physically removing both molds and their food sources, is the best way to keep your home looking good.
While the solution seems simple, unless you have a ranch-style home, reaching all those high surfaces is not easy. You will need ladders, extension poles, and plenty of safety gear. If you have all that, and are ready to get to work, here are a few tips.
Get a good scrub brush, something you can put on a pole, and something that will scrub the surface but not scratch it. Softer nylon bristles are great. Have plenty of garden hose available, with a concentrated spray nozzle. A large bucket, a pump-up sprayer, or a sprayer assembly that you can put liquid cleaning products in, one that automatically dilutes and applies the cleaner to your home. You need all this before you get to work.
Purchase a quality exterior cleaning solution specifically for siding and removing mold. While you can create your own solution with a variety of household products (bleach, vinegar, detergent) what you find at the store is not expensive.
Then get to work. Hopefully on a nice, sunny day. Apply your product with the hose attachment or your pump-up sprayer, allow to dwell for a few minutes. The bleach component in your solution will take time to work.
Scrub the surface and spray it all off. Let it dry and inspect, repeating as necessary. Take your time, section off areas, and you will see fantastic results.
But what about mold inside your home? That’s a different problem altogether. When you see mold inside, contact your favorite disaster restoration company. After all, it pays to call a pro!
How to Shut Off Your Water in an Emergency
How to Shut Off Your Water in an Emergency
May 8, 2022
There’s nothing that can get a person to move faster than to have a pipe break in a home, with water spraying everywhere, soaking everything, and ruining furnishings, flooring, documents, and more.
The “moving faster” part of this unwanted exercise is often the frenzy with trying to find and turn off the water source, the main water feed into the home, and that location is usually not top-of-mind until the moment it is urgently needed.
Turning a valve off and saving your home is a simple concept, but if you don’t know where to find that valve, extensive damage will occur.
With most properties in warm climates, the main valves are often outside, easy to access. But in colder climates, those valves are inside, either in a basement if the home has one, or in a utility area, out of the way. And often, none of them are marked.
In addition to the typical shut-off valves, most homes have a main valve in the yard, an underground area with a cover that can be removed and give you access to it. Sometimes a special tool is needed to operate the valve.
But if you own a typical home with a basement, you have an advantage. The main shut-off valve is most often found near the front, on or near the wall closest to the street, where the water feeds into the home. If you have a private well, it should be on the side of the well, on that wall. If the valve isn’t on that type of wall, it may be near the furnace or water heater.
If you have a crawlspace, you may have a disadvantage. The valve may be in there, in that tight space that is usually full of cobwebs and dirt. You might have to go in there to reach the valve. But make sure it is in there; do that right now, so you aren’t trying to reach a valve that turns out isn’t in there at all.
When you do find the valve, you have to turn it. Turn clockwise, like when putting a screw into a board or a lid onto a jar. The valve may be rusty, difficult to turn.
Lack of use makes the task more difficult. You can use a wrench to do it but be careful not to break the handle of the valve.
If, or more precisely, when a pipe breaks and you have resulting water damage, do the right thing. Contact your favorite disaster restoration company. After all, it pays to call a pro!
How to be Flood Safe and Savvy
How to be Flood Safe and Savvy
April 14, 2022
One of the worst times for many when it comes to the possibility of a flooded home is during springtime when the ground is thawing, snow is melting, and then relentless rain starts pounding down.
Hopefully, your roof is leakproof, your foundation is up to the task, and your sump pump (if you need one) is chugging along faithfully. Water is intrusive and can find the weakest spot in your home and create all types of damage and costly repairs.
There are ways to be flood safe and even flood-savvy by paying attention to advise and guidance from experts.
The first thing to do is logical and you are probably already doing it: Watch the weather. Monitor your favorite news source for weather alerts and updates, especially when you know a storm may be brewing and coming your way. You can set automatic alerts easily. And understand weather event terminology. There’s a big difference between a flood watch and a flood warning. A watch means flooding may occur. A warning means weather conditions are prime to create flooding.
You can prepare your home for possible flooding. While you should always vacate your home and find a safe place if severe and dangerous weather is coming your way, most weather issues won’t dictate evacuation. But all weather-related issues should prompt preparedness, which may include checking all doors, windows, and openings to your home, and checking your basement or first-floor areas for items that can easily be damaged in a flood. Put them up high — just in case. Going through and picking up soggy items that could have been safely put on a shelf is not a task you have to face if you think ahead.
Be prepared for power outages. Have plenty of fresh food and water on hand in the event you have to wait out the storm.
Remember, floods are the most common natural disaster that affects the most people. They can be caused by a variety of events, including hurricanes, heavy rain, high winds combined with rain, and even thawing snow. Just a small amount of water in your home where it doesn’t belong can cost thousands of dollars in damage. Make sure your homeowner’s insurance policy covers flooding that could possibly occur in your area. Don’t assume you have flood insurance as part of a normal insurance policy.
If the unthinkable does occur and you suffer from a flooded home, do the right thing. Call your favorite disaster restoration company. After all, it pays to call a pro!
The Devastation of Ice Dams
The Devastation of Ice Dams
January 15, 2022
As temperatures change, water freezes, then melts, and refreezes again. Often, as water moves down a surface, you see icicles form. While icicles might be beautiful to look at, when they are hanging from your roof or gutters, they can cause devastation inside your home. What you see might be the start of an ice dam, which can be the root cause of water damage.
How does it happen? After all, don’t most water damages occur from broken pipes or sudden heavy rain? Not always.
How ice dams form
In the winter, where temperatures drop below freezing, snow melts and then the water runs down the roof and then hits the cold roof eaves and gutters and freezes into ice dams. These tear off gutters, loosen shingles, and cause melting water to work its way under the shingles, and into your home—instead of off the roof like it normally should.
This can damage interior walls, insulation, woodwork, ceilings… it can warp your floors and even lead to mold forming inside your home, where it does not belong. But all of this can be prevented with a little planning.
Preventing ice dams
In the short term, you can put some ice melt products (calcium chloride), much like you would put on the sidewalk, in areas where ice may build up. You can sprinkle these liberally on the eaves and in the gutters. Some recommend putting the ice melt products in socks or pantyhose and laying them up on the roof, so it crosses over the eaves and gutter. No matter what you do, think safety first and be very careful on ladders or when accessing anything high.
In the long term, insulating your attic should be a priority. Have it inspected to ensure you have the right type and amount of insulation materials. If you can keep the entire roof at the same temperature as the eaves, you stop the formation of ice dams. You do this by increasing ventilation in the attic and plugging every possible air leak that might warm the roof, which melts the snow. We all know everything must melt, but premature melting is the issue here.
But when and if water damage happens, you need help before things go from bad to worse. Do the right thing and call your favorite disaster restoration company. After all, it pays to call a pro!
Previous Water Damage Concerns
Previous Water Damage Concerns
February 15, 2022
When your home is the victim of a water damage event, such as from a leaky roof, when a pipe breaks, a basement floods from heavy rains, whatever the cause… you know when it happens unless you are on vacation and discover it when you return home.
When water damage occurs, you are quick to clean up the mess and call a professional water damage restoration company. That’s smart home ownership.
But what about when something happened in the past and it wasn’t cleaned properly, or you didn’t even know about it? Such as when you purchase a home, and the previous damage wasn’t disclosed? The longer damage remains, even if hidden and unnoticed, the worse it becomes.
What can you do? Of course, when purchasing a home, asking a lot of questions is important, and a home inspection can reveal what a casual observation will miss.
When buying a home
When you are looking at a home to buy, or even rent, be sure to ask about any previous water damage or other structural issues. Ask about the cause of the damage and how extensive. A freshwater leak is much different from a sewage backup, and you need to know this. Was the damage cleaned by the homeowner or a professional restoration firm?
Ask a professional if there is the potential for long-term effects from the previous damage. You want an honest opinion. You do not want to purchase someone else’s issues that should be resolved before you purchase the home.
What can you do?
When you own the property or even if you rent, you have options. Having the previous damage inspected by a professional is a way to protect your family and loved ones. After all, we all know that water damage can lead to mold issues and possible exposure to mold spores. Only a pro will know the extent of the damage and have the proper remediation plan.
Remember: Any damage can be repaired. While it is best to dry out and clean up after a storm or water damage issue, even if months or years go by you can have damaged materials replaced. There is no cost too high that should stop you from doing the right thing and protecting your home and family.
And when in doubt about anything related to disaster restoration issues, water damage, mold contamination, whatever it is, do the right thing. Call your favorite restoration company for a consultation. After all, it pays to call a pro!
Paul Davis Restoration of Central CT
860-633-7733
Located in Glastonbury, CT
Glastonbury CT Can Water Damage Leather?
Glastonbury CT Can Water Damage Leather?