How SERVPRO Cares for Your Belongings After Mold Damage

1/4/2024 (Permalink)

After mold damage occurs, entrusting your property's restoration to a professional company is crucial for protecting your belongings and ensuring thorough mold remediation services. Mold not only jeopardizes the structural integrity of your home but also poses health risks and can irreversibly damage your possessions.

Professional restoration companies like SERVPRO bring expertise, specialized equipment, and techniques to effectively remove mold, prevent its recurrence, and salvage affected items. Our knowledge of safe mold remediation practices not only protects your property by also protecting you and your family's health, making our involvement pivotal in restoring your space to a safe condition.

Contents Restoration

At SERVPRO of West Somerset County, our focus lies in restoring contents affected by fire, water, or mold damage. Our specialized skills and emphasis on restoration rather than replacement not only save you money but also protects your items to identify those that can be restored to their pre-damage condition. Our cleaning methods encompass various techniques, ensuring a comprehensive approach to restoring your belongings.

• Dry Cleaning: Used for cleaning light residues or to pre-clean prior to wet cleaning.
• Wet Cleaning: An effective cleaning method for removing moderate to heavy residues.
• Spray and Wipe: Effective for items that can't withstand wet cleaning.
• Foam Cleaning: Used for upholstery fabrics that might shrink or bleed if wet cleaned.
• Abrasive Cleaning: Involves agitation of the surface being cleaned.
• Immersion Cleaning: Contents are dipped into a bath of the cleaning product.

Move-Outs/Pack-Outs

Should your home need extensive restoration or cleaning, SERVPRO offers a well-organized and efficient move-out process for the affected area. Opting for a move-out with multiple advantages, including:

• A quicker remodeling process
• Protecting items from potential damage
• Protecting contents from further on-site damage

When the restoration is completed, we will work with you to coordinate the move-in according to your needs. The services offered upon move-in may depend on your insurance coverage.

Electronic Cleanup

Water damaged electronics pose a significant risk. Avoid trying to power on or use any electrical devices that you suspect has encountered water damage. We handle the restoration of your electronics, including TVs, DVD players, computers, and more. Acting quickly is important in restoring electronics to prevent further damage. Our process begins with cleaning the exterior to halt further corrosion and harm. A certified electronics technician thoroughly inspects and cleans the electronics to ensure proper restoration.

Document/Photograph Drying

When your previous documents, like photographs, suffer water and mold damage, it's crucial to handle them with care to prevent mold exposure and further damage. While complete restoration might not always be possible, we can salvage a significant amount and reduce additional damage. We offer five restoration options based on the document type and the extent of water and mold damage:

• Air Drying
• Dehumidification
• Freezer Drying
• Vacuum Freeze Drying
• Vacuum Thermal Drying

Contents Claim Inventory Service

When faced with a water damage emergency, the resulting damage can feel daunting. To alleviate the stress and uncertainty throughout the recovery journey, we offer our Contents Claim Service (CCIS). This service ensures a meticulous and precise catalog of your belongings by conducting a thorough room-by-room inventory, which may include digital photos and, in certain cases, barcoding.

Our Contents Claim Inventory Service includes:

• Pre-loss list and value of contents
• Detailed and accurate report
• Better information to settle claims faster
• Assistance with burden of proof for claims
• Peace of mind when you need it most

Understanding Mold

Mold has the potential to cause health problems and can spread through your property in as little as 48 hours. We understand mold and mold growth and have the training and expertise to remediate the mold problems in your home or business.

Microscopic mold spores exist naturally almost everywhere, indoors and outdoors, so removing all mold from a home or business is impossible. Some restoration businesses advertise 'mold removal' and even guarantee to remove all mold, which is not true. Here are some facts that'll help you understand mold and mold growth a bit more:

• Mold is present almost everywhere, indoors and outdoors
• Mold spores are microscopic and float along in the air, and they may enter your home through windows, doors, AC/heating systems or even hitch a ride indoors on your clothing or pet.
• Mold spores thrive on moisture. Mold spores can quickly grow into colonies when exposed to water.
• Before the mold remediation process can begin, any sources of water or moisture must be addressed. Otherwise, the mold may return.
• Let your nose lead the way. Mold often produces a strong, musty odor, and can lead you to possible mold problem areas.
• Even higher than normal indoor humidity can support mold growth, so keep indoor humidity below 45%.

How Our Mold Remediation Process Works

Every mold damage scenario is different and requires a unique solution, but the general mold remediation and removal process stays the same:

1. Emergency contact - The mold remediation process begins when you call us.
2. Inspection and Mold Damage Assessment - We'll carefully inspect your property for any signs of mold.
3. Mold Containment - We use various containment procedures to prevent the spread of mold. We may use advanced containment procedures like negative air chambers to isolate the contaminated area with physical barriers and negative air pressure to keep the mold from spreading during the cleanup process.
4. Air Filtration - Our specialized filtration equipment allows our professionals to capture microscopic mold spores out of the air. We utilize powerful 'air scrubbers' and HEPA vacuums to prevent the spread during the remediation process.
5. Removing Mold and Mold-Infested Materials - The remediation process depends on the amount of mold growth and the types of surfaces on which the mold appears. We use antifungal and antimicrobial treatments to eliminate mold colonies and to help prevent new colonies from forming.
6. Cleaning Contents and Belongings - We clean your furniture, decorative items, curtains, and other restorable items affected by mold.
7. Restoration - Depending on the level of mold damage, drywall, subfloors, and other building materials may have been removed. Restoration may involve minor repairs or major repairs.

About SERVPRO Team Harvey

SERVPRO of West Somerset County is proudly owned by Lance and Jennifer Harvey - a husband and wife duo that owns two other SERVPRO locations, including SERVPRO of Hoboken/Union City and SERVPRO of Aberdeen/Holmdel.

We won't only help with mold damage remediation, we can also help with water damage restoration, fire damage restoration, storm damage restoration, residential restoration, commercial buildings, and much more.

We understand the stress and worry that comes with a fire or water damage and the disruption it causes your home or business. Our goal is to help minimize the interruption to your life and quickly make it “like it never even happened.”