Water Damage Repair and Restoration in West Hartford, CT

10/10/2024 (Permalink)

Water damage can wreak havoc on your property, turning your comfortable home or business into a chaotic scene. Whether it's a burst pipe, severe weather, or hidden moisture, the consequences can be devastating if not addressed promptly and professionally. In West Hartford, CT, SERVPRO® offers comprehensive water damage restoration services to help you recover from disasters and restore normalcy.

Understanding Water Damage

Common Causes of Water Damage

• Leaking or burst pipes: Often due to aging infrastructure, cold weather, or pressure fluctuations.
• Appliance malfunctions: Items like water heaters, washing machines, and dishwashers.
• Severe weather and flooding: Heavy rains, snowmelt, and storms.
• Sewage backups: Blockages leading to potential health hazards.
• Hidden moisture: In areas like basements, attics, and walls, leading to mold growth.

The Impact of Water Damage

Failure to address water damage promptly can lead to:

• Structural damage: Weakening of floors, walls, and ceilings.
• Mold growth: Posing health risks and further property damage.
• Electrical issues: Increased risk of fire hazards and short circuits.
• Health risks: From mold and mildew, particularly for those with allergies or respiratory issues.
• Decreased property value: Making it harder to sell or rent your property in the future.

Why Choose SERVPRO for Water Damage Restoration?

Comprehensive Water Damage Restoration Services

SERVPRO of West Hartford offers a full suite of water damage restoration services designed to meet your specific needs:

1. Emergency Response: Our team is available 24/7 to respond quickly to your emergency.
2. Damage Assessment: We conduct a thorough inspection to understand the extent and source of the damage.
3. Water Removal: Using powerful pumps and vacuums to remove water from your premises.
4. Drying and Dehumidification: Ensuring no moisture is left behind using advanced drying equipment.
5. Cleaning and Sanitizing: Using EPA-approved disinfectants to eliminate bacteria.
6. Restoration and Repairs: From minor repairs to major reconstruction, we restore your property to its original condition.

Experienced and Certified Professionals

Our technicians are IICRC (Institute of Inspection, Cleaning, and Restoration Certification) certified, ensuring they are equipped with the latest knowledge and skills in water damage restorations. Our team is trained to handle any situation with professionalism and efficiency.

State-of-the-Art Equipment

SERVPRO utilizes the latest technology to detect hidden moisture, extract standing water, and thoroughly clean and dry your property. Our cutting-edge equipment ensures the restoration process is performed swiftly and effectively, minimizing disruption to your life.

The SERVPRO Process: Efficient and Effective Solutions

Step 1: Immediate Response

The moment you contact SERVPRO of West Hartford, our priority is to respond quickly to minimize the damage. Our emergency line is open 24/7, ensuring help is always just a phone call away.

Step 2: Detailed Inspection and Damage Assessment

Once on-site, our team conducts a comprehensive assessment to determine the extent of the damage and craft a tailored response plan. We check for:

• Source of water: Identifying and stopping the source to prevent further damage.
• Water contamination level: Classifying water based on contamination levels (clean, gray, or black water).
• Extent of damage: Using moisture detectors, hygrometers, and infrared cameras to find hidden moisture.

Step 3: Water Removal (Extraction)

Using powerful pumps and industrial-grade wet/dry vacuums, we swiftly remove all standing water from your property. This process is crucial to prevent further damage and speed up the drying process.

Step 4: Drying and Dehumidification

After water removal, we use air movers and dehumidifiers to dry out affected areas thoroughly. This step is vital to ensure that hidden moisture pockets are eliminated, preventing mold growth and lingering odors.

Step 5: Cleaning and Sanitizing

SERVPRO understands the health risks associated with water damage. We use anti-microbial treatments and air scrubbers to clean, sanitize, and deodorize your property, ensuring it is safe for occupancy.

Step 6: Restoration and Rebuild

Our goal is to restore your property to its pre-water damage condition. This may involve minor repairs like replacing drywall and installing new carpeting, or major reconstruction efforts. No job is too big or small. Our skilled technicians provide top-notch restoration services, ensuring your peace of mind.

Step 7: Final Inspection

Before we consider the job complete, a final walkthrough is conducted to ensure all areas are dry, clean, and safe. We also provide detailed documentation for insurance claims, helping you navigate the process smoothly.

Preventive Measures: Protecting Your Property

To safeguard your home or business from future water damage, consider these preventive tips:

• Regular maintenance: Inspect and repair roof, gutters, and downspouts regularly.
• Appliance upkeep: Ensure appliances are in good working order.
• Know your water shut-off: Quickly locate and turn off your water main if necessary.
• Seal windows and doors: Ensure watertight seals to prevent leaks.
• Install a sump pump: Especially useful for properties prone to flooding.

Contact SERVPRO of West Hartford Today!

When water damage strikes, act fast and reach out to SERVPRO of West Hartford for top-tier water damage restoration services. Our experienced team is committed to restoring your property with efficiency and care, ensuring your home or business is safe, dry, and restored to its original condition.

The Most Common Water Removal Needs for West Hartford Homes

5/8/2024 (Permalink)

SERVPRO can place numerous centrifugal air movers to mitigate the water damage in your West Hartford home. "Like it never even happened."

SERVPRO® Has Several Water Removal Options

Water damage can occur from dozens of sources, creating unique restoration obstacles for every residence. Our fast response to emergencies can get mitigation started immediately, including needed water removal approaches.

Addressing Physical Standing Water

When water removal for West Hartford homes is discussed, many property owners immediately consider the extraction of pooling water after emergencies like burst pipes or flooding. Surface water removal uses pumps and vacuums to manage standing liquid that could absorb into building materials without swift action.

Trapped Water in Building Materials

Water can be absorbed into building materials and threaten the rest of the property. Saturated construction elements can sag and collapse or, in other cases, allow mold damage to form and spread. Air movers directed at these wet surfaces can help to manage damp elements and prevent permanent structural damage through evaporation.

Moisture Content in the Air

Moisture in the environment must also be a focal point of the extraction processes. Management of water molecules saturating the air combines drying practices with processes like condensation, absorption, and extraction. Some of the tools necessary for this process include:

• Portable heaters
• Desiccant dehumidifiers
• Refrigerant dehumidifiers
• Air movers

The Impact on Contents

Contents are often one of the most heavily damaged elements of the property. While restoring and cleaning the structure remains a priority, removing water from contents can also be a focus. We can achieve these goals through several direct strategies starting with relocation. SERVPRO can move lightly impacted contents to a new area of the house to expedite drying.

From mitigation to restoration, removing the most amount of water from damaged areas of your home is a common objective after disasters. Our SERVPRO of West Hartford team has several strategies for accomplishing this, beginning as soon as we arrive. Give us a call now at (860) 206-6141.

Water Damage Restoration at NBC Headquarters in West Hartford

1/6/2023 (Permalink)

Water damage restoration at NBC News in West Hartford

SERVPRO of West Hartford restored the NBC CT headquarters in West Hartford back to its original condition after an unfortunate water damage incident during last month's storm.

Our trained technicians are always up to the task and capable of handling water damage restoration jobs of any size.

Check out our video on Facebook.

How to Avoid Water Damage During Frozen Pipe Season

12/14/2022 (Permalink)

A frozen pipe often means a burst pipe, and that means lots of water damage to your home or business. Prevent it by following our tips.

Wintertime, and the pipes are freezing! That’s not music to any homeowner’s ears: a frozen and burst pipe can do astounding amounts of damage—and quickly—to a home, apartment, or business. This article gives you ways to avoid that kind of water disaster—and ways to recover fast if you do end up with a frozen and burst pipe.

The most common cause of a burst pipe is freezing. (Other causes of a ruptured pipe include rust, improper installation and physical damage to the pipe.) When water freezes, it expands in volume by about 9 percent, and the pressure inside pipes may shoot from 40 psi to 40,000 psi, causing the pipe to break open. The rupture usually occurs where water pressure finds a weak spot in the pipe, which may or may not be at the spot where it froze. And then the trouble starts: water seeps or even gushes out into your home or office. Sometimes this happens out in the open, but often it occurs behind walls or ceilings, or in an attic or basement.

Lots of damage can occur without you even knowing it. In fact, up to 250 gallons of water can flow from your ruptured pipe in just 24 hours. The second-most common insurance claim filed in the U.S., an average residential water damage claim is $10,000–15,000, and total cleanup costs can be $5,000–70,000.

The best way to avoid that kind of disaster is to keep your pipes from freezing. Logically, that means keeping your pipes too warm to freeze. Luckily, there’s a lot you can do before, during and after the temperature drops to prevent a frozen pipe in your home.

Before a Freeze

Start getting your pipes ready to handle the cold before the temperature drops. Start with an inventory of your pipes. Look for:

• Exposed pipes in unheated areas of your house. Check your basement, attic, garage, crawl space and under bathroom and kitchen sinks.
• Pipes that show wear or damage.
• Un-insulated areas of the house.

Once you’ve identified vulnerable pipes or chilly areas, get to work:

Protect your pipes

• Wearing protective gear, install un-faced fiberglass insulation around poorly-protected pipes in the attic, crawl space or other out-of-the-way place. Don’t worry about being neat, just get those pipes wrapped.
• Install a heat trace cable to keep cold pipes from freezing. Some heat tapes are wrapped around the pipe, while others run along the length of the pipe. Look for ready-to-use cable, with one end terminated and insulated and the other end equipped with an electrical plug.

Keep the cold out

• To insulate a big area, use foam board. Faced or un-faced foam board will work, especially if this is temporary. Install it by scoring, snapping and screwing the foam board to your wood framing.
• Using rigid foam insulation, close and seal all foundation vents that are near water pipes, and insulate foundation walls and the ends of the floor joists.
• Caulk and seal around doors, windows, house faucets and outside outlets.
• If you own an older house built over an un-insulated crawlspace, turn up your thermostat to warm up the crawlspace. (And put “insulate and air-seal crawlspace” on your to-do list!)
• Turn off the water valves to outdoor faucets, keeping the outside valve open to let any remaining water escape

If you will be away from home

If you will be away from your home at all during a cold snap, take a few steps that could mean the difference between returning to a warm, dry house and returning to a water disaster.

• Set your thermostat to 55° F to conserve energy while providing a margin of safety against frozen plumbing.
• Close the valve to the house's main water supply.
• Give a trusted neighbor a key to the house and your contact information. Request that he take a quick look inside once a week.
• If your house is heated with propane or fuel oil, be sure that your fuel supplier has contact information for you and your neighbor.
• Install or subscribe to a freeze-sensing system to monitor your home's internal temperature using a phone or the internet.

During a Freeze

Now that you know which pipes are at risk, take some or all of these steps when the temperature plunges.

• Open the doors to cabinets, vanities, closets and pantries to allow room air to warm the pipes.
• Turn faucets on to allow a trickle of water to flow through the pipes.
• Set up fans to blow heat into cold rooms or your crawl space.
• Keep the garage door closed if there are water supply lines there.
• Place a lamp with a 60-watt bulb in a potential problem area to warm the walls and pipes. (Make sure there are no combustible materials near the bulb.)
• Heat the most vulnerable pipes (usually in basements and crawl spaces or near exterior walls) with a hair dryer. Leave the faucet on while you apply heat.
• If your water pipes are freezing inside an exterior wall, cut an opening in the wall to expose the pipes to the home's warm air. Place fiberglass insulation around the pipes and against the exterior wall. (The hole in the wall can be covered later with a hinged door or panel that can be removed during future cold spells.)

After a Freeze

When the freeze is over, your work is still not done. Now is the time to do another survey of your vulnerable pipes to see if there has been any damage.

• Visually inspect any exposed plumbing in your attic, basement, garage or crawl space.
• Even if your pipes didn't noticeably freeze, or if they thawed out without bursting, they may have developed pinhole leaks. Run your fingers over the seams and joints to check for hard-to-spot leaks.
• Do the same inspection of your pipes under sinks, too.

Throughout the rest of your home and property, pay attention to other clues that may indicate a leak:

• Dripping, bubbling, whistling or sounds of water rushing in pipes or behind walls.
• Odd or unpleasant odors from drains, sinks or other areas of your house.
• Bulging and discoloration or water marks on walls and ceiling.
• Discolored water coming from your faucets.
• A decrease in water pressure when you wash your hands, fill your sink or take a shower.
• No water at all coming out of a faucet or a toilet that doesn’t refill after flushing.
• Drips, puddles or gushing water.
• Unexplained water or sinkholes in your yard.

If you find a problem or notice a drop in water pressure, turn off the water and call a plumber for help.

If You Found a Frozen Pipe

You’ve done your detective work, and you discovered a frozen pipe. Because it’s still frozen, there’s no water leaking … yet. Fortunately, you can still take measures to prevent or minimize water damage.

• Shut off the water at the main valve or the meter in case the pipe does burst. Then, open up all the taps in your house to relieve any pressure building up inside the lines.
• Thaw the ice blockage by warming the connecting pipe. Using a hair dryer, start at the faucet or fixture and work your way back.

When the pipe is thawed, you’ll need to find out if it has burst somewhere along its length.

• Turn the water on and recruit a friend or two to help spot any leaks. Station your friend in an unheated area of your home, like your attic or crawlspace, to look and listen for leaks as you turn the water back on.
• If a pipe has burst, you'll immediately notice a rushing sound in the walls or a flood of water. Shut off the water to your house immediately.
• If you identify no apparent leaks, check each of your faucets in turn. If you notice low water pressure at a particular fixture, you may have a slow leak in that line.

If You Found a Leak

You’ve located water leaking from a pipe, so now’s the time to act fast.

• First, shut off the main water valve to your home. Open a faucet after you shut off the water main to relieve any remaining pressure in the pipes.
• Depending on where the leak is and how substantial it is, shut off the electricity to your home, too, to prevent shocks.
• Clean up any standing water to prevent slipping and falling, reduce the chances of water damage to your home and furnishings, and minimize the odds of mold growth.
• If the burst pipe is overhead, drain ceiling cavities by punching or drilling “weep” holes.

Immediately after a freeze, getting a plumber to your home can be challenging, so you’ll want to slow or stop that leak as soon as you can. (Or call an experienced water disaster recovery company, like SERVPRO of West Hartford, that has the resources and expertise to get to your home fast, stop the leak and begin cleanup.)

• For a pinhole leak, wrap duct tape around the pipe; this will often provide enough pressure to seal the leak until help arrives.
• If duct tape doesn’t stop the leak, make a patch out of a piece of flexible rubber (such as an old radiator or heater hose), place it over the leak, lay a small block of wood over the patch and clamp it in place using a C-clamp.
• An even better option, especially for larger leaks, is a sleeve clamp, which consists of a circular clamp lined with rubbery material that makes a waterproof sleeve for the pipe. (Note: you’ll have to buy a clamp sized to your specific pipe.)

Dry Your House Out

Once you or your plumber has stopped the flow of water and you’ve done basic cleanup, you need to dry out your home. An experienced water disaster remediation company like SERVPRO of West Hartford can do all the work and restore your home and property to their before-disaster condition.

Your goal is to prevent mold growth. Although it takes a few days to appear, mold thrives on wood, paper and particle board, so it’s essential to dry everything out before you rebuild. IICRC-certified professionals, like SERVPRO, use a variety of precise instruments to measure when a building is dry.

If you choose to do the work yourself, follow these tips.

• Remove pools and puddles of water with a wet/dry vacuum. For hard-to-reach places, use a mop to soak up the water.
• Open windows and use several fans to circulate the air and send moisture out the windows.
• If you have dehumidifiers, turn on one or several and close the windows.
• Or if you have a HVAC system, use that to dehumidify your home. Start by setting the air conditioning to cool your house and pull out humidity. Then, when your home has cooled, turn the heat on until it reaches 80 degrees, which will saturate the air with moisture. Once 80 degrees has been reached, turn the air conditioner back on to remove the moisture from the house. Repeat this process until the house has dried.
• Remove water from wet furniture by taking it outside to dry in the sun or placing it in a closed room and running a dehumidifier.
• If your indoor carpeting is saturated (unless it’s a thin covering over a bare wood floor), you must remove and replace it, as well as its padding, to keep mold and mildew from forming.

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property

We’re Here for You

The team at SERVPRO of West Hartford has specialized training and experience in water damage remediation, fire restoration services, natural disaster prevention, chemical cleanup, and natural disaster cleanup. Call SERVPRO of West Hartford (860.206.6141) any time.

SERVPRO of West Hartford
100 Peters Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002
IICRC Certified
Noemi Garcia
Certified SERVPRO technicians
Call 860.206.6141
24-hour emergency service

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property

Constant Principles of Fast West Hartford Water Damage Cleanup

9/14/2022 (Permalink)

Water damage cleanup and drying in West Hartford --no problem with SERVPRO's advanced extraction and drying equipment. "Like it never even happened."

SERVPRO Quickly Manages Water Damage

Water emergencies encompass most of the service calls our restoration firm receives throughout the year. Because we expect a higher volume of these work orders over other services we provide, we can confidently keep production vehicles and service trucks stocked with tools and equipment to help manage threats like:

• Burst Pipes
• Spills
• Broken Appliances
• Leaks
• Flooding

It is urgent to rapidly address West Hartford water damage, whether it is a residential or commercial threat. With the size of our restoration team and our experience, we are equipped to handle these emergencies of all sizes, responding quickly to get mitigation and emergency services started when necessary.

Why Mitigation Should Start Fast

With water damage, it is important for mitigation and emergency services to start as soon as possible. Wet environments do not improve independently, mainly when structural damage occurs. We must prioritize several mitigative steps when our team first arrives. Water removal, content management, and mold prevention are often at the top of this list.

Getting Air Moving in the Work Zone

Airflow is among the most critical elements to effective and efficient drying from our SERVPRO team. Without circulation and direct blasts of air, evaporation occurs slower, and impacted materials are more likely to suffer irreparable harm. Some of the tools or processes used to orchestrate controlled airflow include:

• Axial Air Movers – High-velocity air movers like our axial units blast at wall systems and ceilings with warm, continuous air to promote steady evaporation.
• Centrifugal Air Movers – Unlike axial units that impact a broader drying zone, centrifugal machines target a specific point on a wet surface to increase the evaporation at this designated position.
• Ventilation - While air movers push blasts of air at a particular point, ventilation systems pull wet air from the workspace and exhaust it safely outside to decrease humidity.

The Importance of Temperature

There are many advantages for SERVPRO professionals to manipulate the temperature of the workspace when contending with water damage. Warmer temperatures escalate many processes, making most of the restoration actions we provide a faster solution. Portable heaters can be positioned within the work areas to ensure that wet surfaces can be warmer and that these machines impact the full enclosed zone for drying. There are several advantages to increasing temperatures, such as:

• Less vapor barrier
• Faster drying
• Increased chemical reactions

Managing Moisture Content in the Environment

Another one of the drying principles relies on managing and reducing moisture content in the air. Humidity can be one of the contributors to threats like mold growth and can slow or even stop the drying process entirely when the relative humidity percentage reaches its peak. Regulating these conditions involves the application of dehumidification units throughout the property to absorb or collect moisture grains from the atmosphere. Sensors and detection equipment keep a continual watch on the progress and effectiveness of these instruments.

Do Water Damage Repairs Need to Happen?

The destructive capacities of water, especially when it is not immediately removed or dried, cannot be overstated. Moisture and dampness can destroy building materials and contents, leaving many homes needing repairs and reconstruction beyond the restoration work started. We have a general contractor license that can help in these efforts beyond early mitigation actions like controlled demolition to provide utility repair, build-back, and other needed restorative solutions.

West Hartford water damage can strike quickly and definitively compromise homes and businesses in the community. As dire as circumstances can be when emergencies occur, we have a rapid response team to ensure we get mitigation started right away. Give our SERVPRO of West Hartford professionals a call at (860) 206-6141.

Managing Water Damage on Carpeted Floors of West Hartford Homes

7/14/2022 (Permalink)

SERVPRO tech "hitching a ride" on a water-extracting rover. Carpets are salved in West Hartford with our advanced equipment and know-how.

Thorough Water Cleanup by SERVPRO in West Hartford Homes

Any water leak can harm your West Hartford property, especially if significant time passes before you fix the source or extract the pools of spilled water. Floor materials such as carpets are particularly vulnerable since water pools on the floor. You can save your carpets by taking decisive water restoration steps.

Before starting any water restoration process in your West Hartford home, you should understand the damage a particular water leak might cause. Otherwise, your actions might worsen or create new problems. SERVPRO is well versed in carpet cleaning, drying, and general management, so that we can help.

Common water damage on carpets

• Staining from bleeding dyes
• Delamination when glues deteriorate
• Bad odor
• Soaked padding
• Matting fibers 

You would not want to end up with an eyesore after a mere pipe leak because your carpet is stained. The most likely cause of staining would be the dyes from other fibers in the surroundings, such as draperies or area rugs resting on the carpets. Resins or rust from furniture legs can also cause problems. Our SERVPRO technicians prioritize removing such items from carpeted areas before taking other water restoration steps.

Choosing water restoration processes

Water makes carpets vulnerable in many ways, like deterioration of the glues bonding the fibers to the backing. Wet carpets also lose up to 50% of their tensile strength and are thus prone to stretching and tearing. Damaging your carpet while attempting restoration would be devastating. Therefore, caution is necessary when choosing a cleaning or drying procedure.

Factors influencing restoration choices 

• The knowledge level
• Homeowners needs
• Level or type of damage

The work crews from SERVPRO are well informed in restoration techniques like cleaning through hot water extraction, in-place drying with deep extraction tools, and floating carpets, thus quickening the process and salvaging materials that hold significant value for the homeowner.

SERVPRO of West Hartford manages any water restoration challenges you might face addressing any damage “Like it never even happened.” Call us at (860) 206-6141.

Pop Quiz - Where Are Your Shutoff Valves?

5/6/2022 (Permalink)

Do you know where to find the shutoff valves in your home?

Often without warning, you can experience the bane of homeowners everywhere: a burst or leaky pipe, or even a flooding appliance. Maybe it’s a toilet that seeps or a washing machine hose that splits. Maybe it’s a water stain on a wall, indicating a leaking pipe, or maybe that pipe bursts clear open! Whichever way it happens, you’re in for potentially costly water damage. At that point, your best line of defense is to quickly stop the flood by shutting off the flow of water at its source.

Even if you turn off the shutoff valves at the first sign of trouble, you may still suffer water damage to your home. For everything from a small leak to a water disaster that spans several floors of your home, call on an experienced disaster recovery company like SERVPRO of West Hartford, which has specialized training, expert staff and the latest equipment to help you restore your home and possessions.

You’ll be ready to respond to a water disaster in your home if you know where all of the shutoff valves are located and how to operate them.

Locate Your Whole House Shutoffs

Main Shutoff Valve

The location of this valve will vary depending on if you have metered water or a well.

• Metered water: the shutoff valve will be on one side of the water meter. The meter itself may be in your basement, on an exterior wall or close to the street in a concrete "meter pit."
• Well: the valve will be on the side of the pressure tank nearest the house. (When you shut off the main valve, also cut power to the tank to prevent the motor from burning out trying to compensate for the loss of pressure—then remember to turn the power back on when you restore water flow.)

Hot Water Shutoff Valve

The hot-water outlet on your water heater should have a valve that controls your home’s hot water. If your water heater lacks a valve, have one installed.

Locate Your Appliance and Fixture Shutoffs

• Toilet: Look on the toilet under the tank for this shutoff valve, which usually has a ribbed oval handle.
• Sink: Look under the sink, inside the vanity or sink cabinet. Typically, the hot water shutoff valve is on the left and the cold water valve on the right.
• Dishwasher: You may need to check in a couple of spots for this shutoff valve. First, look on the 1/2-inch hot-water sink-supply line that leads to the dishwasher under the kitchen sink. Not there? Go to your basement, stand below the dishwasher and look up. Find the supply line that runs along the ceiling joists and check for a shutoff valve.
• Washing machine: You’ll find these valves (one for hot and one for cold) at the spot where the house-supply lines meet the washer hoses. Tip: Close off these valves when you leave your home for more than a few days.

When you have suffered a water or other disaster at your home or business, call SERVPRO of West Hartford at 860-206-6141

We're Here For You

The team at SERVPRO of West Hartford has the people, skills and equipment to help homeowners recover from water damage and eradicate mold. Call SERVPRO of West Hartford at 860-206-6141 any time.

Other Helpful Blog Posts

SERVPRO publishes educational articles on how to protect your home and business from disasters and how to deal with mold, fire, water, sewage, storm and other damage.

24/7 Emergency Water Damage Restoration Services in Northern CT

1/28/2022 (Permalink)

The flooded basement was caused by leaky pipes.

Are you suffering from water damage in north central Connecticut? Don’t worry SERVPRO is here to help. From small puddles to big floods we’ve got you covered. SERVPRO's water damage restoration service cleans and restores your belongings and building materials to their original state. When it comes to flooding or water damage, speed is crucial. The sooner the damage is reduced, the more likely it is to rescue building materials, personal belongings, and avoid mold growth.

When a water damage disaster strikes, SERVVPRO of West Hartford is ready to provide 24/7 emergency water damage restoration in Connecticut!

Water Damage's Unseen Hazards

Whatever has caused your water problems - leaking pipes, a flooded basement, an overflowing dishwasher — it isn't good. Water damage is not only ugly, but it also poses a threat to your health. Mold and mildew can take root in your Bloomfield or Enfield house or company if all of the components are not fully dried. This can lead to structural damage and damage to any personal belongings.

It is critical to use SERVPRO of Glastonbury’s, CT's experienced water damage restoration services to avoid this. You'll have a hard time cleaning and drying regions such under the floors or in the walls, but we will ensure they are 100% dried and cleaned.

What to do after flooding?

You’ve been hit by water damage. Now what? Be sure to follow SERVPRO’s tips to ensure you follow the propers steps to avoid further damage.

• Remove excess water by mopping and blotting.
• Wipe excess water from wood furniture after removal of lamps and tabletop items.
• Remove and prop wet upholstery and cushions.
• Place aluminum foil or wood blocks between furniture legs and wet carpeting.
• Turn air conditioning on for maximum drying in summer.
• Remove colored rugs from wet carpeting.
• Remove art objects to a safe, dry place.
• Gather loose items from floors.

SERVPRO Water Damage Restoration Services

Give us a call at SERVPRO of West Hartford, CT. Our water damage restoration strategies have been proved time and time again. We can bring your items back to their original state. You won't even be able to tell they've been harmed by water!

We're Here for You

The team at SERVPRO of West Hartford has specialized training and experience in water damage remediation, fire restoration services, natural disaster prevention, chemical cleanup, and natural disaster cleanup. Call SERVPRO of West Hartford (860.206.6141) any time.

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property

Other Helpful Blog Posts

SERVPRO publishes educational articles on how to protect your home or business from disasters and how to deal with water, sewage, storm, mold, fire and other damage.

SERVPRO of West Hartford

100 Peters Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002

IICRC Certified

Noemi DiCristofaro 

Certified SERVPRO technicians

Call 860.206.6141

24-hour emergency service

Frozen Bursting Water Pipes? Here's the scoop

1/13/2022 (Permalink)

SERVPRO helping customers in need.

When you hear of the potentially disastrous effects bursting water pipes can have, you may wonder what causes a pipe to burst. The short answer is the expansion of hydrogen and oxygen molecules, but let’s be realistic - what you’re probably wondering is how to prevent bursting pipes and what to do in the unfortunate case that pipes do freeze and can’t hold the pressure.

Let’s start by talking about what steps can be taken on the preventive side:

Tip #1: Insulate your pipes

This is the A-#1 tip to reduce the risk of pipes freezing and bursting. When your pipes are properly insulated, you decrease the risk of bursting pipes significantly. Here are a couple of things to consider when choosing the right insulation for your pipes:

Location matters. Are you insulating indoor or outdoor pipes? The colder the area the pipes are in, the more necessary it is to insulate. Not only does this help with the bursting risk factor but there are a few bonus benefits, as well!!

R-value rating. Why does this matter? In short, the R-value refers to the amount of thermal insulation provided by the insulation product and is rated on a scale between 1 - 5. The higher the R-value rating, the more protection your pipes will have. NOTE: All pipe insulation products should have the R-value rating clearly marked on the packaging or in the product description.

Tip #2: Let your faucets drip slightly

Letting your faucets drip ever so slightly will help release pressure in pipes helping to avoid the chance of burst pipes. Keeping water moving a little makes it harder to freeze. This isn’t the most eco-friendly solution, but it has been known to help. (You can also keep a bucket under the slow dripping faucet to capture the water and use it to water plants or wash dishes!)

Tip #3: Keep your thermostat temperature consistent

Keeping the temperature at a steady level inside your home helps combat fluctuation in pipe temperature, which could factor in freezing pipes. 

In closing, remember that things happen and these tips are not 100% guaranteed, but will definitely help. In the event that you do have an emergency situation, remember that SERVPRO is certified and ready to help.

We're Here for You

The team at SERVPRO of West Hartford has specialized training and experience in water damage remediation, fire restoration services, natural disaster prevention, chemical cleanup, and natural disaster cleanup. Call SERVPRO of West Hartford (860.206.6141) any time.

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property

Other Helpful Blog Posts

SERVPRO publishes educational articles on how to protect your home or business from disasters and how to deal with water, sewage, storm, mold, fire and other damage.

SERVPRO of West Hartford

100 Peters Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002

IICRC Certified

Noemi Garcia

Certified SERVPRO technicians

Call 860.206.6141

24-hour emergency service

Keep Water Out of Your Basement

12/2/2021 (Permalink)

One of the keys of making sure your basement stays dry is to keep water away from your foundation. Read SERVPRO's tips on how to do that.

Most West Hartford-area homeowners are concerned about getting water in their basements, and rightly so. The water may come from a burst pipe, a damaged appliance or a widespread flood due to a storm or other natural disaster. These are emergency situations usually come with little warning and must be dealt with quickly.

There’s another type of basement water problem that you can prevent, though, and that’s water that enters your basement slowly and over time, usually through your foundation. Still, get enough water in your basement and you can have damage to your furniture, drywall, flooring, appliances and personal items—not to mention the possibility of a mold problem that just won’t go away.

Water Belongs Outside of Your Basement

Many homes in central Connecticut have a perimeter drainage system. If yours isn’t keeping water out of your home, hire a professional engineering or waterproofing firm to determine what’s wrong and fix it.

There are several important things you can do on your own to protect your basement. These have to do with the way rainwater and snowmelt is routed away from your home.

What’s the landscape like?

Take a look at your yard. It should slope slightly downhill from the foundation on all four sides so that water drains away from your house. If you see small depressions or swales, fill them in with clay-based soil.

Larger depressions or areas that typically get soggy after a storm, however, call for a professional regrading of your property, as does a house that is surrounded by higher ground.

How’s your drainage system?

Your gutters and downspouts direct water from your roof to the ground and away from your house. Once or twice a year, check your gutters for leaves and debris, and clear the mess out.

After a heavy rainstorm, take a look at your gutters to see if any water spills over the edges. That indicates that you need to have the slope adjusted so that it sends water to the downspout.

Finally, do your downspouts direct water ten or more feet away from your foundation? If water pools on the ground near your foundation, install extenders to carry the water away from your home.

In Case of Basement Water Damage

Any time you have water in your basement, SERVPRO of West Hartford is just a phone call away. We are the experienced local experts in water damage restoration and we get to the scene ASAP to evaluate your damage and make a plan to clean up and restore everything. We repair or rebuild structural damage; we clean and restore your personal items, furnishings and furniture; and we work with your insurance company to speed up your claim.

We’re Here for You

The team at SERVPRO of West Hartford has specialized training and experience in water damage remediation, fire restoration services, natural disaster prevention, chemical cleanup, and natural disaster cleanup. Call SERVPRO of West Hartford (860.206.6141) any time.

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property

Other Helpful Blog Posts

SERVPRO publishes educational articles on how to protect your home or business from disasters and how to deal with water, sewage, storm, mold, fire and other damage.

SERVPRO of West Hartford
100 Peters Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002
IICRC Certified
Noemi DiCristofaro 
Certified SERVPRO technicians
Call 860.206.6141
24-hour emergency service

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property

Water in Your West Hartford House? We’ll Remove It ALL

8/17/2021 (Permalink)

Who to trust in a water emergency? SERVPRO of West Hartford knows how to remove ALL the water in your home, preventing problems down the road.

Many water cleanup companies will tell you they are experts. It can be hard to know who to trust, especially when you have a flood or severe leak underway at your West Hartford house, and you need to get help fast! One way to determine if you can rely on a company is to learn about how they approach the often-tricky task of completely removing all the moisture from your home after a water emergency.

The reason this is important is that there’s more water than meets the eye. So, in addition to the visible water on the floor, there is also hidden water and moisture lurking inside your floors, floor coverings, walls, furnishings and possessions. These all must be completely dried out, or you may end up with damage to your home’s structure, odors that linger and an active mold infestation.

So, why is SERVPRO of West Hartford the company to call when you need complete water damage remediation? It’s because we bring the right people, tools and experience to do the job the right way and completely remove all the water from your home and property.

First, Remove the Water

SERVPRO responds to your water emergency with truck-mounted wet/dry vacuums and pumps, which we use to rapidly remove most of the water from your home—and that can be up to hundreds or thousands of gallons!

To be sure that the water is removed completely, we use tools and equipment such as:

• Infrared cameras to seek out water hiding behind walls and in ceilings
• Moisture detectors, hygrometers and other meters to measure the level of water saturation

Removing all the standing water makes the next phase, drying and dehumidifying, go more quickly. 

Next, Dry Everything Out

SERVPRO’s industrial-quality water extraction equipment removes most but not all of the moisture in your soaked floors, drywall and walls. These porous building materials hold onto water, so if they are not completely dried out, they may swell, warp and degrade—or become a host site for mold.

We determine the numbers of air movers and dehumidifiers needed to dry your home by measuring square footage, temperature and humidity levels. Then we use our industrial-grade dehumidifiers and high-speed air movers to speed up the evaporation of moisture. As we work, we monitor our progress with moisture meters.

While all this is going on at your home, SERVPRO dries, cleans and deodorizes your water-damaged furnishings and personal possessions. Finally, when everything is fully dried out and dehumidified, we restore it all to your house.

We’re Here for You

The team at SERVPRO of West Hartford has specialized training and experience in water damage remediation, fire restoration services, natural disaster prevention, chemical cleanup, and natural disaster cleanup. Call SERVPRO of West Hartford (860.206.6141) any time.

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property

Other Helpful Blog Posts

SERVPRO publishes educational articles on how to protect your home or business from disasters and how to deal with water, sewage, storm, mold, fire and other damage.

SERVPRO of West Hartford
100 Peters Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002
IICRC Certified
Noemi Garcia
Certified SERVPRO technicians
Call 860.206.6141
24-hour emergency service

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property

Who Can Help When You Have a Water Emergency in Central Connecticut?

8/13/2021 (Permalink)

Our customers' words are our best testimony … you can trust SERVPRO of West Hartford to swiftly and respectfully handle your water damage emergency.

When you have a water emergency in your home, it’s hard to know who to turn to ... who to trust. You need an experienced, professional water damage restoration company that emphasizes customer service—and you need it fast! Here in the West Hartford and central Connecticut area, that company is SERVPRO of West Hartford. You can take our customers’ word for it!

“I'm writing this letter to let you know how extremely helpful Jorge has been to me. The intake valve on the toilet broke and my bathroom and kitchen flooded. … Any time I had a question, Jorge either answered the phone or he got right back to me if I left a message. Although his part of the job was done, I've called him three or four times for help in dealing with the insurance adjuster. … I have been very happy with my experience with all of the people from SERVPRO who have done work at my house, but Jorge has gone above and beyond his job! He was kind and caring and has been so helpful to me in this stressful situation. I will highly recommend SERVPRO to others!”—Sandra in West Hartford

“Water, water everywhere … The words to my kid's book finally came true when she finally got big enough and filled the tub by herself. Didn't bother shutting it off, either. Cute, but not in my eyes. Thank you, SERVPRO.”—Zack in Hartford

“Definitely easy to work with. Water damage and mold became an issue in our house. Every year, one of our ceilings would leak, from an ice dam most likely, but we didn’t know where to turn. I had heard good things about SERVPRO of West Hartford from some of our friends and called. They had the right equipment and smart technicians, and saved our house from a serious mold problem. Thank you!”—Sonja in West Hartford

“My kid clogged the toilet! Apparently, he just kept flushing and having fun until the water started coming down the hall. … Thank you—I've learned as big of a lesson as my kid did!”—Kim in West Hartford

“Hands down to SERVPRO for the very fast service. The bathroom in our bedroom was flooding due to some drainage issues, and it flooded my first floor, which was very stressing for me. All of my carpets and furniture were soaking wet. I don’t know what I would do without these guys. Very reliable and professional crews. Great job, guys.”—Fabian in West Hartford

We’re Here for You

The team at SERVPRO of West Hartford has specialized training and experience in water damage remediation, fire restoration services, natural disaster prevention, chemical cleanup, and natural disaster cleanup. Call SERVPRO of West Hartford (860.206.6141) any time.

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property

Other Helpful Blog Posts

SERVPRO publishes educational articles on how to protect your home or business from disasters and how to deal with water, sewage, storm, mold, fire and other damage.

SERVPRO of West Hartford
100 Peters Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002
IICRC Certified
Noemi Garcia 
Certified SERVPRO technicians
Call 860.206.6141
24-hour emergency service

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property

Cleaning Up Flooded Basements in West Hartford

4/1/2021 (Permalink)

If you have water damage from a flooded basement, call SERVPRO of West Hartford—we'll be there ASAP with the people, tools and tech to clean up fast!

Spring is here, and with it come rain showers—too many of which lead to basement floods! Homeowners in West Hartford and central Connecticut know this all too well. When water flows into your basement, it can quickly cause a lot of property and structural damage—and even leave behind a lingering, hard-to-remove mold infestation.

So, homeowners of West Hartford, take basement flooding seriously! Read on for ways to prevent flooding, and how to avoid or minimize the basement water damage it creates.

Prevent Basement Flooding in Your West Hartford Home with Better Grading and Drainage

The biggest thing you can do to prevent basement flooding is to stop water from getting into your basement in the first place. Start by routing water away from your home’s foundation.

Your property should be graded, or sloped, so that it slants away from your home on all four sides. The slope doesn’t have to be extreme, but it should be enough of an angle to carry water away from your foundation rather than allowing it to pool there. After a rainstorm, visually check your yard. Do you spot areas where water pools or ponds? If these areas are next to your foundation, you need to have your yard graded. Do it yourself, or hire a pro to do the job right.

The next line of defense against a flooded basement is your drainage system, consisting of your home’s gutters and downspouts. If you have water spilling out of your gutters, hire a professional to check and adjust their slope so that the water flows to the downspout. Also, make sure your gutters are free of leaves and other debris, which can clog them up and allow water to spill over. But be careful: ladder falls are one of the most common home maintenance accidents, so consider hiring a gutter cleaning company to do the job.

Now, look at your downspouts. Their job is to direct rainwater away from your foundation, ideally aided by a properly graded yard. Always have concrete or plastic splash blocks positioned beneath the end of your downspouts to catch the flow of water and direct it out to the yard. By adding flexible or rigid downspout extenders you can send the water even further away from your foundation.

Basement windows that are partially below grade can be protected with window well covers, keeping water from seeping in around the frame.

Dealing with a Flood in Your West Hartford Basement

In spite of your best efforts, water got into your basement. Maybe it’s just a few inches, in which case quick action can minimize the damage. Or maybe it’s a foot or more of water, in which case your possessions, appliances, furniture, flooring and perhaps even structure may be severely water damaged.

Before you go to your basement and start dealing with the flooding situation, you need to take a few steps to keep safe. A flooded basement can be dangerous!

Take These Safety Measures First

First, turn off the electricity and gas to your basement, or call an electrician or SERVPRO of WEST Hartford to do that.

Be very careful when walking in a flooded basement. Wear sturdy rubber boots to protect your feet from injury and to help keep you from slipping and falling. Likewise, protect your hands by wearing thick rubber gloves.

As you’re lifting objects, be aware that even relatively light items can be very heavy if they’re water-logged. Protect your back by taking your time and not lifting too much at once.

Another safety risk lies above your head. If the basement ceiling is sagging, it could collapse, so don’t even go down there. If you see that the ceiling is wet but not sagging, you can enter the basement, but don’t turn on ceiling lights or fans.

Stop a Basement Flood Before the Damage is Too Great

When you do go downstairs to deal with a flooded basement, your priority is to try to stop the flooding and then get the water out of your basement before the damage to possessions and structure becomes overwhelming.

A helpful way to know quickly if your basement is beginning to flood is to place one or more water sensors on your basement floor to detect water entering your basement. These devices can either sound an alarm and/or send a notification to an app on your cell phone.

If you have a sump pump in your basement, you have a good shot at minimizing basement water damage. Any water that reaches the sump, or pit, in which the pump sits will be pumped out of your basement. The trick is to keep your pump in good working condition and ready to run when you most need it, so have your sump pump checked and maintained on a regular basis. And, if you have your pump hooked up to a charged-up battery, you’ll know it will work even if the power to your home goes out. With a well-functioning sump pump, you’ll be left with a damp basement—which will still need drying and cleanup—instead of a totally immersed basement, which will be a difficult and costly cleanup job.

Step One: Get the Water Out of Your Flooded Basement

Once you can get down to the basement, check to see if the water is still entering your basement and if so, from where. Common spots could be through a crack in the foundation or a window frame. If you find the source, plug the leaks with old towels or rags.

Does your basement have a drain in the floor? If it’s clogged, clear out the debris to allow the water to drain out. Even if you have a sump pump, that can get jammed, too. Sometimes it’s as simple as giving the float a nudge to get the pump working again, or you may have to clean out the filter or do other maintenance.

If you have a wet vac, use that to remove water from the basement floor. Otherwise, soak up the water with towels and mops.

Once you have the water up from the floor, take a good look at the basement’s walls and floors and all the items in it. You’ll be picking things up and carrying them now, so be careful not to lift too much at one time. Ideally, you’ll be able to take every wet item out of the basement and dry it outside in the sunshine. Failing that, get as much out of the basement as you can and try to get air moving around the items and furniture. You’ll have to pull up and discard carpeting and flooring; very little of that can be saved if soaked.

Step Two: Dry Out Your Structure

Whatever you do, try to get all the moisture out of your basement within 48 hours! Why? Because after 48 hours, mold can begin to grow, and if that happens, you may be left with a serious and hard-to-eradicate problem.

What to do? Get the air in your basement moving, any way you can: open all the windows and doors, and set up fans at each opening to pull in fresh air and move out stale basement air. And run a dehumidifier if you have one, too, because that will reduce humidity and speed up drying.

Step Three: Dry Out Your Possessions

Again, drying out your possessions and furniture in less than 48 hours is your goal to prevent mold and mildew. Anything longer than that and your items may have too much damage and you’ll need to replace them. Do these things to speed up drying—and remember, everything will dry faster outside in the sunshine, if that’s an option:

• Take objects out of cardboard boxes, discard the boxes and dry the items
• Pick up wet books and magazines off the floor to dry
• Hang up fabric, fur and leather
• Remove and prop up cushions and upholstery
• Place aluminum foil or wood blocks between furniture and carpeting to prevent stains
• Pull up and discard carpet and padding

Important safety note: Do not attempt to turn on wet appliances, such as TVs or computers, because if there’s any moisture inside, they can deliver a shock. These must be checked by an electrician before use.

For Quickest, Easiest and Most Thorough Basement Flood Cleanup, Call SERVPRO of West Hartford

An alternative to the work- and time-intensive effort required to dry and clean out your own basement—with uncertain results—is to call the West Hartford experts in flooded basement water damage cleanup. We possess the know-how, staffing and equipment to remove all the moisture as quickly as possible, speeding up your recovery from the flood and reducing the chances of a subsequent mold problem. Our proven water damage cleanup procedures have made the difference for countless homeowners in West Hartford and the central Connecticut area. Let us do the same for you.

How SERVPRO Restores Your Water-Damaged Possessions

SERVPRO takes a “restore versus replace” approach to objects that have been damaged by basement flooding. We help you save money while preserving your one-of-a-kind items.

We evaluate and test your items to determine what can be restored, then we use one or more of the appropriate techniques to clean and restore your possessions:

• Dry cleaning: cleans light residues; also pre-cleans prior to wet cleaning
• Wet cleaning: removes moderate to heavy residues
• Spray and wipe: for delicate items that can’t withstand wet cleaning
• Foam cleaning: for fabrics that might shrink or bleed if wet cleaned
• Abrasive cleaning: uses agitation for stubborn damage
• Immersion cleaning: submerses the item in the cleaning product

Our qualified electronics technicians will first evaluate, then clean electronic items—such as TVs, DVD players, tablets and computers—to stop corrosion. Lastly, we open up the devices to clean and inspect the electronics, returning them to operating condition if at all possible.

You may have had important documents—like legal or medical records, books, letters and photos—stored in your basement. If they have been water damaged, SERVPRO has the team and technology restore many of these often-fragile items. We can also digitize these documents, too, giving you further peace of mind. 

Finally, we provide our clients with our Contents Claim Inventory Service (CCIS), in which we create a digitized and bar-coded inventory of your damaged furniture and other items. With this tool, we track the progress of your property as it’s being restored in our warehouse—and use it to document your insurance claims for a faster settlement.

How SERVPRO Remediates Mold Damage

SERVPRO has advanced training, seasoned crews, the latest equipment and specialized products to remediate mold if you have it after your basement flooding incident. First, we inspect and assess your property and structure to determine if mold is present—both visible and hidden. If mold is found, we follow our mold remediation process step by step:

• Mold containment: We use advanced methods, such as negative air chambers and negative air pressure, to prevent the spread of mold spores
• Air filtration: Our powerful air scrubbers and HEPA vacuums remove mold spores from the air
• Removal: We remove and dispose of any mold-infested materials, such as drywall and carpeting. For the rest of your possessions, our antifungal and antimicrobial treatments eliminate mold colonies and work to stop new colonies from forming
• Cleaning: We clean and disinfect all the restorable items, such as furniture, decorative items, curtains and clothing, then deodorize them with deep-penetration foggers
• Restoration: Whether it’s major reconstruction or minor repairs, SERVPRO returns your structure to before-flood and before-mold damage condition

We’re Here for You

The team at SERVPRO of West Hartford has specialized training and experience in water damage remediation, fire restoration services, natural disaster prevention, chemical cleanup, and natural disaster cleanup. Call SERVPRO of West Hartford (860.206.6141) any time.

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property

Other Helpful Blog Posts

SERVPRO publishes educational articles on how to protect your home or business from disasters and how to deal with water, sewage, storm, mold, fire and other damage.

SERVPRO of West Hartford
100 Peters Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002
IICRC Certified
Noemi Garcia
Certified SERVPRO technicians
Call 860.206.6141
24-hour emergency service

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property

Frozen and Burst Pipe Cleanup in West Hartford, CT

2/18/2021 (Permalink)

When you have a frozen and burst pipe in your West Hartford home, call SERVPRO of West Hartford for complete professional cleanup.

As February 2021’s rare deep freeze in Texas shows, just about any American home is vulnerable to the kind of temperatures that can freeze and burst pipes. Here in West Hartford, we know all too well that a frozen and burst pipe can cause tremendous—and expensive—water damage! We at SERVPRO of West Hartford are ready with the expertise, equipment and years of experience to help you recover from even the most devastating water damage incident.

Not only does SERVPRO know how to stop water damage in its tracks and handle the cleanup from start to finish, we also know why pipes freeze and how you can prevent water damage from happening in the first place. Follow our guidance and you should be able to avoid costly damage from a frozen and burst pipe.

Why Does a Pipe Freeze and Burst?

Pipes that are exposed to bursts of below-freezing temperatures or to very cold temperatures for a long period of time are subject to freezing. Even pipes that are near an exterior wall that is subject to strong, steady winds can freeze from the wind chill. Typically, the pipes that freeze and burst are uninsulated and are located in unheated areas of the home. This includes:

• exterior walls at the foundation of your home
• foundation areas that have cracks or holes
• foundation entry points for cables and plumbing
• basements or crawlspaces
• attics
• garages
• sinks that are against exterior walls
• exterior hose spigots

While frozen and burst pipes are typically made of copper, PEX piping can also freeze, although it’s less likely to burst (unless it’s a PEX-aluminum-PEX combo).

It’s commonly assumed that it’s the ice blockage itself that bursts a frozen pipe, but that’s a misconception. The culprit is pressure, and lots of it—up to 2,000 pounds per square inch, or more than 1,000 times the usual—that builds up within the pipe. And the rupture usually happens not at the spot where the pipe has frozen, but between the freeze and a faucet.

As the ice forms in the pipe and the water molecules expand, the ice blocks the passage of water. That’s when the water pressure in the pipe increases. Now, the part of the pipe that is upstream of the blockage is usually not at risk of bursting, because the water can retreat back to its source. But the area of pipe that is downstream—and which feeds appliances and fixtures—can rupture from the excessive pressure, because the water has nowhere to go. And once the ice begins to thaw, the pressure inside the pipe increases quickly as the water begins to rush through the pipe again. In that respect, a frozen pipe is like a time bomb, just waiting to thaw before it bursts!

And when a frozen pipe bursts, several hundred gallons of water can flow from it every hour. Many homeowners return from a vacation only to find that a frozen and burst pipe has been pumping out water for days, resulting in ruined walls, floor, ceilings and possessions—not to mention thousands and thousands of dollars’ worth of repairs, reconstruction and cleaning.

(A note on the Texas freeze: in the northern parts of the U.S., pipes are usually well insulated, which reduces the risk of freezing and bursting. But in the south, pipes are not typically as well protected. So the rare freeze in a state like Texas can lead to more widespread cases of frozen and burst pipe water damage. Living in a colder zone, like West Hartford and central Connecticut, can sometimes have advantages!)

A Frozen Pipe Leaves Clues

The temperature has dropped. How do you know you might have a frozen and burst pipe? Do you see water on the floor? Puddles of water can be a clear sign that a frozen pipe has already burst. Even if a frozen pipe is hidden behind a wall or ceiling, certain clues may give it away.

• Do you notice a difference in your water flow? You may have reduced water pressure in the sink or shower; water that is discolored; no water coming from a faucet; or a toilet that doesn’t fill after flushing.
• Do you notice other signs? These may be dripping, whistling or bubbling sounds behind walls or within pipes; odd or unpleasant smells from drains; or water stains or discoloration on walls or ceiling.

If you detect any of these indications of a frozen and burst pipe, the next step is to hunt for it.

Hunting for a Frozen Pipe

Remember, you’re searching for a pipe that is most likely uninsulated and located in an unheated part of your home. Here’s how to start the hunt:

• Turn on your faucets one by one. If none of the faucets work, the frozen blockage is most likely near the spot where the water supply enters your home. If most of your faucets work but one or more does not, the freeze is between the main water line and the affected fixture.
• Next look at the pipe. Do you see an area that has condensation or frost on it? That’s where the blockage is. Or, feel along the length of the pipe. The ice will be the coldest spot.

Try to Thaw the Blockage Before It Leaks

Step one is to shut off the water at the main valve to your home. If you have metered water, your shutoff valve should be on one side of your water meter, usually in your basement or on an exterior wall of your house. If you have well water, the shutoff valve is on the side of the pressure tank toward the house.

Next, open up all the faucets to relieve pressure in the pipes.

Then, you can start thawing the blockage, slowly and gently, using a hair dryer, heat lamp, portable heater, electric heat tape, electric heating pad or towels soaked in hot water. Start at the faucet or fixture and work back to the blockage.

If you have determined that the frozen pipe is behind a wall, you can turn up your home’s heat or use an infrared lamp to heat the wall where you think the leak is lurking. You can also cut an opening in the wall (which you can patch later) to allow your home’s warm air to circulate directly around the blockage.

Find Leaks, Large and Small

Once the blockage has been thawed, you need to determine if there are any leaks. (You may see or hear water dripping or running even before you start looking for leaks, and that’s an obvious sign that you need to act fast.)

• Start by turning on the water at the main valve. Puddles? Drips? Sound of water rushing in your walls? These are all signs of a frozen and burst pipe. Turn the main water valve back off immediately.
• If there are no obvious signs of a big burst, start looking for a smaller leak. Look at the seams and joints of the suspect pipe and run your fingers over those areas to check for dampness.
• If everything is still dry, turn on each of your faucets in the house to check for low water pressure, which can indicate a small leak in that pipe.

Stop Leaks, Large and Small

Your goal is to avoid water damage to your home, so any size leak must be dealt with promptly. (If you have water on the floor, consider shutting off electricity to your home to avoid the risk of electrocution. Also, clean up the standing water promptly to reduce the chances of falling—and to prevent more water damage.)

Large Leaks

A circular sleeve clamp that’s lined with rubber will stop the leak in a frozen and burst pipe pronto, but you’ll need to have the correct size (or an assortment) on hand.

You can make a temporary waterproof seal with a length of flexible rubber from an old heater or radiator hose. Slide the old hose over the leak, protect it with a small block of wood and clamp it into place with a C-clamp.

Smaller Leaks

• Tightly wrap sturdy duct tape around the pipe to make a temporary fix.

As soon as you stop the flow of water with one of these temporary patches, call a water damage remediation company to get the repair and cleanup process started ASAP.

SERVPRO’s Water Damage Restoration Process

If you have suffered water damage from a frozen and burst pipe, you need to get the damage cleaned up fast. Why?

• Water damage gets much worse the longer it sits before cleanup.
• Water can soak further into walls, floors and ceilings, weakening your structure.
• Furnishings and possessions can become soaked and ruined.
• Mold can grow within 48 hours.
• You’re probably not the only homeowner with a frozen and burst pipe, so reputable companies will book up fast.

So if you are looking at a frozen and burst pipe water damage cleanup and remediation job, call SERVPRO of West Hartford. With our years of experience, our top-notch corporate training based on industry-best principles, our professional equipment and products, and our employees’ skill and concern, you are assured of West Hartford’s most thorough water damage cleanup work.

We’ll respond promptly, evaluate your damage, remove and restore your affected property, thoroughly dry your home, repair or reconstruct your structure, and restore everything to pre-water damage condition.

This is SERVPRO’s water damage remediation process, which may take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks:

Inspection/assessment: We visually inspect and run tests to determine the extent of the water damage from the frozen and burst pipe and the level of moisture in your home. Then we create a plan for the complete restoration of your water-damaged home and property.

Temporary protection: We may need to set up tarps and board up areas of your home to prevent further damage. Depending on the severity of the damage, you may need to temporarily move from your home.

Water removal/extraction: As soon as the restoration plan is approved, we begin removing water with powerful pumps and vacuum units. By quickly removing hundreds or even thousands of gallons of water, we can avoid more water damage and mold growth.

Drying/dehumidifying: After water extraction, the remaining water is more difficult to remove. We use our specialized equipment to take space, temperature and relative humidity measurements to determine the number and placement of air movers and dehumidifiers needed for complete drying.

Cleaning/sanitizing: Once the water is thoroughly removed, we sanitize and remove odors from your structure. We also clean, sanitize and deodorize any of your possessions and furnishings that were affected by the water.

Restoration: Our ultimate goal is to restore your home or business to its pre-damage condition as swiftly as possible. This may include making repairs or reconstruction to your structure, replacing flooring, painting, etc. It also includes returning your cleaned possessions and furnishings, so that your home is just like it was before the frozen and burst pipe.

More thoughts on surviving water damage remediation:

• Even if you can physically remain in your home while the cleanup is underway, you may want to consider relocating. The work is very loud and messy, and you may have pets, young children or older family members who would be safer and more comfortable at a hotel or a family member’s home.
• File a claim for the frozen and burst pipe damage with your homeowner’s or renters’ insurance company as soon as possible. You’ll need to describe and visually document the damage, provide a list of affected items, and collect receipts for services and purchases tied to the restoration. SERVPRO of West Hartford will work closely with your insurer to speed up and smooth out the process of successfully closing your claim.

We’re Here for You

The team at SERVPRO of West Hartford has specialized training and experience in water damage remediation, fire restoration services, natural disaster prevention, chemical cleanup, and natural disaster cleanup. Call SERVPRO of West Hartford (860.206.6141) any time.

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property

Other Helpful Blog Posts

SERVPRO publishes educational articles on how to protect your home or business from disasters and how to deal with water, sewage, storm, mold, fire and other damage.

SERVPRO of West Hartford
100 Peters Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002
IICRC Certified
Noemi Garcia
Certified SERVPRO technicians
Call 860.206.6141
24-hour emergency service

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property

Basement Flood Cleanup in West Hartford CT

2/17/2021 (Permalink)

Basement Flood Cleanup in West Hartford CT

At SERVPRO, we’re serious about basement flood cleanup in West Hartford CT homes. When floodwaters enter your home, it’s an emergency that can’t wait. By the time the water reaches your basement, it’s picked up dirt, leaves, and sewage along the way. When the water recedes, it leaves behind debris, and bacteria that can make your family sick. If your basement and furnishings remain wet, mold, mildew, and noxious odors become an added problem. 

At SERVPRO, our professionals treat your home with care. We respond 24/7 to dry out and clean up the mess. We bring the manpower and the equipment to do the job right. 

SERVPRO Basement Flood Cleanup

When we do basement flood cleanup in West Hartford CT, we understand that time is a critical factor. To minimize your financial losses, we must dry out your home and property before the floodwater damages everything. Our highly trained professionals arrive quickly when you call. We bring industrial-grade extraction, deodorizing, cleaning, dehumidifying, and drying equipment to provide the SERVPRO water damage cleanup services you need. We begin by inspecting the damage and planning our work.

Flooded House Clean Up Inspection

We do a walkthrough to inspect your home and assess your needs. We search for areas that require black water cleanup. We look for places where water may have seeped into your flooring or behind your walls. After we assess the existing damage, we begin working to protect your home and furnishings from additional deterioration. 

Removing Undamaged Property

When we perform basement flood cleanup in West Hartford CT, we separate damaged and undamaged property to reduce the cross-contamination risk. When floodwater-soaked items and dry items share the same storage area, you can easily lose everything in your basement. We prevent this from happening by quickly separating your property. We move salvageable property to a dry location and proceed with restoration as necessary.

Water Extraction

After floodwaters recede, it takes a long time for your property to dry naturally. We boost the drying process by removing the water with industrial-grade extractors. We do wet carpet cleanup and remove water from upholstery, carpeting, and other porous surfaces. 

Drying 

As we continue the process of basement flood cleanup in West Hartford CT homes, we bring in our industrial dryers. The SERVPRO team quickly dries out any remaining moisture. This prevents mold and mildew from growing.

When surfaces remain damp, mold and mildew thrive. They combine with other contaminants and spread an offensive odor throughout your home. Mold mildew and floodwater contaminants can irritate your family’s lungs and cause medical issues. 

Dehumidification 

When our team performs basement flood cleanup in West Hartford CT homes, we also remove humidity from the air. Without this final step, humidity can dampen porous furnishing, allowing mold and mildew to grow. We remove the moisture with our professional dehumidification process. 

We calculate your basement dimensions, relative humidity, and room temperature. These measurements help us determine how many industrial dehumidifiers we need. They also help us place equipment in the right locations for optimum dehumidification.  

Odor Removal 

Floodwaters leave behind a mix of unpleasant odors. Dirt, sewage, and other contaminants in floodwater often generate an unbearable odor. Even after we dry everything in your home, the odor often lingers in the air until we remove it. We accomplish this task with industrial equipment and safe, effective cleaning solutions. 

Repair and Restoration

As we finish the process of basement flood cleanup in West Hartford CT homes, we complete our restoration efforts. Our SERVPRO team repairs and restores the damaged areas we identified during our walkthrough. We remove and replace drywall, restore flooring, paint walls, and perform other repair and restoration tasks. We salvage, repair, or replace unsalvageable furniture and decor. 

Commercial Property Flood Cleanup

At SERVPRO, we also perform commercial flood cleanup in West Hartford CT. We clean, repair, and restore your business property no matter how big or small. Our team of professionals is available 24 hours a day. We work fast to minimize business downtime and financial losses.  

Contact SERVPRO

We are a locally owned and operated SERVPRO franchise. We have an A+ Rating with the Better Business Bureau. We’re committed to professional basement flood cleanup in West Hartford CT homes and businesses. We will help you work with the insurance company if you have Flood Insurance. When you call us, we respond immediately and we perform our services for an economical water cleanup cost. 

For more information about basement flood cleanup in West Hartford CT, call us at (860) 206-6141.

Water Damage Cleanup in West Hartford CT

12/28/2020 (Permalink)

Holding a Water Damage Flood Cleanup Bucket in West Hartford Connecticut

Fast Emergency Water Cleanup in West Hartford CT

When you need water damage cleanup in West Hartford CT, the professionals at SERVPRO of West Hartford respond immediately. A water leak can begin anywhere inside or outside of your home. A leaking roof, a water main break, or a plumbing system malfunction can cause a slow stream of water or a sudden flood. Water moves rapidly from simply saturating your interior to causing extensive damage.

When water runs out of control in your home, it's an emergency that requires immediate attention. Unfortunately, when you stop the flow, the emergency doesn’t usually end. Without professional cleanup, water and moisture continue damaging your home and personal property.

SERVPRO professionals respond 24/7 when you need water damage cleanup in West Hartford CT. We arrive quickly and we take your request seriously. We understand that without immediate cleanup, water begins damaging and destroying everything it touches.  

SERVPRO Water Damage Cleanup 

At SERVPRO, every member of our team is a trained professional. When we perform water damage cleanup in West Hartford CT homes, we arrive fully-equipped with specialized extraction equipment, industrial dryers, dehumidifiers, and cleaning solutions. Our goal: stop the damage, prevent further deterioration, and return your home to its pre-damage condition. 

Inspection and Water Damage Assessment

Before we begin water damage cleanup in West Hartford CT homes, we inspect the damage and establish a plan. We conduct a thorough home walkthrough and look for visible and hidden damage. Once we understand the extent of your water damage problem, we recommend a strategy to accomplish the necessary clean up.

Water Extraction

When we do water damage cleanup in West Hartford CT homes, water extraction is usually the first step. First, we separate wet furnishings and property from dry items. This helps minimize cross-contamination damage to items that didn’t get wet. We then extract as much water as possible from saturated fabrics, furniture, flooring, and home furnishings. 

Timing is always critical when conducting water damage cleanup in West Hartford CT. Whether the water comes from a clogged drain, frozen pipes, or a flooded basement, our SERVPRO team uses efficient extraction equipment to remove the moisture as quickly as possible. 

Drying 

As water-saturated surfaces usually remain moist after we remove most of the water, we must dry the rest. Mildew and mold thrive when airborne spores land on damp surfaces. Within days of a water leak, you begin to smell a mild odor in the air. Depending on the heat and humidity, mold and mildew grow quickly out of control. If the growth process is allowed to continue, it destroys interior surfaces and personal property that could have been saved.

We disrupt the mold and mildew growth process before it causes irreparable damages to your home. We use industrial driers to remove residual moisture from damp surfaces.  

Dehumidification 

Even after we complete our drying and extraction operations, moisture often lingers in the air. It eventually resettles onto porous surfaces and causes mold, mildew, and additional damage.

The SERVPRO team removes this moisture by calculating the room’s size, relative humidity, and temperature. We then place an appropriate number of industrial dehumidifiers and air movers to circulate the air and remove airborne moisture. 

Odor Removal 

We continue our water damage cleanup in West Hartford CT homes with a professional deodorizing process. Our team uses industrial scrubbers, foggers, and other specialized equipment to remove lingering odors. We use odor-neutralizing products to finish the job.

Cleaning and Sanitizing 

We finish our water cleanup operation by sanitizing air and surfaces using specialized equipment and professional-grade solutions.

Repair and Restoration

When the SERVPRO team completes your water damage cleanup in West Hartford CT, we restore damaged areas of your home. This sometimes includes drywall replacement, wall painting, structural repairs, and home furnishing replacements.  

Commercial Building Restoration

The professionals at SERVPRO also perform commercial water damage cleanup in West Hartford CT. We handle any clean-up and restoration job regardless of the facility. We get the work done fast to minimize business interruptions. 

Contact SERVPRO

We are a locally owned and operated SERVPRO franchise, and we’re committed to water damage cleanup in West Hartford CT. When you call us, we respond fast. We're there when you need us and we get the job done fast.  

For information about water damage cleanup in West Hartford CT, give us a call at (860) 649-0836.

Stop Water Damage Fast by Knowing Where Your Shutoff Valves Are

12/1/2020 (Permalink)

Halt water damage in its tracks! You can do it if you know where your home's water shutoff valves are.

You’re in the middle of a water emergency—water is pooling, seeping or spurting from a fixture, pipe or appliance—and you need to stop the damage ASAP. This is when you’ll be grateful that you know exactly how to do that, because every minute that the water flows into your home, the more severe and costly the damage gets.

You can stop a water disaster in its tracks. Here’s what you need to know.

Whole House Shutoff

If you have metered water, your shutoff valve should be on one side of your water meter. The meter itself could be in your basement or on an exterior wall of your house; it may even be in a concrete pit out at the street where your house’s water line splits off from the utility main line.

If you have well water, the shutoff valve is on the side of the pressure tank toward the house. It’s a good idea to shut the tank’s electricity off when shutting off the water, so that the tank’s motor doesn’t burn out trying to adjust for a phantom loss of pressure.

Shutoff for Appliances and Fixtures

Sink: Look for the shutoff valves just beneath the sink, inside of the cabinet or vanity if there is one. Typically, the hot water valve is on the left and the cold on the right.

Toilet: Look beneath the toilet tank for the valve, which usually is identified by its ribbed oval handle.

Washing machine: Look for these valves (hot and cold) where the washer hoses are attached to the house supply lines, typically in a box recessed into a wall. (Pro tip: if you are leaving your home for more than a few days, turn off these valves to prevent a flood.)

Dishwasher: This valve will be in one of two places. Look under the kitchen sink for a shutoff valve near a reducer coupling on the ½-inch hot water line. Not there? Look in your basement between the ceiling joists directly beneath the dishwasher.

Once you have your water shut off, call SERVPRO of West Hartford for experienced water damage remediation. We’ll respond promptly, evaluate your damage, remove and restore your affected property, thoroughly dry your home, repair or reconstruct your structure, and restore everything to pre-water damage condition.

We’re Here for You

The team at SERVPRO of West Hartford has specialized training and experience in water damage remediation, fire restoration services, natural disaster prevention, chemical cleanup, and natural disaster cleanup. Call SERVPRO of West Hartford (860.206.6141) any time.

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property

Other Helpful Blog Posts

SERVPRO publishes educational articles on how to protect your home or business from disasters and how to deal with water, sewage, storm, mold, fire and other damage.

SERVPRO of West Hartford
100 Peters Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002
IICRC Certified
Ralph DiCristofaro 
Certified SERVPRO technicians
Call 860.206.6141
24-hour emergency service

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property

What To Expect From A Water Damage Restoration Service

8/12/2020 (Permalink)

About 40 percent of American homeowners say they’ve experienced some loss due to water damage. Interestingly, most cases of water damage are easily preventable.

Water damage can prove costly. Dealing with the problem promptly, however, can help you minimize the losses. One way to handle cases of flooding and water damage is by contacting a water damage restoration service right away.

But what exactly should you expect from water damage restoration services? More importantly, what should you look for in a water damage company? These are some of the issues we discuss in this comprehensive guide. 

Keep reading to learn more.

How Does Water Damage Occur?

Before you seek help with water damage, it helps to know what exactly causes water damage. This way, it’s easier to prevent it from happening or to deal with it more effectively when it does happen. 

Water damage happens when there’s excess water in areas where it shouldn’t be. There are many causes for this. These include:

• Burst or leaking pipes
• Plumbing issues
• Water pooling in attics, basements, or crawl spaces
• Faulty household appliances, e.g. the fridge
• Weather-related issues

The moment you spot any signs of water damage, you need to address the issue right away. Contact a reputable water damage company to help mitigate the problem.

Types of Water Damage

Water damage restoration professionals classify water damage in three categories. The type of water damage determines the scope of the mitigation. Let’s examine each of these categories closely:

Category 1

Category 1 water damage is also referred to as clean water. Sources of this type of water damage include water leaks from burst pipes, tub overflows, and the shower. Such water damage typically doesn’t pose health risks to residents. 

Category 2

This category of water damage is also known as grey water. Such water usually contains a considerable degree of biological and chemical contaminants. These contaminants can be harmful to people.

Sources of grey water include toilet overflows, sump pump failures, and leaks from the washing machine. 

Category 3

This category of water damage is also referred to as black water. The water contains bacteria, fungus, and unsanitary agents that can cause potentially serious illnesses. Sources of category 3 water damage include overflows from sewer lines, ground surface water, rising waters from rivers, storms, and so on.

When left untreated, category 2 water damage can quickly escalate to category 3.

Immediate Steps to Take After You Become Aware of Water Damage

As soon as it’s clear that you have water damage in your home, you need to assess the situation and take necessary steps. Generally, you’ll need to do three things. Let’s take a closer look at them.

Talk to a Plumber

In many situations, the cause of water damage is a plumbing issue. In such a situation, call your plumber to help identify the source of the water. Once they’ve identified the source, it’s easy to fix the problem.  

Talk to a Water Damage Restoration Service

Sometimes, you need to contact a water extraction company. Such a company will usually have the appropriate personnel and equipment to tackle water damage effectively. Your plumber may be able to assist in this step.

Call Your Homeowner’s Insurance Provider

One of the primary reasons you have homeowner’s insurance is to help recover losses after water damage. Notify your insurance provider the moment you become aware of water damage in your home.

Your insurance company may have a list of technicians, plumbers, and water damage restoration services they recommend, although it’s within your rights to work with whomever you feel comfortable with.

The Water Damage Restoration Process

As soon as you’ve contacted a water restoration service provider, they'll determine the scope of the damage and then create an action plan for structural dry-out. Where necessary, they'll also test for asbestos before beginning the dry-out process.  

Depending on the building materials, the restoration company may use different methods to fix the water damage. They may use air movers, dehumidifiers, and air movers.

During the drying process, contaminated items will first be removed from the house. All affected materials are then cleaned and dried to industry standards. The best companies will also offer thorough cleaning and sanitizing services, so your home is as fresh as possible.  

During the entire restoration process, the water damage company maintains photos and moisture logs to ensure nothing goes missing. The company will also maintain communication with you in case you have relocated to another house.

The best water damage restoration companies also communicate with the insurance on your behalf to make sure you receive full coverage.

Choosing the Best Water Damage Company

Now that you know what to expect from a water damage restoration company, it's time to talk about what you need to look for in one. The fact is that not all water damage companies are created equal. Here are three things a water damage company needs to have.

Certification

Water damage restoration is a tough job that should be handled by a qualified contractor. That’s why you should only work with certified technicians. If a contractor cannot prove that they have the necessary legal documents for the job, it’s a massive red flag.

A Stellar Reputation

Ask for references before working with a particular water damage restoration provider. Check out their website for customer reviews. If previous customers seem happy with a company’s services, chances are you will be too.

Availability

Incidences of water damage can happen without warning. You want to be sure that your prospective water damage restoration service provider is available 24/7. If a company cannot guarantee availability at any time of day or night, move on.

Find the Best Water Damage Company for You

Water damage can prove disastrous, so you need to act at the first sign of trouble. Identifying a reliable water damage restoration service provider is a great way to stay prepared.

Are you looking for cost-effective water damage restoration services? Please contact us today.

Water Damage In Home: How To Recover Your Home From Water Damage

8/12/2020 (Permalink)

Fungus in gypsum ceiling interior building damaged from water leaking

One storm could cause billions in property damages. In fact, storm-related flooding and hurricane winds cost $54 billion in annual costs alone. That doesn't include flooding caused by accidents, such as leaving a faucet running. 

If there's water damage in your home, you need to react quickly. Otherwise, letting the water linger could cause mold to develop. Leaving standing water in your home might even attract bugs. 

It's best to call a water restoration company right away. While you wait for them to arrive, use these five water damage recovery tips to minimize the damage. These water damage in home tips can help you clean up before problems stack up. 

Get started with these tips today!

1. Safety First

Before starting with these "water damage in home" recovery tips, take the time to prioritize your safety.

First, complete a walkthrough of your home. Do you notice any visible structural damage, such as a cracked foundation? Does anything look loose or about to fall?

Search for holes, cracks, or warping in the walls while you're at it.

If you notice any serious structural damage, don't head inside. Instead, prioritize your safety and call a professional team first. They have the experience and tools necessary to handle a dangerous environment. 

If your home's foundation looks safe, check your utilities next. Were any sewer, water, gas, or electric lines damaged? If you notice damages, call the proper utility company.

After all, you don't want to cause more damage to your home. 

Once you determine it's safe, pull on a pair of shock-resistant safety shoes or boots. You might not realize there's an electrical problem until it's too late. To minimize potential injuries, turn off your home's water and electrical sources right away.

Make sure to complete this step even if power isn't working. You never know when it might turn back on. You don't want to find yourself standing in a puddle of water, trying to clean up, when the power returns. 

Turn off your home's individual fuse connections and the main fuse. 

These safety precautions can help you avoid a potential accident during the water damage recovery process.

2. Photograph Everything

Before you start cleaning up, grab a camera or your phone. Take photos of every room. It's important to document the damages before you start cleaning up.

Video footage can help you keep track of the damages within your home as well. Consider completing a full walkthrough of your home before you begin the water damage recovery process. 

During your walkthrough, take photos for every room. Don't forget to focus on any possessions that sustained damages. Staying organized will help you reference and track your losses.  

After taking photos and recording video footage, make sure to save everything electronically. You want to have easy access to your files to send to your insurance company. If your camera or photo sustains damage, you can rely on your electronic copies. 

Making an official record of these damages before making repairs is essential for your insurance claim. Otherwise, you could impact the coverage you'll receive from your claim. 

3. Gather Equipment

Once you're done taking photos, you can start clearing out the water damage in your home. You'll need to gather the right equipment first. 

There's a chance the flooding caused sewage or chemicals to make their way into your home. You don't want to step inside and breathe in those chemicals. Instead, make sure to have your high-waisted, waterproof boots and a pair of rubber gloves ready.

It's also important to wear clothes you're okay with tossing out once you're done.

Once you're dressed, start removing any water-damaged items throughout your home. Remember, you don't want to leave anything wet sitting around. Otherwise, mold could grow. 

Don't forget to write down any possessions you'll need to toss out. If you think something is contaminated, throw it away. Remove anything that came into contact with floodwater before mold gets the chance to spread. 

4. File Your Claim

As you work through your "water damage in home" process, don't forget to contact your insurance company. Water damage caused $10,849 in homeowners' losses between 2014 and 2018.

Do you live in an area where flooding occurs regularly? Consider keeping your insurance company's information on your phone. That way, you don't have to dig around your flood-damaged home to find their number. 

If you live in an area that's prone to flooding, it could take time before someone processes your claim. Contact your insurance company's headquarters if you can't reach your agent.

Sometimes, your homeowner's insurance policy won't cover groundwater flood damage. You might need to work with your insurer throughout the water damage recovery process. 

Let your insurance company representative know which repairs you intend on making. While you're at it, don't forget to send them your photos and video footage. Your insurance company will let you know if you need to follow specific instructions before making repairs. 

As you clear the water damage in your home, track any repairs you make, along with the costs. 

Keep a record of your conversations, too. If you need to reference any notes or agreements, you'll have copies you can review. 

5. Remove Water

After contacting the insurance company, start removing any standing water. If you're not sure how to proceed, don't forget to contact a professional flood team. They can make sure all the water gets removed from your home.

Otherwise, leaving water damage in your home will attract flies, mosquitoes, and termites. 

Open your doors and windows as you start cleaning to improve airflow.

Is it still storming? In that case, keep the doors and windows closed. You'll want to prevent as much additional damage as possible. If there's damage to your roof, make sure to use a tarp to keep the water at bay.    

Water Damage in Home: 5 Tips for Minimizing the Damage

Dealing with water damage in home problems? Don't let the water linger. Otherwise, standing water can lead to additional damages like mold growth. 

Ready to clear the air? Call our water damage recovery team. Contact us today to get started! 

What to Expect From the Water Damage Cleanup Process

7/10/2020 (Permalink)

A flooded house—even just a couple of inches of water—requires complete water damage restoration to prevent mold infestation.

It's a homeowner's worst nightmare. You've gone on vacation and when you return, there are 2 inches of water flooding the house.

Those 2 inches of water can cost you up to $27,000 in repairs.

Water damage cleanup isn't a task to take lightly. If not done properly, the damage to your home will get worse. Not to mention it can expose your family to harmful bacteria and mold.

To ensure your family and home are protected, you need to act right away. Call in a professional water damage restoration crew as soon as possible.

Why do you need a restoration crew? Here is a look at the process to clean up after a flood.

Step One: Assessing the Water Damage

Before any work begins, the restoration team needs to know the type of flooding. There are two key factors that determine how they will approach the cleanup job.

The first factor is the type of water flooding your home or business. There are three categories:

• Clean water flooding: Caused by rainwater or freshwater pipes
• Graywater flooding: Water from a toilet or appliance with chemicals
• Blackwater flooding: Water contaminated by sewage and toxins

Failure to identify the type of floodwater can lead to serious health issues. These issues include tetanus, skin rash, and gastrointestinal illness.

The second factor the restoration crew must consider is how much water is involved. The four categories are:

• Class 1: Minor flooding on nonporous surfaces like sealed concrete and tile
• Class 2: Minor flooding in contact with surfaces like wood floors and drywall
• Class 3: Major flooding in contact with the carpet, furniture, etc. 
• Class 4: Major flooding involving contaminated water on porous surfaces

The more water involved, the more effort it will take to clean up. This is why consulting a professional is important. An average homeowner won't be able to tell the full extent of the flooding.

Step Two: Removing All Standing Water

It is important to remove all standing floodwater as soon as possible. The longer it is allowed to sit, the more water absorbs into your flooring and walls.

Do not enter a flooded building to remove the water yourself. Floodwater can hide live electric lines, broken glass and dangerous bacteria. 

The restoration team will begin by pumping out any deep standing water. The submersible pump uses a long hose to move the water into your yard.

Any remaining water is removed by mopping, using a floor squeegee or running a wet vac. 

Step Three: The Drying Process

Drying out the building is the most important part of water damage cleanup. If you try to rush this process, it will lead to a mold infestation. 

The first step in the drying process is to open up the windows and doors. 

Next, the restoration team will use specialized equipment to circulate air in the affected rooms. These machines include:

• Air scrubbers: Designed to filter odors and mold spores from the air after a flood
• Air movers: Blow air through the affected rooms to speed drying time for porous surfaces
• Dehumidifiers: Remove water particles from the air

How the restoration team uses these machines depends on the type of flooding involved.

For instance, using a dehumidifier in a warehouse flooded by blackwater isn't advisable. There is too much air space for the dehumidifier to work as intended.

Step Four: Time for Water Damage Cleanup

Once your home is dry, the hard part begins.

You need to document the damage to your personal belongings. Take pictures that are clear and well lit to provide your insurance company with an accurate record of what happened.

While you're taking pictures, make a list of items that you think can be cleaned. 

Keep in mind, if your home is flooded by blackwater, almost everything will have to go. Bacteria from raw sewage soaks into porous materials. It is virtually impossible to clean them fully.

The water restoration team will know for sure what items can be salvaged. Always take their expertise into account when deciding what items to keep.

Major flooding soaks into everything. The restoration crew may need to remove flooring, drywall, and other construction materials. This is necessary to prevent mold and bacteria from infesting your home.

Any items the team doesn't remove are cleaned and sanitized. Before they leave, they will make sure there are also no lingering odors from the flood.

Step Five: Restoring Your Home After Water Damage

There is one more step to water damage restoration before you return to normal life: bringing in a team to repair and replace any materials removed during the cleanup.

If possible, look for a water damage restoration company that covers repairs, as well. Using an all-in-one company reduces your overall costs and speeds up the recovery process.

During the restoration process, the company may need to:

• Replace carpet or wood flooring
• Repair tile or marble flooring
• Install new drywall
• Fix the plumbing problem that caused the flood
• Repair a leaky roof
• Restore water-damaged furniture and appliances
• Apply fresh paint to the walls

Before you sign a contract, make sure the restoration company has a contractor license. Do not hire a company that won't show a license or proof of insurance. If they make a mistake, you will be forced to pay even more to fix it.

Don't Wait to Start Water Damage Restoration in Your Home

Time is of the essence when it comes to water damage cleanup. Even if the water is gone, the damage lingers. Your family may experience health issues until a restoration team gets rid of possible mold sources. 

To make recovery after a flood easier, SERVPRO deals directly with your insurance company. Our goal is to get you back to your normal life as soon as possible.

SERVPRO of West Hartford, CT has 50 years of experience in this field. Let our local experts tackle your restoration needs. In no time at all, it'll look "Like it never even happened."

SERVPRO offers 24-hour emergency services. Contact us any time, day or night.

SERVPRO of West Hartford
100 Peters Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002
IICRC Certified
Ralph DiCristofaro 
Certified SERVPRO technicians
Call 860.206.6141
24-hour emergency service

7 Surefire Signs of Water Damage (And What You Need to Do ASAP)

7/9/2020 (Permalink)

Detecting water damage before the problem gets worse.

The main purpose of living indoors is to stay safe and keep away from outside elements like water. However, sometimes those elements still make their way inside and create issues.

If you're reading this article, it's probably because you're currently experiencing that scenario. Luckily, we're here to help. Take a look at the information below to learn how to check for signs of water damage.

The Primary Signs of Water Damage

Normally, the signs of water damage are pretty obvious. However, some signs are more noticeable than others. Here's how you can spot it:

1. Bad Odor

Chances are you'll most likely smell water damage before you see it. The odor is similar to wet paper or cardboard and smells worst as you go near the area where the water damage occurred. It may feel humid in that spot as well.

If you notice a bad stench in your home, don't ignore it. Take a bit of time to investigate and see where it's coming from. 

2. Stains and Discoloration

One of the main signs of water damage is discoloration or stains. Normally, the perimeter of the stain will have a brownish color that's different from the ceiling or paint color. Discoloration happens when the area gets wet and then dries.

Unfortunately, you may not notice a stain until days after the water damage occurs once the moisture has had a chance to dry.

3. Mold

Water damage mold is a serious issue that could be damaging to your health. Sometimes mold goes unnoticed because water damage may take place behind a wall or an area where it's not easily detected.

However, the moment you notice mold, it's vital to get a specialist in your home immediately.

4. Cracked Paint

Water damage causes drywall and the ceiling to swell. When that happens, the swelling pushes against the paint causing it to crack or peel. This scenario usually occurs when you have pipe leakage or plumbing issues.

5. Rotting Wood

Another one of the primary signs of water damage is deteriorating wood. When water gets onto wooden pieces, like the door or window frames, it can cause it to break down and rot.

It only takes a small amount of water to damage wood, and if this happens it has to be replaced. Otherwise, it could become a hazard depending on the location of the wood.

6.  Expensive Water Bill

Even when you don't notice any water damage signs within your home, a higher water bill could be an indicator that there's a problem. In that situation, it's best to look for leaks and plumbing issues throughout your house.

A small amount of water leakage could lead to a larger problem. The sooner you find the root cause of the leak, the better chance you have of preventing water damage cleanup.

7. Rigid Wood or Drywall

Water damage can cause wood and drywall to bulk. It may even create a hole in it. If there's a problem, the area will likely be difficult to walk on and have a difference in texture around the affected area.

Causes of Water Damage

There are several culprits that can lead to leakage in your home. Sometimes the source of water damage is noticeable and other times it's not. Here are some of the reasons why you might have a water leak:

Weather

Rain or snow could become a huge problem for your home if your house is not weatherproof. A bad thunderstorm could cause damage to your roof which inevitably causes water damage.

Make sure that your roof is in good condition and that your rain gutters are clean. Also, check to make sure that the windows and doors don't have cracks in them that can let water in.

The same thing goes for snow. Ice and snow on the roof can become detrimental once it begins to melt and drain down your roof, into your ceilings, and other areas of your home.

It's best to insulate your attic to ensure that there isn't any damage that happens as a result of ice dams.

Plumbing

One of the main causes of water damage is plumbing. It's a good idea to regularly check your plumbing systems in your house at least once a year. Also, be aware that plumbing pipes only have a certain lifespan.

Be sure to check how old the plumbing fixtures are and have them replaced once they reach a certain age.

Pipes

A pipe can burst for many different reasons. Cold weather may cause it to freeze, or there may be issues with the swimming pool or supply line. Whatever the reason, if you notice a pipe leaking, make sure you fix it as soon as possible.

Old Water Heater

Water heaters don't last forever and they should be replaced about every 10 years. To find the age of your water heater, can check the serial number on the manufacturer's sticker. 

If you notice decay, mold, or moisture build-up around the water heater that could be a sign that it's time to replace it.

Keep Your Home Dry and Safe

 Once you notice the signs of water damage, contact a professional immediately. Even if you only have a small amount of damage, it's best to get it taken care of before it leads to bigger issues.

With that said, if you need assistance with getting your home in order, we're here for you. SERVPRO West Hartford offers a variety of services from fire damage to mold remediation.

We're located in West Hartford, CT and we service the surrounding areas. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. We look forward to connecting with you soon!

SERVPRO of West Hartford
100 Peters Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002
IICRC Certified
Noemi Garcia 
Certified SERVPRO technicians
Call 860.206.6141
24-hour emergency service

Avoid Water Damage During Frozen Pipe Season

2/18/2020 (Permalink)

A frozen pipe often means a burst pipe, and that means lots of water damage to your home or business. Prevent it by following our tips.

Wintertime, and the pipes are freezing! That’s not music to any homeowner’s ears: a frozen and burst pipe can do astounding amounts of damage—and quickly—to a home or business. This article gives you ways to avoid that kind of water disaster—and ways to recover fast if you do end up with a frozen and burst pipe.

The most common cause of a burst pipe is freezing. (Other causes of a ruptured pipe include rust, improper installation and physical damage to the pipe.) When water freezes, it expands in volume by about 9 percent, and the pressure inside pipes may shoot from 40 psi to 40,000 psi, causing the pipe to break open. The rupture usually occurs where water pressure finds a weak spot in the pipe, which may or may not be at the spot where it froze. And then the trouble starts: water seeps or even gushes out into your home or office. Sometimes this happens out in the open, but often it occurs behind walls or ceilings, or in an attic or basement.

Lots of damage can occur without you even knowing it. In fact, up to 250 gallons of water can flow from your ruptured pipe in just 24 hours. The second-most common insurance claim filed in the U.S., an average residential water damage claim is $10,000–15,000, and total cleanup costs can be $5,000–70,000.

The best way to avoid that kind of disaster is to keep your pipes from freezing. Logically, that means keeping your pipes too warm to freeze. Luckily, there’s a lot you can do before, during and after the temperature drops to prevent a frozen pipe in your home.

Before a Freeze

Start getting your pipes ready to handle the cold before the temperature drops. Start with an inventory of your pipes. Look for:

• Exposed pipes in unheated areas of your house. Check your basement, attic, garage, crawl space and under bathroom and kitchen sinks.
• Pipes that show wear or damage.
• Un-insulated areas of the house.

Once you’ve identified vulnerable pipes or chilly areas, get to work:

Protect your pipes

• Wearing protective gear, install un-faced fiberglass insulation around poorly-protected pipes in the attic, crawl space or other out-of-the-way place. Don’t worry about being neat, just get those pipes wrapped.
• Install a heat trace cable to keep cold pipes from freezing. Some heat tapes are wrapped around the pipe, while others run along the length of the pipe. Look for ready-to-use cable, with one end terminated and insulated and the other end equipped with an electrical plug.

Keep the cold out

• To insulate a big area, use foam board. Faced or un-faced foam board will work, especially if this is temporary. Install it by scoring, snapping and screwing the foam board to your wood framing.
• Using rigid foam insulation, close and seal all foundation vents that are near water pipes, and insulate foundation walls and the ends of the floor joists.
• Caulk and seal around doors, windows, house faucets and outside outlets.
• If you own an older house built over an un-insulated crawlspace, turn up your thermostat to warm up the crawlspace. (And put “insulate and air-seal crawlspace” on your to-do list!)
• Turn off the water valves to outdoor faucets, keeping the outside valve open to let any remaining water escape

If you will be away from home

If you will be away from your home at all during a cold snap, take a few steps that could mean the difference between returning to a warm, dry house and returning to a water disaster.

• Set your thermostat to 55° F to conserve energy while providing a margin of safety against frozen plumbing.
• Close the valve to the house's main water supply.
• Give a trusted neighbor a key to the house and your contact information. Request that he take a quick look inside once a week.
• If your house is heated with propane or fuel oil, be sure that your fuel supplier has contact information for you and your neighbor.
• Install or subscribe to a freeze-sensing system to monitor your home's internal temperature using a phone or the internet.

During a Freeze

Now that you know which pipes are at risk, take some or all of these steps when the temperature plunges.

• Open the doors to cabinets, vanities, closets and pantries to allow room air to warm the pipes.
• Turn faucets on to allow a trickle of water to flow through the pipes.
• Set up fans to blow heat into cold rooms or your crawl space.
• Keep the garage door closed if there are water supply lines there.
• Place a lamp with a 60-watt bulb in a potential problem area to warm the walls and pipes. (Make sure there are no combustible materials near the bulb.)
• Heat the most vulnerable pipes (usually in basements and crawl spaces or near exterior walls) with a hair dryer. Leave the faucet on while you apply heat.
• If your water pipes are freezing inside an exterior wall, cut an opening in the wall to expose the pipes to the home's warm air. Place fiberglass insulation around the pipes and against the exterior wall. (The hole in the wall can be covered later with a hinged door or panel that can be removed during future cold spells.)

After a Freeze

When the freeze is over, your work is still not done. Now is the time to do another survey of your vulnerable pipes to see if there has been any damage.

• Visually inspect any exposed plumbing in your attic, basement, garage or crawl space.
• Even if your pipes didn't noticeably freeze, or if they thawed out without bursting, they may have developed pinhole leaks. Run your fingers over the seams and joints to check for hard-to-spot leaks.
• Do the same inspection of your pipes under sinks, too.

Throughout the rest of your home and property, pay attention to other clues that may indicate a leak:

• Dripping, bubbling, whistling or sounds of water rushing in pipes or behind walls.
• Odd or unpleasant odors from drains, sinks or other areas of your house.
• Bulging and discoloration or water marks on walls and ceiling.
• Discolored water coming from your faucets.
• A decrease in water pressure when you wash your hands, fill your sink or take a shower.
• No water at all coming out of a faucet or a toilet that doesn’t refill after flushing.
• Drips, puddles or gushing water.
• Unexplained water or sinkholes in your yard.

If you find a problem or notice a drop in water pressure, turn off the water and call a plumber for help.

If You Found a Frozen Pipe

You’ve done your detective work, and you discovered a frozen pipe. Because it’s still frozen, there’s no water leaking … yet. Fortunately, you can still take measures to prevent or minimize water damage.

• Shut off the water at the main valve or the meter in case the pipe does burst. Then, open up all the taps in your house to relieve any pressure building up inside the lines.
• Thaw the ice blockage by warming the connecting pipe. Using a hair dryer, start at the faucet or fixture and work your way back.

When the pipe is thawed, you’ll need to find out if it has burst somewhere along its length.

• Turn the water on and recruit a friend or two to help spot any leaks. Station your friend in an unheated area of your home, like your attic or crawlspace, to look and listen for leaks as you turn the water back on.
• If a pipe has burst, you'll immediately notice a rushing sound in the walls or a flood of water. Shut off the water to your house immediately.
• If you identify no apparent leaks, check each of your faucets in turn. If you notice low water pressure at a particular fixture, you may have a slow leak in that line.

If You Found a Leak

You’ve located water leaking from a pipe, so now’s the time to act fast.

• First, shut off the main water valve to your home. Open a faucet after you shut off the water main to relieve any remaining pressure in the pipes.
• Depending on where the leak is and how substantial it is, shut off the electricity to your home, too, to prevent shocks.
• Clean up any standing water to prevent slipping and falling, reduce the chances of water damage to your home and furnishings, and minimize the odds of mold growth.
• If the burst pipe is overhead, drain ceiling cavities by punching or drilling “weep” holes.

Immediately after a freeze, getting a plumber to your home can be challenging, so you’ll want to slow or stop that leak as soon as you can. (Or call an experienced water disaster recovery company, like SERVPRO of West Hartford, that has the resources and expertise to get to your home fast, stop the leak and begin cleanup.)

• For a pinhole leak, wrap duct tape around the pipe; this will often provide enough pressure to seal the leak until help arrives.
• If duct tape doesn’t stop the leak, make a patch out of a piece of flexible rubber (such as an old radiator or heater hose), place it over the leak, lay a small block of wood over the patch and clamp it in place using a C-clamp.
• An even better option, especially for larger leaks, is a sleeve clamp, which consists of a circular clamp lined with rubbery material that makes a waterproof sleeve for the pipe. (Note: you’ll have to buy a clamp sized to your specific pipe.)

Dry Your House Out

Once you or your plumber has stopped the flow of water and you’ve done basic cleanup, you need to dry out your home. An experienced water disaster remediation company like SERVPRO of West Hartford can do all the work and restore your home and property to their before-disaster condition.

Your goal is to prevent mold growth. Although it takes a few days to appear, mold thrives on wood, paper and particle board, so it’s essential to dry everything out before you rebuild. IICRC-certified professionals, like SERVPRO, use a variety of precise instruments to measure when a building is dry.

If you choose to do the work yourself, follow these tips.

• Remove pools and puddles of water with a wet/dry vacuum. For hard-to-reach places, use a mop to soak up the water.
• Open windows and use several fans to circulate the air and send moisture out the windows.
• If you have dehumidifiers, turn on one or several and close the windows.
• Or if you have a HVAC system, use that to dehumidify your home. Start by setting the air conditioning to cool your house and pull out humidity. Then, when your home has cooled, turn the heat on until it reaches 80 degrees, which will saturate the air with moisture. Once 80 degrees has been reached, turn the air conditioner back on to remove the moisture from the house. Repeat this process until the house has dried.
• Remove water from wet furniture by taking it outside to dry in the sun or placing it in a closed room and running a dehumidifier.
• If your indoor carpeting is saturated (unless it’s a thin covering over a bare wood floor), you must remove and replace it, as well as its padding, to keep mold and mildew from forming.

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property

We’re Here for You

The team at SERVPRO of West Hartford has specialized training and experience in water damage remediation, fire restoration services, natural disaster prevention, chemical cleanup, and natural disaster cleanup. Call SERVPRO of West Hartford (860.206.6141) any time.

SERVPRO of West Hartford
100 Peters Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002
IICRC Certified
Ralph DiCristofaro 
Certified SERVPRO technicians
Call 860.206.6141
24-hour emergency service

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property

Choosing and Maintaining a Sump Pump

11/27/2019 (Permalink)

Halt basement flooding in its tracks by purchasing a quality sump pump and keeping it humming with annual maintenance.

During a storm, after heavy rain or if a pipe bursts in your home, you could get a flood of water in your basement, causing lots of damage to your structure and possessions. Having a well-operating sump pump can keep the flooding to a minimum.

A sump pump sits either beneath or above the floor of your basement and pumps out water that collects in the sump basin, discharging it to the outdoors.

Follow these guidelines when buying a sump pump:

• If your sump basin has the space, choose a submersible pump over a pedestal pump. Submersible pumps allow the sump pit to be covered with a lid, which reduces pump noise and keeps the pit free of debris.
• Buy a pump with a cast iron—not plastic—core. Cast iron helps to dissipate heat to the surrounding water, lengthening the life of the pump.
• The pump should have a no-screen intake design coupled with an impellor that can handle solids up to ½-inch in diameter. This will minimize the chance of clogs.
• The switch should be mechanical, not a pressure switch, and the float should be solid.
• Consider a pump with an alarm that tells you when the water reaches a certain level.

You can install the pump yourself or hire a professional.

Annual Maintenance for Your Pump

Ensure your peace of mind by performing routine maintenance each spring. Do these tasks at least once a year to keep your sump pump humming:

1. Clean and lubricate the pump. Unplug the pump, disconnect it from the discharge pipe and pull the pump out of the sump. If there is a screen at the pump’s base, hose away any debris and rinse off its housing. Lubricate the pump bearings, if required.
2. Inspect the check valve. If the internal flap doesn’t swing freely, flush it out. If you see mineral deposits, soak the valve in vinegar.
3. Test the float switch. Pour a few gallons of water into the sump to see if it comes on and pumps out the water. If it doesn’t, repair or replace the switch.
4. Press the outlet’s test and reset buttons (per code, a sump pump has to be plugged in to a GFCI receptacle).
5. Got a backup battery? Top off its cells with distilled water.

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property

We’re Here for You

The team at SERVPRO of West Hartford has specialized training and experience in water damage remediation, fire restoration services, natural disaster prevention, chemical cleanup, and natural disaster cleanup. Call SERVPRO of West Hartford (860.206.6141) any time.

Other Helpful Blog Posts

SERVPRO publishes educational articles on how to protect your home or business from disasters and how to deal with water, sewage, storm, mold, fire and other damage.

SERVPRO of West Hartford
100 Peters Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002
IICRC Certified
Ralph DiCristofaro 
Certified SERVPRO technicians
Call 860.206.6141
24-hour emergency service

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property

Avoid Water Damage by Maintaining Your Plumbing Ecosystem

11/25/2019 (Permalink)

Periodic maintenance of your plumbing system and the appliances connected to it will help prevent a water disaster at your home.

We often take our home plumbing systems and the appliances connected to them for granted, as they work efficiently through the years. But when something goes wrong, you can experience a major and costly water disaster. Tend to these four areas of your plumbing ecosystem periodically to help prevent that happening in your home.

1. Prevent plumbing system failures

• Call a professional if you notice signs of a plumbing problem—an increased monthly water bill, banging pipes, rust stains, moisture in the walls or on the floor and signs of wet soil erosion near the foundation. If caught early, you can prevent many thousands of dollars of water damage.
• If your home’s sewer system is connected to the city’s sewer system—a particular problem for older homes—or if you are located downhill or below street level, contact a plumbing professional to install a backflow prevention valve into your sewer system.
• Never pour grease down the drain.

2. Inspect and maintain your water heater

• Inspect your anode rod every two years (or every year once the warranty has expired) and replace it if needed.
• Flush the water heater tank every six months to remove sediment by attaching a garden hose to the valve at the base (first turn off the power and run hot water until it is cool).
• Annually, hire a plumbing professional to inspect the water heater, including the shut-off valve and all piping. Broken valves, loose or wet joints and rust are signs of impending failure.

3. Maintain washing machine supply lines

• Each month, inspect your hot and cold washing machine supply lines. Look for signs they may be ready to fail—blisters in the hose, worn tubing, stress cracks or loose connections.
• Replace the supply hose with a reinforced steel braided hose if it shows any sign of wear.
• Tighten the connection if it feels loose. The most common site of failure is near the connection where the hose bends.
• Replace supply hoses with reinforced steel braided hoses every five years, even if there is no obvious deterioration or wear.

4. Prevent toilet failure

• After you flush, wait for the valve to completely finish refilling the tank and bowl. If an overflow looks imminent, lift off the tank cover and lift the float to shut off water flow to the tank, then reach down and close the supply valve.
• Twice a year, inspect a toilet’s components, such as the fill, supply and flush valves, and the supply line. Make sure you can turn off the supply. Replace older screw-type valves that are leaky or hard to turn with simpler ball valves that are easy to shut off quickly.

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property

We’re Here for You

The team at SERVPRO of West Hartford has specialized training and experience in water damage remediation, fire restoration services, natural disaster prevention, chemical cleanup, and natural disaster cleanup. Call SERVPRO of West Hartford (860.206.6141) any time.

Other Helpful Blog Posts

SERVPRO publishes educational articles on how to protect your home or business from disasters and how to deal with water, sewage, storm, mold, fire and other damage.

SERVPRO of West Hartford
100 Peters Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002
IICRC Certified
Ralph DiCristofaro 
Certified SERVPRO technicians
Call 860.206.6141
24-hour emergency service

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property

Fight Winter Water Damage

11/22/2019 (Permalink)

A few basic steps, taken before and during winter, will really help you prevent costly winter water damage to your home.

Here comes another New England winter—and here comes the increased chance of damage to your home from water leaks. Burst pipes, storm damage, rooftop ice dams and other cold-weather hazards all put your home at risk. Withstand the challenges and stay water-tight by following these tips.

Prepare Your Home for Winter

Do these tasks to help prevent damage to your home from floods and leaks—and even from tree branches and too much snow on your roof. They are all winter hazards!

• Clean out your gutters.
• Disconnect and drain outside hoses. Close inside valves supplying water to outdoor faucets and hookups. Once the water supply is turned off, open the outdoor faucets to allow residual water to drain, and keep them open during the cold weather months.
• Trim back tree branches that could get weighed down with ice or snow and fall on your house—or your neighbor's.
• Hire a contractor to repair roof leaks and determine if it can sustain the weight of a heavy snowfall.

Keep Your Pipes Too Warm to Freeze

Frozen water expands and puts pressure on pipes, which can cause them to burst. You may not even know right away that you have a burst pipe until it thaws out and the leaking and flooding start.

You can prevent a damaging leak from a burst pipe—and save money on your heating costs, too—when you do these common-sense tasks before the cold season.

• Wrap water pipes in your basement or crawl spaces with insulation sleeves.
• Insulate walls and attics, and caulk and weather-strip doors and windows.
• Set your home’s temperature set to 55 degrees or higher. Make sure your furniture doesn't block your heating vents. Close your fireplace flue when you're not using it.

During cold spells, take some additional steps:

• Open cabinet doors in the kitchen and bathroom so that warm air circulates around pipes.
• Allow a slow trickle of water to flow through faucets connected to unheated or exposed pipes.
• If you will be away from your home during cold periods, consider draining the water system.

Avoid Ice Dams

When water from melted snow refreezes above your eaves or in the gutters, it can seep in under the roof, soaking interior walls creating the need for water damage restoration. These are ways to prevent ice dams from forming on your roof:

• Adequately ventilate and insulate your attic.
• Clear your gutters and downspouts of leaves and debris.
• Consider having a water-repellent membrane installed under your roof covering.

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property

We’re Here for You

The team at SERVPRO of West Hartford has specialized training and experience in water damage remediation, fire restoration services, natural disaster prevention, chemical cleanup, and natural disaster cleanup. Call SERVPRO of West Hartford (860.206.6141) any time.

Other Helpful Blog Posts

SERVPRO publishes educational articles on how to protect your home or business from disasters and how to deal with water, sewage, storm, mold, fire and other damage.

SERVPRO of West Hartford
100 Peters Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002
IICRC Certified
Ralph DiCristofaro 
Certified SERVPRO technicians
Call 860.206.6141
24-hour emergency service

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property

Prevent Sewer Backups at Your Home

11/18/2019 (Permalink)

Nobody wants a sewer to back up in their home! Take steps now to prevent that challenging water disaster from happening to you.

A sewer backup in your house fits the definition of a homeowner’s nightmare. Learn what causes a sewer backup and what you can do to help prevent one in your home.

What Are the Warning Signs?

If you notice any of these issues at your home, you may be experiencing a sewer backup. You’ll need to call a sewage disaster remediator, like SERVPRO® of West Hartford, as soon as you can.

• Floor, shower or bathtub drains making gurgling sounds or backing up with water
• Water rising from your home’s sewer cleanout pipe

What Causes a Sewer Backup?

When one of the following problems occurs, sewer water can get forced up through your home’s sewer pipes and emerge through toilets, floor drains and shower or bathtub drains. Common causes of sewer backups into a home include:

• Tree roots that block sewage pipes
• Aging home and city sewer systems that need repair
• Blocked city sewage mains
• City pipelines carrying both rain and sewage water that become overwhelmed with water after heavy rainfall

Ways to Prevent a Sewer Backup

Fortunately, there are measures you can take that will greatly reduce the chances of experiencing a sewer backup.

• Install a backup water valve: A licensed plumber can install a water valve in sewer or drain lines to let sewage water flow out of the pipes, but not back in.
• Properly dispose of household waste: Items like paper towels do not decompose quickly and can clog sewer lines if they are flushed down a toilet. Properly dispose of cooking grease—if you pour it down the sink, it can solidify in the pipes.
• Inspect and trim tree roots: If you have noticeable tree roots throughout your yard, you may need to have a professional trim them back to lessen the risk of them growing into a sewer line.

Consider Insurance Coverage

Sewer backups aren’t typically covered by a standard homeowners insurance policy, so you may want to consider adding water backup coverage to your homeowners insurance policy to help pay for repairs after a sewer backup.

If you do suffer damage to your home from a water disaster, call on an experienced disaster recovery company like SERVPRO of West Hartford, which has specialized training, expert staff and the latest equipment to help you restore your home and possessions.

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860-216-2785 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property

We’re Here for You

The team at SERVPRO of West Hartford has specialized training and experience in water damage remediation, fire restoration services, natural disaster prevention, chemical cleanup, and natural disaster cleanup. Call SERVPRO of West Hartford (860.216.2785) any time.

Other Helpful Blog Posts

SERVPRO publishes educational articles on how to protect your home or business from disasters and how to deal with water, sewage, storm, mold, fire and other damage.

SERVPRO of West Hartford
716 Oakwood Ave, West Hartford, 06110
IICRC Certified
Noemi DiCristofaro 
Certified SERVPRO technicians
Call 860-216-2785
24-hour emergency service

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860-216-2785 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property

Replace Your Washing Machine Hoses to Avoid a Flood

10/17/2019 (Permalink)

Replace the most vulnerable parts of your washing machine—the rubber hoses—with steel-jacketed ones, which won't burst and flood your laundry room.

The most vulnerable parts of your washing machine are the hoses. Washers are typically sold with rubber hoses—but these hoses can burst with no warning, spewing hundreds of gallons of water in only one hour! Luckily, there’s a quick, easy and affordable way to prevent a flooding disaster from happening in your home.

Avoid a laundry room water disaster by replacing your washer's old rubber hoses with steel-jacketed ones that won’t split open. Buy hoses that are at least 60" long—that length will make it easier to move and service your washer.

• Remove the old hoses: Turn off your hot and cold water valves, unplug the washer’s electric cord and remove the drain hose from the drain. Lay a towel down and use a stillson (pipe) wrench to remove the hot and cold hoses from the back of the washer and from the water supply.
• Clean the filter screens on the back of the washer with a brush.
• Install the new steel braided hoses: screw them on to the back of the washer with your fingers, then tighten with the wrench.
• Connect the new hoses to the water supply, matching hot and cold. Open the valves, check for leaks, reconnect the drain hose and plug the washer back in.

Tag the new hoses with the date you installed them. Then, check your hoses every six months and replace them once they are five years old.

Add Another Layer of Protection

Installing a plastic drip pan is another fairly simple way to avoid costly damage from a laundry room flood—in fact it’s required in second-floor laundry rooms. The pan sits under your washer and catches small leaks. Select a pan with a drain so that any water that collects can be diverted to a floor drain. You'll need a helper and perhaps a dolly to set the washer gently onto the pan so you don’t crack it.

Once the pan is in place, check it for accumulated water after each load of laundry.

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property

We’re Here for You

The team at SERVPRO of West Hartford has specialized training and experience in water damage remediation, fire restoration services, natural disaster prevention, chemical cleanup, and natural disaster cleanup. Call SERVPRO of West Hartford (860.206.6141) any time.

SERVPRO of West Hartford
100 Peters Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002
IICRC Certified
Ralph DiCristofaro 
Certified SERVPRO technicians
Call 860.206.6141
24-hour emergency service

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property

Where Are Your Home’s Shutoff Valves?

10/17/2019 (Permalink)

You can stop a flood in your home or business by turning off the water at its source, but you have to know where the shutoff valves are.

It’s a well-known fact of the homeowner’s life: pipes burst, fixtures leak and appliances flood. Costly water damage happens fast, but if you know how, you can quickly stop the deluge by shutting off the flow of water at its source.

Take a few minutes today to locate all of the shutoff valves in your home and you’ll be better prepared to respond to a water disaster emergency.

Whole house shutoff

If you have a well, look for the shutoff valve on the house side of the pressure tank. (You should also cut power to the tank so it doesn't detect a phantom pressure loss and burn out trying to compensate.)

If your home has metered water, look for the shutoff valve on either side of the water meter. (Your meter could be located in the basement, mounted on an exterior wall or even out by the street in a concrete "meter pit" where the household feed line meets the utility main.)

Whole house hot water shutoff

There should be a valve on the hot-water outlet of your water heater, which controls all the hot water to your house. (If there isn't a valve on your hot water heater, you or your plumber should install one.)

Toilet shutoff

The shutoff valve, which typically has a ribbed oval handle, should be under the toilet tank.

Sink shutoff

These shutoffs usually sit just beneath the sink, within the cabinet or vanity if you have one. The hot water valve is usually on the left and the cold water valve on the right.

Dishwasher shutoff

Look first under the kitchen sink to locate a reducer coupling and shutoff valve leading to the dishwasher on the 1/2-inch hot-water sink-supply line. If it’s not there, go to your basement and check for it between the ceiling joists just below the dishwasher.

Washing machine shutoff

You’ll find the hot and cold shutoff valves where the house-supply lines meet the washer hoses. Make it a practice to always close the valves when leaving home for an extended period.

If you do suffer damage to your home from a water disaster, call on an experienced disaster recovery company like SERVPRO of West Hartford, which has specialized training, expert staff and the latest equipment to help you restore your home and possessions.

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property

We’re Here for You

The team at SERVPRO of West Hartford has specialized training and experience in water damage remediation, fire restoration services, natural disaster prevention, chemical cleanup, and natural disaster cleanup. Call SERVPRO of West Hartford (860.206.6141) any time.

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SERVPRO publishes educational articles on how to protect your home or business from disasters and how to deal with water, sewage, storm, mold, fire and other damage.

SERVPRO of West Hartford
100 Peters Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002
IICRC Certified
Ralph DiCristofaro 
Certified SERVPRO technicians
Call 860.206.6141
24-hour emergency service

If your home or business suffers a flood, call SERVPRO of West Hartford today at 860.206.6141 for immediate water damage cleanup and restoration of your structure and property