SERVPRO, the Hero for Los Angeles Water Damage Restoration

3/22/2022 (Permalink)

Los Angeles Homeowner Has a Water Loss Problem--Call SERVPRO-We're Faster To Any Size Disaster

Outsource Water Damage Cleanup in Los Angeles to SERVPRO

When SERVPRO of Silver Lake / Echo Park gets the call to clean up water damage in a Los Angeles home or business, we know it is an overwhelming and stressful time for the property owner. During the initial phone call, our technicians got detailed information about the water in the property, so we brought the equipment needed to mitigate water loss as much as possible.

What Type of Water Loss Does SERVPRO of Silver Lake / Echo Park Handle?

There is no one set way that water loss occurs in a property. A slow leak from a pipe may have spent months building up moisture and increasing our technicians' likelihood of finding mold colonies behind a wall or under flooring. A hot water tank or washing machine can dump tens of gallons of water into the home or business. Whether it is a problem that has just been discovered or a sudden water spill in the home or business, SERVPRO has the equipment and expertise to locate and mitigate water loss for both structures and contents.

Standard Methods for Diagnosing and Remediating Water Damage

The longer the structure and possessions have been exposed to water, the more potential for unrecoverable damage and mold colonies. The less time the moisture has had to reside in building materials and objects, the more chance for saving through restoration efforts. Our goal is always to restore and not replace.

SERVPRO of Silver Lake / Echo Park technicians arrive on-site within hours after your initial phone call. While one or more technicians work to extract any standing water from the Los Angeles property, other technicians precisely locate the size and scope of the water damage. When needed, these techs use moisture meters, digital probes on soft objects such as carpeting, and thermal imagery. The obvious visible signs of soaking and seepage can be grappled with immediately.

Once the moisture areas have been identified, a plan for proper drying of the structure and contents is formulated. The setup for drying the property sometimes takes longer than the actual drying process. Our technicians are IICRC certified in the science of psychometry, or the study of air and moisture and know that airflow is crucial to parts of the home or business retaining moisture. Weep holes may be drilled to facilitate air circulation and drywall that has been too saturation and beyond recovery may be cut away. Baseboards are sometimes removed to allow forced air to vent behind walls and into the cavities.

SERVPRO technicians aim to disrupt the home or business as little as possible during remediation. When appropriate, we put furnishings up on blocks and wrap the legs. Whenever we cannot dry items on-site or they require proprietary methods for restoration that cannot be performed at the location, we can pack up and move objects to our facility with the property owner's and adjuster's permission. All such transported contents are boxed and cataloged, often with scanning.

Different Approaches for Different Types of Flooring

Fast extraction of water and removal of residual moisture under the flooring is essential for avoiding loss of adhesion in tile flooring and secondary issues such as mold. Carpet can pose a problem because the padding is very absorbent and can pull water into other areas under the carpeting, resulting in foul odors and mold if not adequately dried. Our technicians carefully map the moisture readings on the floor and subfloor to determine precisely where the moisture levels rise and where they fall, so no damaged areas are missed. Our technicians do not decide to remove flooring such as an adhesive-based vinyl tile floor that has been saturated for too long to save through restoration without communication with the property owner and adjuster with restoration probabilities. 

Porous flooring materials such as concrete and wood have special needs for cleanup. Our technicians dry concrete thoroughly and use an EPA-registered disinfectant to inhibit mold growth. These pads absorb water slowly to prevent the degradation of the concrete. Wood flooring is handled on a case-by-case basis. The type of wood flooring determines the outcome in many water loss situations. Boards made from composite or engineered wood tend to lose their structural integrity when saturated, and chances of a complete restoration are low. Solid hardwood boards absorb water, but since they are solid wood, our technicians have the expertise and specialized equipment to dry them if the process starts quickly enough after the initial water introduction. A known reason for employing SERVPRO as your water restoration company is our ability to salvage hardwood planks and save our clients a lot of money. Again, we strive to restore and not to replace.

Thorough Drying Methods

Once the setup for drying is completed, SERVPRO of Silver Lake / Echo Park water damage technicians again measure moisture in the area and determine drying goals. There is always some residual humidity in the air, and it is never zero percent indoors. Normal interior RH levels are from 55-65%. Our technicians use a scale for optimum levels based on the readings for unaffected areas of the property, so normal moisture levels are achieved through drying. Final results are documented to assist our customers with their insurance claims. Many agencies work with SERVPRO of Silver Lake / Echo Park in the Los Angeles area because of the close cooperation from the initial visit to the final walk-through. We can maintain budgetary guidelines set up by the carrier.

Powerful air movers and dehumidifiers are used as the centerpiece of the drying process, causing water vapor to rise and be captured. This cycle repeats over and over, removing moisture from the area. The unique configurations for forced air behind walls, ceilings, or tenting over hardwood floors are performed simultaneously to remove water vapor.

Moisture detection is used during and after drying to determine if drying goals are met. Once they are, our technicians work on hand cleaning the area using fast evaporating antifungal and antibacterial cleaners to inhibit the growth of mold and mildew. Our odor control technicians have multiple methods to remove any residual odors left behind by the water damage. Once our emergency response teams have completed the restoration efforts, the property owner and adjuster are walked through and shown all aspects of our work to ensure complete satisfaction. "Like it never even happened."

SERVPRO of Silver Lake / Echo Park is proud to serve Los Angeles, California, including areas in and around the 90012, 90026, and 90029 with our emergency response teams to mitigate water damage to both property and furnishings with our knowledge and equipment. We know home disasters never take a holiday, and neither do we, call us, and our technicians arrive on-site within hours after your initial call.