How Does a Flood Damage My Chicago Basement?

4/19/2020 (Permalink)

You can trust SERVPRO of Evergreen Park / South Chicago City to handle your flood cleanup needs.

SERVPRO Helps with Flood Cleanup to Protect Your Chicago Basement from Structural Damage and Mold Growth

A homeowner never wants to deal with flooding in their basement. However, this is a situation that you must address quickly so that your home’s interior is not left compromised. The longer that water sits in your basement, the more chance you have of experiencing structural damage or the development of mold. Instead of letting the flooding harm your foundation or begin migrating to other areas of your home, calling in the help of experienced technicians gets you the prompt results you need.

What Happens if I Wait to Have Water Removal?
There is a lot that can happen if you wait too long for thorough flood cleanup in Chicago. The stagnant water in your basement can start to impact different aspects, which is where our team at SERVPRO springs into action to halt the damage.

The physical integrity of various supporting structures for your home can become impaired. This is a result of the force and pressure that comes from flooding, including:

    •    The siding, doors, and windows of your home may begin to warp or break
    •    Wood or metal framing can begin to shear off or bend
    •    The potential for the foundation to become washed out
    •    Hydrostatic pressure can force water through cinder block masonry and also collect within the hollow cells

With the deterioration of the structural components, failing to have the water cleaned up in a timely fashion also harms porous materials throughout your basement. Drywall, ceiling tiles, particleboard, and insulation take on water and start warping, crumbling, or become packed down.

Do I Have to Worry About Contamination?
With any water loss from flooding, there is a risk of contamination throughout the water. Not only can the contents and surfaces in your basement become contaminated, but the air quality is also jeopardized. Hazardous substances that may be found in the water that floods into your basement from the outside can include:

    •    Dangerous microbes, bacteria, mold, and viruses
    •    Animal or human waste, which has the potential for hazardous pathogens
    •    Chemicals from containers in your basement or outside the home, such as gasoline, oils, fertilizers, and more
    •    Lead or asbestos that comes from other structures or surfaces that became disturbed due to floodwater and activity during the cleanup process

How Does SERVPRO Deal with Flood Cleanup?
We feature trained technicians that follow the standards set forth by the Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC). Our team employs all of the latest strategies and techniques to begin securing your structure. We then work to halt deterioration to preserve your interior and start removing all biohazards to dispose of them appropriately. We must formulate a detailed course of action that allows us to adequately clean and disinfect the impacted areas of your home so that we can get everything dried and back to the preloss condition.

Upon Our Arrival
Once our team arrives at your property with trucks loaded with equipment, we work to secure the basement. This is done by:

    •    Boarding up or taping any holes or broken windows
    •    Bracing your structure to ensure safety for your home and our crew
    •    Turning off the electricity as well as any other utilities that be a potential risk of fire or shock

We inhibit continuing damage in several ways. In the initial phase of the assessment process, the crew chief works with the team to put a plan in place for the cleanup and restoration. Each water loss situation is unique, so we address areas like:

    •    Pumping and extraction of all water located in the basement
    •    Containment of any contaminated water, making sure that everything is disposed of properly and following local guidelines
    •    Putting buffers into position where there is only partial flooding
    •    Move out, or pack out, services for any contents to be dried in another location
    •    Containment barriers put in place with plastic sheeting and air scrubbers that utilize negative pressure

Throughout the water removal and cleanup process, our crew is outfitted in personal protective equipment (PPE) for their safety. This also helps to prevent debris and hazardous materials from getting tracked into unaffected areas of your home.

How Will I Know My Basement is Dry?
SERVPRO not only works to remove water, deep clean surfaces, and disinfect everything with EPA-registered antimicrobials, but we also employ the use of moisture detection technology. Sensors, meters, and thermal imaging cameras allow us to locate areas where moisture is lingering so that it can be appropriately addressed. If necessary, we reposition our air movers, dehumidifiers, and heaters until we get normal readings on all of our moisture detection equipment.

You can trust SERVPRO of Evergreen Park / South Chicago City to handle your flood cleanup needs. Give us a call at (773) 337-3900, and we will send out a team to make it “Like it never even happened.”

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