Water Damage Services Pittsburgh

When your home experiences flooding, the longer water damage goes unchecked, the more the water will spread, the more damage is done, and the greater the potential for mold growth. You will quickly need to determine the damage, then address how to restore it. For larger problems, there is a third step– determining when to call in a water damage restoration team. Here are some tips:

Step #1 – Assess the Damage

The most important factor of danger is the water source; what “category” had contact with your belongings? Water damage is assessed by the type of liquid involved: was it liquid from a sanitary source or contaminated with chemical, physical, or biological elements?

The three categories describing the type of liquid involved are:

Category 1. This is liquid from a clean and sanitary source: faucets, toilet tanks, drinking fountains, etc.

Category 2. Greywater is contaminated with chemical, physical, or biological elements that may cause illness. Sources include dishwasher or washing machine overflows and requires additional cleaning and decontamination steps be taken to prevent illness.

Category 3. The worst classification contains significant pathogens and is grossly unsanitary. Also called “black water,” its sources include sewer backup, flooding from rivers or streams, toilet overflow, or stagnant liquid that has begun to support bacterial growth. Unless the item is non-porous and valuable enough to sterilize, consider all property contaminated.

Step #2 – Dry Everything

According to the EPA, mold typically will begin to develop in between 12-36 hours; this is the only chance you have to save your belongings. Place large fans in the center of the room, directed so that they blow air directly on the damp floor. Let the fans blow all night; keep foot traffic off the wet carpet. If, after 12 hours of air flow, you don’t see a noticeable difference in the condition of the carpet, you should consider replacing it.

Get your furniture outside into fresh air and sunshine. Toss out food, cardboard boxes, and cheap area rugs. Rent or buy a mechanical dehumidifier, a relatively low-cost way to ventilate damp and musty-smelling rooms. Use the settings to control the humidity level. Aim for a relative humidity of 40-50 percent; any higher can lead to mold growth and below 30 percent can cause structural problems.

Step #2B- Is it Worth Saving?

Since the first day is so important, use your time wisely. Be honest; is it worth the effort to salvage each item? To determine whether a piece of furniture is worth saving, take into account the cost of the item in relation to the cost of restoration. Replacing aging carpet or worn furniture may not be the most practical choice. Consult professionals to help determine its value using defined industry standards. Since every water damage situation is unique, the best way to determine what can be saved is to have a local restoration company inspect and evaluate the situation.

Reassess and Step #3- Ask for help

Do you have the tools and the manpower to move faster than mold can get established? Are you able to get a steady supply of clean, fresh air across the room until the final clean up?  If your problem is too large to handle quickly on your own, enlist qualified water damage experts. Call G.S. Jones at 877-898-2932 for the equipment, training, and expertise to safely clean and restore your property.

Our team of professionals will immediately assess the situation and protect your home. Armed with information about the extent of the damage to your carpet and the likely cause of the damage, GS Jones can contact your insurance company and determine with them what replacement help you might expect.

At GS Jones, we know how frustrating it can be to have water interruption in your residence or business.  We know the steps to take to rid your home of water with best commercial water damage cleanup in Pittsburgh.

Recovery With Disaster Cleanup Services

Driving rains and floods are incredibly destructive forces on your home. So are strong winds, including tornados. Even random lightning strikes can cause house fires. Nothing can prepare you for when a disaster hits your home in Dormant; here are a few of the dangers:

Wind Damage

High winds can damage roofs, siding, awnings, and sometimes building facades. Both tornadoes and ‘straight line winds’ can range from 50 mph to over 100 mph, and can topple utility poles, snap limbs, strip shingles from rooftops and push cars off the road. The destruction is two folds- the wind itself plus its effect on the surrounding trees and structures.

Hailstones

Instability and temperature differentials in the atmosphere allow ice layers to form over and over again until the weight of the icy balls crashes them down to the ground. Severe storms can produce marble size hail or larger, which can cause a lot of damage to your roof, windows, and outdoor structures (and of course any vehicles unlucky enough to be caught outside.)

Hidden Dangers Of Floods

Floodwater can contain dangerous bacteria from overflowing sewage and agricultural and industrial waste. The waters can contain animal feces, hepatitis C, and the E-Coli bacteria should be handled as if it were raw sewage. While skin contact with floodwater doesn’t pose a serious health risk by itself, eating or drinking anything contaminated with flood water can cause diseases. Although it might look like a simple water cleanup, hire a professional remediation team to properly protect your home and family.

Winter Weather

When temperatures drop significantly below normal, keeping the home warm and safe can be a challenge.

Pipes in exterior walls, basements, attics, and garages are most vulnerable to freezing and therefore breaking. And a small, slow crack can, over time, be more destructive than a huge rush of water. “Ice dams”, are caused by the warming and refreezing of snow and ice on warmer areas of your roof can cause severe damage. The weight of extra snow and ice can allow cracks and openings, allowing cold air and moisture into your attic.

Fire Damage

U.S. fire departments respond to an average of about 350,000 home structure fires per year. The most common causes are smoking in bedrooms, faulty electrical equipment, unattended candles, and flammable liquids. An unusually high number of fires are caused by lighting; lampshades and light fittings can heat up when too close to light globes.

Lightning

Lightning strikes the earth more than 8 million times per day. The risk of being struck is low but the consequences of lightning strike injuries are serious.  Two risks associated with lightning are 1) house fires and 2) power surges.

The most common place for a fire to ignite is in the attic when a lightning bolt comes through the roof or top of the house. If you think your home has been struck, call the fire department to check for potential, hidden fires. When lightning strikes a house, the electricity often surges through a home’s wiring or plumbing system, searching for the quickest possible route to the ground. So again, make a thorough inspection for hot wires, short circuits, and blown fuses.

Disaster Cleanup Services Dormont 

When a disaster takes place, contact G.S. for disaster cleanup services in Dormont. We use ethical principles, quality workmanship and rapid response in a well thought out cost-conscious approach.

Based in Pittsburgh, G.S.Jones is experts recovering after a disaster. Call 877-898-2932 or visit http://gsjonesrestoration.com/ for more information.

 

Disaster Cleanup Services Dormont

When a disaster takes place, contact G.S. for disaster cleanup services in Dormont. We use ethical principles, quality workmanship and rapid response in a well thought out cost-conscious approach.

Long-Term Effects of Water Damage

Water damage is one of the most common and destructive disasters that can happen in your home. While its immediate effects can be incredibly destructive, water damage also has long-term consequences that can still take a toll on you and your home weeks, months, and even years after the initial damage occurred. There are many reasons as to why this is, and we have a few of them listed below. However, the most important thing to understand about the long-term effects of water damage is that it is very preventable. That is getting the job done right the first time. Amateur or low-quality professional efforts to provide water damage restoration services often leave behind unnoticed pools of water or moisture. This unwanted moisture can have serious consequences down the road. Thus, you should hire a professional cleaning and restoration company to handle your water damage restoration needs. In the Pittsburgh area, GS Jones Restoration is one such company here for you.

Mold

Mold is easily the most common and most potent long-term consequence of water damage. Mold can begin to grow as quickly as 24-48 hours after a flood, but it can remain much longer. This is especially true when moisture seeps into your walls or ceiling. Soon, this moisture will spawn mold growth. Once the mold has begun to develop INSIDE your walls and ceiling, you have a serious problem. The mold will quickly spread and is very difficult to remove. For some people, the mold of this sort remains there for YEARS without anyone ever noticing.

Unwanted Pests

Alongside mold, this is a pretty gross problem brought on by water damage over time. Three of these common pests are silverfish, earwigs, and termites. Silverfish contain contaminants that can get in your food and make you sick. Earwigs love to feed on mold and other insects. They are often found in restrooms. Finally, termites are attracted to moist wood and other damp materials. Termites are by far the most destructive of these insects as they can cause major damage to the foundation of your home over time.

Structural Weakening

A flood, at the moment, can cause major structural damage to your home immediately. On the other hand, moisture pockets left unattended can gradually eat away at critical structural components of your home over time eventually making it unsafe to be in. Termites eating away at the wood in your home are another great example of this. Again, this can be avoided if you take care to completely remove all the water and remaining moisture from your home after a flood. Don’t needlessly allow your home to be taken over by mold, moisture-loving pests, gradual structural weakening, and so on.

3 Commonly Asked Questions about Contents Damage Restoration

For Content Damage Cleanup in Pittsburgh, knowing the ins and outs of restoration is a top priority. The purpose of this blog is to educate homeowners on the practice of contents damage restoration what it is, what it is not, and the value of outsourcing this job to professionals. Here are some basic frequently asked questions in the industry:

What is contents restoration?

Content damage restoration is a broad term for remediating the “stuff” in a home. It is a necessary part of returning your life.

Contents Restoration Pittsburgh:

Severe damage often compromises the home’s structure and common household items. These items range from social security cards to microwave ovens to stuffed teddy bears. It requires specialists to restore items to their pre-damaged state. Since the tasks in this field vary greatly, quality content damage restoration necessitates state-of-the-art facilities and equipment.

What does it include?

• Fine art: It can be painful to witness damage to fine art pieces, but fortunately much can be done to salvage these priceless items. In our case, fine art relates to paintings, photographs, statues, murals, and taxidermy.
• Document recovery: Have you ever misplaced your wallet (or gotten close)? Within a matter of seconds, you plan phone calls to your credit card provider, the bank, and the courthouse. You probably fretted about all the points you had racked up on your favorite restaurant punch card and been disappointed at the loss of the cash tucked away inside. In this case, the wish of restoring important documents, personal identification information, and money was nearly impossible. However, when these critical documents and others are in your possession—just badly damaged—they can likely be restored by a content damage restoration specialist. Even charred and shredded documents have a likelihood of being restored.
• Electronics: If you’ve already tried all the internet tricks to restore your electronics and yet they remain lifeless and unresponsive, call a contents damage specialist. Often a team approach occurs. Communicating with insurance companies allows us to discuss the pricing and feasibility of recovery. Even when damage seems irreparable, data recovery is still possible.
• Other common household items: Simple household items including kitchen cutlery, toys, furniture, and clothing fall under this category. Restoring these items on your own can be a headache. Determining which techniques and chemicals are appropriate for each household item can be both time consuming and intricate. Even diligent attempts at restoration can fail to remove the smell of smoke or pockets of moisture.

What is the process?

Each restoration company has their own process of remediation. Our methods are listed in this paragraph. First, professionals will determine which items need to be exported to a warehouse facility. An experienced pack-out team will oversee the relocation of household items while paying particular attention to items that need to be removed immediately to prevent further damage. As part of this process, pictures will be taken of each room to identify damaged items. Experts at our climate-controlled facility will determine whether to restore or replace contents. Items are considered both for monetary value and for sentimental value. After this assessment, experts will begin restorative work.

Restoration in Pittsburgh

The value of personal items, heirlooms, and documents cannot be overstated. As such, it is imperative that professional and responsible care be taken to ensure the integrity of items. Jones in Pittsburgh possesses the necessary skills, facilities, and training to provide high-quality content damage restoration to a wide variety of valuables. Give us a call today.

3 Commonly Asked Questions about Contents Damage Restoration

For Content Damage Cleanup in Pittsburgh, knowing the ins and outs of restoration is a top priority. The purpose of this blog is to educate homeowners on the practice of contents damage restoration what it is, what it is not, and the value of outsourcing this job to professionals. Here are some basic frequently asked questions in the industry:

What is contents restoration?

Content damage restoration is a broad term for remediating the “stuff” in a home. It is a necessary part of returning your life and home back to normal after a 

Contents Restoration Pittsburgh

Severe damage often compromises the home’s structure and common household items. These items range from social security cards to microwave ovens to stuffed teddy bears. It requires specialists to restore items to their pre-damaged state. Since the tasks in this field vary greatly, quality content damage restoration necessitates state-of-the-art facilities and equipment.

What does it include?

• Fine art: It can be painful to witness damage to fine art pieces, but fortunately much can be done to salvage these priceless items. In our case, fine art relates to paintings, photographs, statues, murals, and taxidermy.
• Document recovery: Have you ever misplaced your wallet (or gotten close)? Within a matter of seconds, you plan phone calls to your credit card provider, the bank, and the courthouse. You probably fretted about all the points you had racked up on your favorite restaurant punch card and been disappointed at the loss of the cash tucked away inside. In this case, the wish of restoring important documents, personal identification information, and money was nearly impossible. However, when these critical documents and others are in your possession—just badly damaged—they can likely be restored by a content damage restoration specialist. Even charred and shredded documents have a likelihood of being restored.
• Electronics: If you’ve already tried all the internet tricks to restore your electronics and yet they remain lifeless and unresponsive, call a contents damage specialist. Often a team approach occurs. Communicating with insurance companies allows us to discuss the pricing and feasibility of recovery. Even when damage seems irreparable, data recovery is still possible.
• Other common household items: Simple household items including kitchen cutlery, toys, furniture, and clothing fall under this category. Restoring these items on your own can be a headache. Determining which techniques and chemicals are appropriate for each household item can be both time consuming and intricate. Even diligent attempts at restoration can fail to remove the smell of smoke or pockets of moisture.

What is the process?

Each restoration company has their own process of remediation. Our methods are listed in this paragraph. First, professionals will determine which items need to be exported to a warehouse facility. An experienced pack-out team will oversee the relocation of household items while paying particular attention to items that need to be removed immediately to prevent further damage. As part of this process, pictures will be taken of each room to identify damaged items. Experts at our climate-controlled facility will determine whether to restore or replace contents. Items are considered both for monetary value and for sentimental value. After this assessment, experts will begin restorative work.

Restoration in Pittsburgh

The value of personal items, heirlooms, and documents cannot be overstated. As such, it is imperative that professional and responsible care be taken to ensure the integrity of items.  Jones in Pittsburgh possesses the necessary skills, facilities, and training to provide high-quality content damage restoration to a wide variety of valuables. Give us a call today

7 Home Reconstruction Ideas on a Budget

Winter is a popular time to tackle home remodeling projects, either on your own or by hiring it out to a professional contractor, like G.S. Jones. With channels like HGTV and TLC, and shows like Fixer Upper, House Hunters, and Property Brothers, we see homeowners more eager than ever to make some changes inside their homes, and most find that’s possible on just about any budget!

Here are seven reconstruction and remodeling ideas that can help save you money on your next big projects.

1.    Limit recessed lighting.

There are gorgeous lighting options out there today. While recessed lighting is a popular choice for many people, the work of cutting holes, adding the lights, and insulating around them really adds to the cost of lighting in your remodeled area.

2.    Think efficiency.

Instead of blowing out a wall in your kitchen, have a contractor or designer take a good look at your current space, and come up with ideas to rearrange things in the area you currently have. Your money will go a lot further if you’re able to avoid knocking out walls or doing any major remodeling. Besides, when it comes to kitchens, there are a lot of space-saving and storage options available today that likely wasn’t around during your last remodeling go-round.

3.    Invest in sweat equity.

You might not be a remodeling or reconstruction expert, but there might be parts of the project you can handle on your own to help cut down the costs. For example, are you capable of painting or sanding a few walls? What about sweeping and cleaning up at the end of the day? Anything you can do to save on labor hours is good because, well, your hours are free.

4.    Look into look-alikes.

We meet a lot of customers who want the latest in countertops and flooring. However, we also find budgets often don’t match up to wants. So, let us help you look for affordable, high-quality alternatives that can often slash the price in half – but have the same and feel as the real deal.

5.    Make decisions early.

Changing your mind costs you money if it happens late in the game when things have already been ordered. Try to stand by the decisions you make. We suggest going with your gut and what you like and trying not to second guess your choices. We are here to help put you at ease as you make these decisions! We understand at the end of the project, it is your property … and you need to be happy with it!

6.    Think long-term.

You might be tempted to go with a lower cost flooring, countertop, or appliance now to work within your budget. However, will that option hold up in the long run, or will you just end up replacing it sooner than slightly more expensive alternatives? Consider longevity with value when making your choices.

7.    Have a cushion.

Lastly, we recommend giving yourself a 20 percent cushion in your budget, no matter how big or small your project. This will come in handy when there’s an unexpected expense or discovery during the project, and remove the stress of going way over budget.