Let the Experts Help You Recover Your Knoxville Home Or Business
9/15/2019 (Permalink)
Why South Knoxville Communities use SERVPRO for Property Restoration Services
The process of decontaminating and deodorizing a property is not a straightforward one. In our years of owning and operating a restoration company, we have seen countless examples of pre-existing restoration attempts that have covered damages with paintwork, carpeting or flooring, only for issues to keep recurring at the cost of the Knoxville homeowner. In this industry, there are no short cuts. The job is either complete or incomplete- there is no in-between. Getting the property back to how is was before water, fire, mold, or storm damage requires dedication, expertise, and equipment. Our experience spans restoring individual rooms for private residents to entire tenement buildings for commercial clients, which has earned us the reputation of being "faster to any size disaster."
Mold
Microbial growth is frequently the result of an incomplete restoration or a pre-existing property issue. The situation that develops results in the signs, and musty smells that are consistent with mold damage in your Knoxville residence. The causes can be quite varied, making them tough to anticipate. A slow leak in your internal plumbing or an incomplete flood restoration that results in residual moisture inside wall cavities. With the ideal food supply, moisture and relative humidity, microbes like fungi can proliferate, causing mold damage.
Our restoration services incorporate mold assessment and remediation. SERVPRO technicians complete the process from start to finish using the five principles of remediation set out by the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC). The first principle is to ensure safety by Providing Personal Protective (PPE) equipment to technicians that prevent inhaling spores or microbes during the cleaning procedure. Recording conditions throughout remediation which can then be passed on to an independent indoor environmental specialist (IES) is principal two.
Once the first two criteria are fulfilled, SERVPRO can begin the remediation process of your Knoxville property. Removing contamination may include demolition of drywall or other porous materials that have become severely infested with mold. During this procedure, mold spores can become airborne and spread. To combat this SERVPRO apply negative air pressure during demolition or cleaning to control cross-contamination. The final principle of remediating your Knoxville home is to stop the source of moisture. Without repairing the source, mold can keep recurring again and again, resulting in endless frustration for the homeowner.
Water
Our company is built on a foundation of comprehensive restoration for water damage here in Knoxville. Unwanted moisture that enters dry areas of the home can be especially damaging to your contents. Even small quantities of water can do significant harm to sofas and upholstery. These harms can include joint swelling of wooden interior frames, which in turn causes cracking. Industrial glues can also be worn away by the presence of moisture resulting in rapid deterioration and permanent damages.
Restoration services for the contents of your Knoxville home present several unique challenges for a SERVPRO technician. Dry clean fabrics may suffer from spotting, which requires the entire piece to be wetted to avoid water lines. Color bleeding is also an issue that can spread from a sofa onto carpets, flooring, or walls. These stains require immediate attention as clearing the stains is near impossible once materials are dry- foam cleaning can be an effective solution to bleeding fabrics.
Homeowners in Knoxville want their contents restored to a preloss condition, so drying upholstery is as important, if not more important than cleaning cosmetic stains. Moisture residing inside furniture or upholstery can quickly become a microbial infestation. Since most furniture has porous materials, mold growth can result in having to dispose of the infested item. SERVPRO place dehumidification equipment around furniture and take regular readings of internal moisture content to ensure furniture is restored both inside and out.
Storm
An adverse weather event can cause many problems to your property in Knoxville. Even with appropriate safety guards in place, there are too many factors at play to control the outcome truly. SERVPRO is here to provide restoration services for storm damage in Knoxville that cover a range of unpleasant issues including contaminated water problems, electrical hazards, and structural deficiencies in your home. Our rapid response units are available on-call for out of hours emergencies and can respond quickly by being local to the area.
One of the main concerns in a storm situation is flooding. Floodwaters carry highly infectious waste into your property, requiring restoration services for BioHazardous materials. Waters may contain cholera, tetanus, typhoid, polio, hepatitis and many more water-borne pathogens that can be absorbed into your drywall, insulation, carpeting, and subfloor. As such, biohazard technicians must only enter the affected area with correct personal protective equipment (PPE) to ensure safety. You must also be prepared for disposal and replacement of structural contents in the affected areas of your Knoxville home.
The human health threat of floodwaters means that the affected area must be thoroughly disinfected using environmental protection agency (EPA) registered cleaning agents. Solid wastes must be shoveled out before standing water can be drained using submersible gas-powered pumping equipment. Demolition of drywall, insulation, and other porous materials is necessary to containing infectious waste. Valuable fabrics may be rescued by mechanical cleaning methods such as our Esporta washing machines, but the affected area must be restored to a disinfected state before it can be returned to a preloss condition.
Fire
Knowing your enemy is an essential part of providing comprehensive restoration services. Residents with fire damage in Knoxville can rely on us to understand the patterns of smoke deposits around the home and the appropriate methodology needed to remove them. This knowledge is valuable because it increases the efficiency of our service as well as ensuring the property is comprehensively cleaned. The two guiding principles of fire damage restoration technicians (FRT) are the temperature of the smoke and the temperature of the surfaces that come into contact with smoke.
Materials that burn at high temperatures increase the surrounding air pressure. From a restorers perspective, that increase in pressure can push smokes further into materials or wear away finish. Cooler surfaces take the brunt of hot smoke damages, so walls or ceilings likely need repainting. Structural posts, pillars or banisters with substantial smoke damage can be sanded down- to remove surface charring- and refinished. Only in the most extreme fires is there a need to replace large quantities of structure through remodeling.
Since hot smoke is attracted to cooler surfaces, you may often find that the more substantial damages are inside cabinets or draws- where the interior surfaces are cooler than the room. These areas are often the culprit when it comes to unpleasant, tough to remove odors. Your Knoxville home can be cleaned inside and out to ensure that odors are removed at the source. Residual odors, which may last long after the event, can be controlled through deodorization pellets or ULV fogging.
Comprehensive restoration services are labour intensive and require a particular skill set. Contact SERVPRO of Rocky Hill / Sequoyah Hills / South Knoxville at (865) 862-8907 to arrange expert service.
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