What to Do If Your Home Floods While You're Away

One of the most destructive and devastating things you can ever experience as a homeowner is a flood. 

There are many causes of household flooding including:

• Heavy rains
• Storm
• Sewer back-up
• Malfunctioning sump-pump
• Burst pipes
• Leaked pipes

No matter what the cause, you must still know what you should do if your house floods, especially when you are away. The moment you get home, taking care of the problem earlier will help reduce the amount of water damage after and will make clean-up and repair easier.

1. Safety First

• You must know how to keep safe when you return to your home to begin dealing with the aftermath of the flood. This may include turning off the power, as water and electricity obviously do not go well together. 
• Be sure to wear protective gear such as rubber boots and gloves. When you enter your home, check that you are fully protected and not touch any things that can pose a potential danger to you. Not only will you be dealing with the water itself, but also whatever else the water has been in contact with such as debris or even sewage.
• Be sure to never eat food that has been exposed to floodwaters, or even near the water for an extended period. If the water was high enough to reach your refrigerator or any of your pantry cabinets, it is the safest practice to throw the food away for safety reasons. 
• Be sure to thoroughly wash any glasses, utensils, and flatware that might have been caught in the house flood before you use it again. You will never know the germs and bacteria present in those.

2. Stopping and Water Removal

One of the first things you should do when your house floods is to stop the source of water coming in if at all possible. However, if you were not around when the flood happens, this could be a problem. It would be best if you can prepare ahead of time instead.

• If your sump-pump is broken or stopped running, replacing it will help keep up with any continuing rains and may prevent further damage to your basement, garage, crawl space, or the main floor. 
• If your flooded home was caused by a burst pipe, have the plumbing fixed as soon as you get home to lessen the water damage. The sooner you stop the water, the sooner you can start cleaning up and repairing any damages.
• If you don’t know what to do, it’s best to ask help from water removal experts instead.

3. Drying Out Your Home

• Even if you are successful in removing all of the standing water from your home, everything will remain wet, especially if heavy rains have increased the humidity in your area. If you have electricity, use your air conditioning and portable fans to help dry the wet areas of your home.
• Dehumidifiers are also a big help, especially in closed-off spaces such as basements, garage, or crawl spaces. However, in the case of a house flood, dehumidifiers are only supplemental and you are likely to need different methods of structural drying. 

4. Clean Up and Repairs

Once the water is gone and you have settled with your insurance company, it’s time to begin post-flood care. Since this is too big of a task, you can call in professional water damage services. They would know what to do in situations like this.

Call ServiceMaster of the Upstate at (864) 310-7891 for a 24-hour emergency service in South Carolina. We are serving Greenville, Spartanburg, Laurens, Newberry, Saluda, and surrounding areas and counties.

Four Events that Need Professional Cleanup Services

Life is loaded with exciting bends in the road. Some major life events are expected, while others happen instantaneously and unexpectedly. Some of these life events could have a significant impact on your home, and that impact could mean you need professional home cleaning. 

While many people enlist the help of a professional restoration company after a flood, storm, or fire, the truth is that you could use professional help after plenty of other events as well. Here are some of them.

Moving 

You might have waited for this moment all your life. Searching endlessly until you found the right one. What an exciting feeling! But wait… are you aware of what that home has been through? 

While inspections and history reports can tell you about foundation work or a collapsed roof, they don’t really tell you about other things such as how many times the seller’s dog soiled the carpet in the den or all the times their child accidentally threw up in the living room. That home could have a ton of germs and bacteria that you are not aware of.

Moving is a great time to call for professional home cleaning, particularly before you start moving in. Have the professional carpet cleaner work on the carpet and disinfect it, the bathroom areas thoroughly scrubbed, and other high-traffic areas wiped down until you can be confident that your new home is thoroughly clean and bacteria-free. That way you’ll move into a home that looks its best, is safe, and what you can really be sure that’s free from those unwanted germs.

Construction, Renovations, or Remodeling

Some time has passed in your home, and you really want a new environment. So you thought of updating that old, outdated kitchen to make it more of a modern masterpiece. Weeks later and your contractors have finished installing your countertops and plumbing fixtures, and you’ve just about gotten the clear to start moving your appliances back in. But then you realize that your contractors have left behind a lot of dust and debris from that renovation. There’s crumbled drywall on your new floor, dust all over your countertops, and even sawdust in a room and all over the house. Just imagine the chaos.

While you might think a vacuum and mop can take care of this, you really should have professional cleaning experts come in and conduct a construction cleanup service. Construction often involves the use of chemicals and substances that are hard to remove, that you certainly don’t want in an area like your bathroom or shower, so it’s best to have the professionals scrub the area down for good and make sure all traces of these things are removed. 

Serious Illness

We are all aware how COVID-19 changed the world and it likely will never be the same. People everywhere have been infected, and many of the less-severe cases have been treated at home to avoid overcrowding hospitals. However, that might mean that most homes have to deal with the possibility that the virus might still linger on the surfaces of furniture or in flooring. Once everyone in your home has recovered from the disease and are symptom-free, it’s time to call home disinfecting experts in Greenville. This will help ensure the virus is removed for good and that your home will be safe and properly sanitized and disinfected.

Sewage Leaks or Spills

A sewage leak can happen for any number of reasons: a leaking pipe, an overflowing septic tank, or even a total sewer line failure resulting in sewage seeping up through your foundation from below. All of these issues have one thing in common: they can be extremely dangerous to anyone inside. Raw sewage contains millions of bacteria and diseases, and even a small amount of contact with the inside of your home could be dangerous. On top of that, most homeowners don’t have the tools to properly and adequately clean up after one of these spills happens.

These events are unavoidable. That’s why you have to know who to call when you experience these. 

Call ServiceMaster of the Upstate at (864) 310-7891 for a 24-hour emergency service in South Carolina. We are serving Greenville, Spartanburg, Laurens, Newberry, Saluda, and surrounding areas and counties.

Top Tips To Stop Hoarding

 

Quite a number of people fall into the trap of hoarding things. People who hoard are usually those who have obsessive-compulsive disorder who need to buy too much of something or people who have trouble getting rid of so many items that they think may have value in the future.

 

Hoarding can: 

 

• Hoarding things lead to a lot of clutter in your home that it no longer becomes functional. 
• Hoarding too many things may lead to health risks or even fire hazards.
• Hoarding can negatively impact the safety of you and your family. 

 

You can learn how to stop hoarding by trying to identify and overcoming your fears,  creating a plan to slowly clear out unnecessary items and getting help from IICRC  trained and certified professionals from ServiceMaster of the Upstate who can give you suggestions on how to clear out your home to make it functional again.

 

Hoarder Cleanup  Services in South Carolina 

 

 If you or someone you know suffers from hoarding disorder, then you should contact the professionals at ServiceMaster of the Upstate to assist in clearing out your home. 

 

• ServiceMaster of the Upstate is an established hoarder cleanup company in South Carolina. 
• You can get complete and comprehensive house clean-up with expert cleaners who can understand your situation as it can be so hard to part with the load of things that you have. 
• ServiceMaster of the Upstate is also known as an understanding hoarder cleanup service because of the sensitive and compassionate cleaning professionals who know how challenging it is for hoarders to part with their thing

 

Our hoarder cleanup service includes: 

 

• We will promise to identify all items of value with photographic Identification
• Always supply fully trained and checked staff
• Provide professional cleaning and waste removal service
• Undertake full decontamination of the property
• Manage the waste streams in agreement with the client or representative
• Technicians trained to the highest industry standards
• Return the property clean, decontaminated and waste-free
• Hoarder cleanup services include rodent eradication, decontamination of the area, and removal of the junk. 

 

If you are not a hoarder but need help decluttering your home, then you should follow these tips:

 

• Identifying and overcoming your fears are steps you should take to understand why you need to stop hoarding. Hoarders usually hold on to things based on sentimental, instrumental, and intrinsic beliefs. 
• You should also determine how to clear out your things from the easiest to the most difficult to part with. 
• Getting rid of surplus bathroom products, for example, is easier to do than parting with sentimental items.
•  When things get overwhelming and so much stuff has piled up in your home that you do not know what to do anymore, you can call up hoarder cleanup services. ServiceMaster of the Upstate is the perfect choice to call when you are ready to clean up your home, and yet you are too overwhelmed with too much stuff you have accumulated.

 

Need Help with Cleaning up All the Clutter?

 

The team of cleaning specialists is trained to be sensitive to the difficulties that a hoarder may be facing during the cleaning and clearing process. ServiceMaster of the Upstate can bring back your room to its original state; clean, sanitized, and waste-free.

If you need emergency hoarder cleanup services, ServiceMaster of the Upstate has 24/7 emergency services. You may call the emergency line at (864) 310-7891. 

 

ServiceMaster of the Upstate is at your service 7 days a week. For more information on the specific services you may avail, you can access the website at  https://www.servicemasterupstate.com/cleaning-sc/hoarder-cleanup-greenville-spartanburg-laurens-newberry-saluda/.

Top Health Risks of Mold Infestation in South Carolina

 

Flooding is a dreadful disaster to watch out for right after a thunderstorm or hurricane rampage. The floodwater is unfriendly and rots the wood furniture, including doors and cabinets, as water is absorbed by the wood and drywall that eventually causes engorgement of the wood. When water is absorbed in the wood, it ultimately causes mold damage to the very foundation of your home structure.

 

Most of the residential homeowners attempt to clean up the wood furniture and walls but the manual process will fail to thoroughly dry these wood fixtures due to lack of appropriate equipment. In short, since they are not equipped with the proper cleaning tools and solutions, they may worsen the result of the property damage.

 

Mold Remediation Experts in  South Carolina 

 

As a competent and experienced mold remediation and restoration company, we recognize the best approaches to property restoration and repair. We also provide the proper maintenance undertaking to prevent future disaster occurrences. We offer: 

 

• mold inspection in Spartanburg SC
• mold removal in Spartanburg SC
• mold remediation company in Spartanburg SC

 

Mold by its very nature is unhealthy and may cause a respiratory disorder. The growth of the molds is unstoppable as they are caused by floodwater and even by collapsed sewer pipelines, among others. Mold damage is highly expected when flood takes place.

 

The following are the top health risks of mold infestation. 

 

• When mold spores are inhaled, regardless of the mold type, it can exacerbate the airways, causing: 
  • nasal congestion 
  • nasal stuffiness
  • Wheezing
  • chest tightness
  • coughing
  • throat irritation
  • eye irritation
  • skin irritation
• Extended exposure to molds can diminish lung function and may cause prolonged health problems such as asthma. 
• People with mold allergies, on the other hand, may suffer more severe reactions.

 

To stop the mold infestation in your property you need complete mold removal, the services of professional remediation and restoration firm is highly recommended. The services of ServiceMaster of the Upstate is the right company for you. 

 

• We are equipped with the appropriate equipment to remove the molds and perform remediation and restoration jobs. 
• We have highly trained technicians to undertake the work quickly.
  • ServiceMaster of the Upstate facilitates to identify the cause of the problem and provides a recommendation to seek a permanent solution for the benefit of our valued customers. 
  • Our team offers professional incomparable service and years of quality experience to ensure that you will get the best possible results.
  • We offer an inspection report that provides you with a detailed analysis and reason for the issue as well as the detailed quote for mold remediation. 
  • Our team of highly trained and professional technicians comprehends the distress you are facing when disaster strikes. 
  • We work with efficiency and promptness around the clock to get your home or business back to its outstanding condition.

 

 

Contact Us For Mold Removal Now

 

Contact ServiceMaster of the Upstate today for professional mold removal services. You can trust our company, with years of experience and expertise in the mold remediation industry. We’re here to help prevent potential health risks and long-term damage to your home and give you peace of mind. Call  (864) 310-7891.