Posts Tagged ‘SuperRestoration.com’

Home Sick: Toxic Mold From Water Damage

Friday, July 23rd, 2010
Mold is a type of fungus that can only grow in moist conditions, and it is sure to form if the moisture content in a house is not controlled. The most common household molds are Cladosporium, Penicillium, Alternaria, and Aspergillus. Most of these molds are either black or white in appearance. Mold is destructive to the home because it destroys the materials that it grows on, due to the physiology of the fungus. Unlike plants, fungi can not make their own food, so they produce enzymes that break down whatever food source they happen to be attached to. Wood, drywall, carpet, and other materials make an excellent source of food for mold. This is why mold from flood damage and water damage is the worst enemy.

In addition, certain molds in the living environment can make a person very ill because they release allergens called mytotoxins. These function by killing healthy cells in the infected organism. People with asthma must especially be on guard as these can trigger severe attacks. A normally healthy person can become very ill from exposure to mold toxins as well. Prolonged exposure induces severe headaches, swelling, irritated skin, and respiratory illness. It would be especially disastrous to have mold growing where a young child or elderly person spends a lot of time, because the effects are harder on their bodies. The mold of most concern is called Stachybotrys chartarum, a dreaded green-black colored mold. This species has been blamed for causing acute idiopathic pulmonary hemorrhage in infants, a condition in which the blood vessels in the fast growing lungs rupture.

Most insurance companies do not cover mold damage, but do cover water damage from leaks. these reasons make it very important to make sure that all leaks in the home are repaired promptly, and that any existing mold is killed and cleaned as soon as possible.

Call us today for a free consultation 800-516-8059 or by email at: info@superrestoration.com

In your service,

Rene Vargas
Super Restoration
1 800 516 8059

The Dangers of Water, Mold and Fire Damage

Monday, April 12th, 2010

 Even the most cautious and prepared homeowners may find themselves in a position of having standing water in their home. There’s only so much you can to protect your home from hurricanes and regional flooding. Pipes can burst unexpectedly, even when you are away on vacation. And when a house has standing water, mold is the next course of evolution. Unless the water is thoroughly and properly dried, mold can be left with a prime surface for growing. Often unseen and undetected, the spores released can migrate through carpets and soft sheetrock walls, causing serious physical ailments. Even with smoke alarms and other preventions in place, your home can still fall victim to fire. Defective appliances can find their way into any home and kitchen accidents can happen even with the most careful chefs at work. Whether the tragedy affecting your home is water, mold or fire damage, Super Restoration can help you rescue your home.

Water will take the easiest path of travel. This is a well-known fact. What people don’t always realize is that the easiest path of travel may well be straight up a sheetrock wall. When standing water is present in a home, it can easily wick up the sheetrock, creating further damage. It will spread quickly through carpets and into any lower levels. It may seem like a simple matter to dry the floor, but getting the underlying padding and subfloor dry can pose a greater challenge. Yet drying these hidden areas fully and quickly is vital to preventing the growth of mold. Super Restoration will respond to your call quickly, with the right equipment to clear the water and moisture from your home.

Southern Florida has warm temperatures and high humidity, which encourages the growth of mold to begin with. Once mold establishes itself in a home it does not take long to spread and cause extensive damage. With Super Restoration you can rest assured that the mold will not be given the chance to take hold. Any existing mold will be thoroughly and safely removed and the areas cleaned.

In addition to checking all affected areas for mold, the subfloor, structural materials and crawl spaces must be inspected for damage. Rot that occurs due to water damage can continue to spread even after the standing water is removed. And anyplace that remains even slightly damp afterwards can easily become a breeding ground for potentially toxic mold. Trust Super Restoration to check your home so that you won’t have to worry about hidden damage.

Fire can completely destroy a home. But even a small kitchen fire that you were able to extinguish with your home extinguisher can leave behind serious challenges. Smoke and soot can leave an unhealthy film on appliances and furnishings that can create breathing problems. Sheetrock walls can absorb the smoke, causing further damage and a smell that persists long after the fire was put out. The smoke can also react with metal building materials in the house, creating unsafe conditions. Super Restoration specializes in clearing soot and smoke from your home, leaving you with a fresh, safe, clean environment.

Water, mold and fire have the potential to make your home uninhabitable. When tragedy strikes your home, call Super Restoration so that you can rest easy knowing that your house will be clean, safe and secure for many more years to come.

In your service,

Rene Vargas
Super Restoration
1 800 516 8059

Super Restoration is the Leader in Storm Damage Repair

Friday, April 9th, 2010

Storm damage can be unexpected and can seriously devastate a home. Water damage may not sound very threatening, but it can cause structural issues, ruin drywall and flooring, and if not removed properly, lead to rot and health threatening mold and mildew. If your home has been damaged by a storm, or has suffered damage from another unexpected natural disaster such as flooding or a fire, calling the right professional restoration team makes all the difference. In the Miami Dade area, Super Restoration is the expert to contact.

Super Restoration has the experience, knowledge, and tools to fully restore any home after a storm has caused damage. Many homeowners assume that their local contractor, who may have repaired their home in the past, can extract the water and repair any damage. But most contractors lack the experience and knowledge to fully extract water, and may not know where to check for hidden or unexpected damage. They simply aren’t prepared to handle the many challenges of storm damage like Super Restoration is.

Water from a storm can be full of toxins, bacteria, and even sewage from line breaks can become trapped behind walls or under flooring. By delaying the proper clean up treatments, even by a day or two, the damage can multiply. Structural damage may be present that is hard to identify, and mold and mildew only need hours to develop in a warm environment. Flooring, drywall, and treasured items are often the first to succumb to water, but if you call Super Restorations as quickly as possible, our trained technicians can work to save your possessions and restore your home.

When we arrive at a home that has been damaged by a storm, we immediately go to work stabilizing the environment and working to board up or cover any openings that will let in more containment or water. Once the building is secure, Super Restoration technicians bring in the state of the art dehumidify and sterilization equipment that makes our methods so effective.
Once the water has been removed, we check the structure thoroughly for additional damage, or hidden pockets of water. We also check for any mold, mildew, or bacteria growths that may have occurred. If we find them, our containment and treatment methods immediately stop the spread of spores or contaminants and remove the problem. We work to quickly and completely clean and repair your home, so you can return to it in a matter of days or weeks, instead of months.

In your service,

Rene Vargas
Super Restoration
1 800 516 8059

Mold Inspection

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

Super Restoration not only specializes in mold remediation, but also provides quality mold inspection services. This can be an important part of buying a home or a business, as the effects of mold not only affects the quality of the property, but can also affect the way people breathe and feel.

Mold inspection is especially important for properties that have experienced flooding, a leaky roof, or any other type of water damage. Mold may be visually apparent in some areas, but other areas with mold damage may not be as obvious. During their mold inspection process, Super Restoration will not only be able to trace the source of the mold, but can also test the mold to find out if it is allergenic, cosmetic, pathogenic or even toxic.

While some mold may not be visible, it is still likely that you will be able to smell it. This is where the experts at Super Restoration really earn their money, as they will be able to find the location of the mold and get rid of that disturbing odor without the need for the source of the problem to be visible.

The advancements in construction have resulted in increased energy efficiency, but the way structures are being built now can be a problem when it comes to mold. Because mold thrives in dark, moist, and warm crevices, the “green” construction that is part of building these days can lead to mold developing. Super Restoration has the experience and knowledge to assess areas that could present problems with mold, as well as the ability to inspect the air for mold spores, which are inherently present anywhere mold exists. Their inspectors leave no corner unturned. They will check behind washing machines, in dark corners of closets, under cabinets, in crawl spaces, attics, duct work, and anywhere else they need to be sure your property is safe from mold.

In the event that they do find a mold problem, Super Restoration will be able to solve it as they are also experts in mold remediation. They can take care of the source of the mold by using the necessary biocides to kill it, and then clean the area with professional equipment and strong solvents to be sure any mold spores will also be dead.

When mold inspection is necessary, it only makes sense to hire a company that also specializes in mold remediation. That’s what makes Super Restoration a logical choice for Florida home and business owners.

In your service,

Rene Vargas
Super Restoration
1 800 516 8059

Prevent Unseen Damage with Infrared Thermal Imaging

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

When you have internal damage in your home or building, it can progressively worsen until you have little choice but to temporarily vacate until such time as you have completely renovated, sometimes having to go so far as to tear out structures and demolish. Your property has already gone through enough damage from the elements, so why should you have to use inaccurate restoration methods?

Most conventional restorations either fail to completely address molds and internal water damage. HVAC and ventilation problems and blockages can escape the eyes of even the most diligent workers and energy losses from cracks, settling areas and gaps in construction are virtually impossible to detect. In all of these cases, infrared thermal imaging can prevent the inevitable damage that prolonged moisture intrusion will deal the structure and occupants of a home or building. There is no better technique than that used in Super Restoration’s thermal inspections, which are tailored to account for temperature differences from radiation, thermal bridging, infiltration/exfiltration and other sources. Ensuring that you have an accurate map of the water damage in your structure is the only way to prevent further disaster and maximize the amount you are able to recoup.

With a custom infrared thermal imaging scan, you’ll know what it’s like to have the advantage of prescience when it comes to your assets. The damage your structure has to undergo for repairs to take place will be effectively minimized by the advanced non-intrusive infrared thermal imaging technique, and you’ll not only be able to determine how far the water damage has spread but also exactly which materials and structural components have been affected by it.

Thermal imaging works extremely well because temperature differences caused by the evaporation of water cause slight chromatic differences detectable to the infrared scanner. By reviewing the immediately available image produced with the aid of a Super Restoration expert, you’ll have advance notice of electrical wiring problems, material defects and innumerable other problems.

When you suspect that moisture intrusion has caused invisible water damage, you shouldn’t hesitate to call on Super Restoration. Molds and other substances can cause serious respiratory health issues, and water damage only worsens as time and weight take their toll. Insurance assessments can short-change businesses on the amount of compensation they receive, even in cases where disasters were unpreventable. Make sure you get the assistance you’ll need to get back on your feet with an accurate infrared thermal imaging assessment from Super Restoration and you won’t regret it. In your service,

Rene Vargas
SuperRestoration
1 800 516 8059

Document Restoration by Super Restoration

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

Super Restoration is a company that provides many services that can help residences and businesses in the event of water or fire damage. One of the services that most people will want to highly consider in the occurrence of one of these unfortunate events is document restoration.

Documents that Super Restoration are experts in restoring include books, micrographic and magnetic media, and personal and business documents. They achieve exceptional results in document restoration by the use of the latest technology, equipment, and methods available. Super Restoration has an On-Site Disaster Recovery team at the ready, as well as their own advanced facilities, whenever fire or water damage plagues your home or business.

Super Restoration offers the most advanced techniques in document restoration following water damage, which includes freeze-drying, desiccant drying under refrigeration, and traditional desiccant drying. Their consultants will work with you to come up with the most cost effective approach for your situation. Their goal is to recover the original document as well as all the information contained on it and return it to a stable condition, as well as make the document safe for handling whenever possible.

The document restoration services supplied by Super Restoration are especially important for businesses, as much of the company’s hard copy information is required by law to be retained for a specific period of time. In the case of signed documents or other cases where duplicates or copies are not adequate, document restoration may be the only solution. Statistics show that businesses that lose 60 percent or more of their information go out of business within six months.

In the event that documents have been damaged by water, any untreated documents could end up sticking together, and information on the documents can be destroyed by the presence of mold. The presence of mold could also lead to health risks due to the release of mold spores. In the event that black or gray water is involved, this could also lead to viral or bacterial infection.

Documents that have been affected by fire that are left untreated may become brittle from the effects of acidic residues in the smoke. These untreated documents will then continue to contaminate the area they are kept in with odor and smoke, which will also affect the person handling the documents.

To avoid these problems and get the documents you need restored to the best possible condition, contacting Super Restoration may be the most sensible solution.

In your service,

Rene Vargas
SuperRestoration
1 800 516 8059

Air Purifying in Offices

Friday, December 18th, 2009

Ozone, a gas composed of three oxygen atoms bonded together, has been protecting us from harmful ultraviolet light generated by the sun for the last 600 million years. Indeed, the human-generated holes in the stratospheric ozone layer are a leading concern for the EPA, which has banned substances and adopted the Montreal Protocol to protect what is left of the ozone layer. The goal of this treaty is to, in time, restore the protective layer of ozone in the atmosphere; the holes are even now showing signs of closure, though it will take years to complete the restoration.

Not all Ozone is good, though. Ground level ozone, when combined with volatile organic compounds, such as those found in gasoline and paints, and nitrogen oxides released through the burning of fossil fuels creates smog, a pollutant known to cause serious health problems. As smog levels rise in cities across the world, hospitals are seeing increased complaints of lung irritation, wheezing, coughing, and painful breathing, all symptoms directly related to the inhalation of ozone and smog. The Great Smog of 1952 killed, directly or indirectly, over 11,000 Londoners. This lead to Parliament’s passage of Clean Air Act is to reduce pollution, making London’s famous “pea soupers” a thing of the past.

While great strides have been made to protect the public from ground level ozone and smog, more needs to be done. Indoor exposure to ozone gas can, according to the EPA, reach 100 times outdoor levels. New studies show, too, that chemical compounds on a person’s skin can react with ozone in the atmosphere around it, releasing chemical byproducts that may be harmful to humans. In an office environment this is an especially pressing concern, as a major source of ozone is office equipment running on electrical or chemical processes, such as copiers and laser printers.

There are, though, ways to reduce office ozone levels; some business machines can be equipped with ozone filters to reduce the levels of gas emitted, and services exist to purify the air in businesses currently experiencing problems. Investing in one of these options is a great way to ensure a healthy, productive workforce for the future.

Rene Vargas
www.SuperRestoration.com
1 800 516 8059
rene@superrestoration.com

FIRE DAMAGE – THE IMPORTANCE OF SMOKE AND SOOT REMOVAL

Friday, November 27th, 2009

The devastating affects of a fire can linger on as residual smoke and soot continue to damage a home or business. Even if the physical damage is minor, smoke and soot damage can render the property uninhabitable. Smoke and soot not only cause odor, but they can fill the air with small particles making it difficult and dangerous to breathe. They will also travel and penetrate other rooms affecting paint, drywall, carpet, upholstery, clothing and any other personal belongings. They may even react with metal components of the house such as wiring or steel supports causing damage requiring extensive repair for many years after the fire.

It is critical to have professionally trained technicians at the location of the fire as soon as possible for several reasons. Initially, the technicians will assess the damage. Understanding the type of smoke and how it travels is an important step in the restoration process. Knowing the type of fire also helps determine the best process to restore your home or business. Determining the extent of the damage as well as the best methods for restoration is a careful process. Improper clean up can cause permanent staining and greater damage to the property. Carefully trained technicians will also consider all options for physical repair of the property when choosing the most ideal restoration method.

Two Types of Fire:

Simple – fueled by pure fuels, generally result in complete combustion.
Complex – most common in house fires, fueled by synthetic materials in carpets, furniture, wiring, etc. generally resulting in incomplete combustion and the cause of soot.

How Smoke Travels:

Smoke will move to cooler areas and rises to the upper levels of a structure.
Smoke will flow through plumbing systems, using holes around the pipes to move from one floor to another.

Types of Smoke and Soot:

Dry – burns quickly and at high temperatures.
Wet – smolders and burns at low temperatures, pungent odor, sticky.
Protein – practically invisible, will discolor paint and varnish, has a very pungent odor.
Fuel Oil Soot – caused by furnace puff backs.
Other – tear gas, fingerprint powder, and fire extinguisher residue.

Super Restoration has served the South Florida area for 25 years using specialized techniques and equipment for smoke and soot mitigation. We pride ourselves in our unique ability to act quickly and thoroughly to restore your home or business to a clean and safe environment. Super Restoration is licensed and bonded and equipped to make necessary repairs, using the best methods available for emergency smoke and soot removal. We provide the best service available in the South Florida area and are available to help you with your emergency restoration needs. Call us today!

Rene Vargas
www.SuperRestoration.com
1 800 516 8059
rene@superrestoration.com

The Importance of Quickly Correcting Water Damage in Your Home or Apartment

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

We have all been there. A leak above the ceiling drips down behind the wall. A toilet overflows due to a plumbing problem. A leaky roof allows water into the home. There are so many problems that can be caused by water damage. Many people will allow these problems to go unchecked.

Fixing water damage is about much more than just drying. Water damage can destroy electronics. It can weaken or damage structural components on a building. It can cause deadly black mold, which is known for making people sick. Black mold is also particularly devastating to small children and the elderly. Water is great when you are taking a shower or staying hydrated, but when it is on the loose in your home, it is a veritable crisis.

Floods and torrential storms can cause serious problems. They are the undeniable kings of water damage disasters. You may feel like there is no hope, but that is not true. There are many procedures that a professional could employ in order to restore many of your possessions to good and safe use. Even wet electronics can be saved. If mold is building, there are procedures to stop and remove the contamination. This can save the lives of family members.

A leak from a shower can critically damage the structure nearby. A structural failing in a home can be seriously devastating. If you own your own home, you don’t want a minor leak to do significant damage to the resale value of your building. This is why you want to take care of a problem like this immediately. As the water sits, damage to the materials advances. Mold will form. Even minor leaks like this require expert help that specializes in the removal of water from the damaged area. Microbial remediation is a process that takes care to remove any contaminant which is taking advantage of this moist atmosphere to set up an attack position in your home.

If your electronics have been damaged by water, it is critical to get water extraction help as soon as you can from a company like Super Restoration. Do not turn the device on until this type of expertise has been applied. Electronics which are not receiving electrical power can often be dried and saved. This can save serious money that would otherwise have gone to replacing these valuable items.

Mitigating the damage caused by water leaks, spills, and floods is a vital part of ensuring a safe place to live. Homeowners need to protect the value of their investment by making certain that water damage does not spread to a variety of points in their home. The structure of the home must be protected. Those who live in apartments need to protect each other from the dangerous effects of mold and mildew. Growth of such things can cause serious health problems. However you look at it, water damage is a serious issue that must be professionally handled by a company like Super Restoration. There is no time to waste. If there might be water damage in the home, experts must be employed to remove the moisture and its effects quickly.

Thank you, stay safe!

Rene Vargas
www.SuperRestoration.com
1 800 516 8059
rene@superrestoration.com