After a storm damages your home or business, you must start the cleanup and recovery process as soon as possible to avoid further damage. To ensure a thorough job, rely on United Water Restoration Group. Our technicians specialize in professional storm damage restoration and clean-up for residential and commercial properties. Let us help restore your home or business after a storm, hurricane or flood sweeps through your area.
Disaster Recovery
We pride ourselves on our speed when responding to disasters. Not only does a rapid response help mitigate damage, but it also helps save our customers money. We employ well-trained water damage specialists and applied structural drying technicians who work together to assess the damage and create an in-depth recovery strategy.
Even if you don't live in Florida, where we're headquartered, we have locations scattered all over the country. Plug in your zip code to find the United Water Restoration Group location nearest you. Our agents are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so don't wait to reach out to us.
Storm Restoration and Water Cleanup Tips
We try our best to get to our customers quickly, but you can mitigate storm damage while waiting for us to arrive or while waiting for us to finish a restoration project.
First, ask yourself a few questions:
- Is it safe for you to remain in your home or business?
- Do any water-logged materials, which can be quite heavy, pose a risk to your safety?
- Which tasks can you carry out safely while remaining in your property?
- Should you worry about slip-and-fall or electrical hazards?
Don't take any unnecessary risks; wait until we arrive to help. After floodwater infiltrates your property, blot and mop everything to get rid of excess water. After moving items from tables and on top of other furniture, we recommend you take care of excess water on wood furniture. Pull out and prop up wet cushions and upholstery, and turn your air conditioner on full blast to help the drying process.
To avoid sustained water damage, position wood blocks or aluminum foil between soaked carpet and furniture legs. If you have a colored rug over soaked carpet, remove the rug. Also, move all sodden art pieces to a place where they can dry out.
There are steps to take and steps to avoid. For instance, don't leave leather goods, furs and other fabrics susceptible to water out exposed to further water damage. Instead, hang them in a place where they can dry. Don't leave colored items, magazines, books, loose papers and the like out on wet floors; hang them with your leather goods and furs. You may feel it's a good idea to use your home vacuum to address standing water, but doing so could put you at risk of an electric shock. Only use a vacuum made specifically to clean up water to do a thorough job while protecting yourself.
While exploring your property for damage, pay close attention to your ceilings before stepping into rooms. Do not enter areas where the ceiling appears to sag, as the water weight can cause structural damage. We also advise against flipping on ceiling fans, appliances, light fixtures and anything else in your business or home that operates off electricity.
Storm Water Restoration
The key to our success with storm damage restoration and cleanup is we don't approach all projects the same. Instead, we follow a specific process catered to every undertaking.
When a potential customer first contacts us, we ask several questions to respond with efficiency and clarity. After arriving at your property, we access the water damage from every angle to create a full restoration strategy that addresses every issue and better guarantees success and your satisfaction.
The next step in our water restoration process is using vacuums and pumps to remove as much water as we can to prevent the growth of mildew and mold, which creates a new set of issues for you and your property if the growth progresses unchecked. Once we take care of as much water as we can, our technicians concentrate on moisture seeped into difficult-to-reach areas of your property. Special equipment and our refined techniques help with drying and dehumidifying.
Drying and dehumidifying takes time. Meanwhile, we clean your vulnerable belongings using antimicrobial treatments to restore items to their former condition. To address bothersome odors triggered by water, our agents set up fogging equipment and industrial air scrubbers.
The final step is restoring your space by making minor and major repairs, such as rebuilding areas of your property or replacing drywall.
Care for Personal Belongings
One of the most devastating aspects of storm damage is a loss of personal property. Homeowners may lose belongings with sentimental value they cannot replace, and business owners may experience a loss of all their hard work and energy devoted to making a dream come true. We cannot replace or repair everything lost to storm or water damage, but we go to every length to take excellent care of what remains and rebuild as much as we can.
Our professionals know several storm restoration techniques:
- Immersion cleaning, where we immerse items into a cleaning product bath
- Dry cleaning, a gentle technique reserved for pre-cleaning and light remnants
- Wet cleaning, where our pros address moderate and heavy remnants
- Abrasive cleaning, a method that uses agitation to scrub surfaces clean
- Spray and wipe, for delicate items that cannot undergo standard cleaning
- Foam cleaning, for upholstery vulnerable to bleeding or shrinking if cleaned with regular methods
We try our best to restore as many of your items so you avoid replacing them.
Sometimes, flood and storm damage is so great that we must clear out entire rooms to restore them. Our agents can pack up and move out items themselves so you don't have to hire another company to handle the task. We do this to speed up restoration and remodeling and safeguard your belongings from unnecessary damage. Once we're done revitalizing your space, we move everything back where you want it.
You may return to your residence or business to discover damaged or water-logged electronic belongings. Let us handle such items, as you don't want to risk an electric shock or further damage. Computers, DVD players and TV sets are a few electronic items we restored in the past by addressing damage and corrosion. We work with experienced electronics technicians to ensure we do a proper job.
What about damaged photographs and important papers? Rest assured, we restore those, too. We cannot guarantee full restoration of documents and images, but we do everything within our considerable capabilities to protect them. Techniques we use include vacuum thermal drying, air drying, dehumidification, vacuum freeze-drying and freezer drying.
One of our goals is handling as much of the restoration and cleanup ourselves so you don't have to call on other companies, but we realize we can't accomplish every rehabilitative task. For example, you may need to make an insurance claim to get back on your feet. If you must call your insurance provider and we remove items from your property, we keep a thorough inventory of everything we move for your peace of mind and a proper claim. Specifically, our technicians create accurate and detailed listings and provide a pre-loss list and the value of your items. If you bear the burden of proof for your claims, we assist with that, as well.
Mold Remediation and Mold Removal
One major concern with the presence of water is mold. Even if a property appears restored after significant storm damage or unaffected after a flood or storm, the lingering and undiscovered presence of moisture can create a mold problem. United Water Restoration Group offers mold remediation services to tackle irritants and allergens that may go unnoticed and unaddressed for longer than necessary, putting you and your family or employees at risk.
After a flood or storm, your commercial or residential property may not appear damaged. Everything may look fine, but you could have a mold or mildew issue brewing inside the walls, basement or other areas of your property you cannot see. If you catch a whiff of a musty odor, it could indicate mold. You must be especially vigilant about mildew and mold if you live in an area with a lot of humidity, or if you have high levels of indoor humidity. Let us perform an in-depth inspection of your business or home to determine if you may have a potential issue.
Contact Us Today
If a flood or powerful storm damages your property, United Water Restoration Group has you covered. Submit a Contact Us form or call 800-430-5838 if you have questions or need immediate professional assistance.