Check off flooding and mold from your proactive property disaster preparedness plan.
September is National Preparedness Month, a time when the U.S. government encourages homeowners, renters, and business owners to prepare ahead to help protect themselves from disasters. Extensive water damage caused by major floods and hurricanes is likely to increase mold contamination in both commercial and residential properties. This damage can render your property dysfunctional or cost you a fortune to replace the damaged areas. With that, there is a need to find possible ways to act quickly to reduce the amount of damage incurred by flooding to your property, in addition to protecting your loved ones and/or employees from any potentially harmful, mold-related health effects. This is where preparing ahead pays off. Benefits of planning can be seen by a homeowner, an apartment tenant, or a business owner. Creating a property maintenance plan and emergency response plan is vital. As the homeowner, apartment lease or business owner, here is everything to include in these types of plans:
Mold Policy and Inspection Procedure
You need to perform routine mold inspections to keep your property safe after a major flood. During the inspection, make sure to report mold contamination and water intrusion. Reporting potential mold damage, high humidity, water intrusion or condensation problems is a crucial step in early intervention, prevention, and control of flood problems. With that being said, your mold inspection procedure should include:
- General inspection and assessment of the damage
- Water leaks or floods around your property
- Surface cleaning for all materials with the potential for mildew or mold growth
- Mold remediation best practices
- Good housekeeping and property maintenance practices
- A professional restoration company in your vetted list of business contacts for a second opinion, and to remediate anything you are uncomfortable with handling yourself
An Emergency Plan
A comprehensive property maintenance plan should prepare you for a water emergency at the right time. This proactive emergency response plan is likely to help you prevent extensive damage to your property after a hurricane or flood. Therefore, ensure that your emergency plan has this vital piece of information:
- A detailed inventory covering your high-value possessions
- Contact information of your utility companies and insurance carrier
- Documented locations/areas of electrical and water shut-off valves
- *Note: If you are a business owner, it’s a good idea to have your pre-selected restoration company create your emergency response plan. This could include:
- Mapping out your commercial property, and already have all the information for shut offs in our files. This will enable us to respond faster to the situation and help to minimize damage.
- We can note where we can stage our descants and dumpsters.
- In addition, STOP Restoration can provide the services of inventory for your possessions and photography of any damage or destroyed items. We communicate with all insurance companies throughout the entire process, streamlining these tasks for you.
Safety Measures
Your safety and that of your property should be your primary concern during and after a flood.
So, when performing the inspection and assessment of your damaged property, you need to pay attention to water and electricity since these two elements are dangerous when combined. Be sure power around your property is shut off from the main switch before you even start your inspection procedure.
Also, wear protective gear to keep yourself safe from mold contamination. Most importantly, do not go through floodwater as you may not know what you will find under the surface.
Document Possible Damages
If your property experiences flood damage, once you, your loved ones and/or your employees are safe, you should contact your insurance company and professional restoration company immediately. The insurance company will may want to dispatch an adjuster to your property to carry out documentation procedures and assessments of damage due to water, storm, or flood emergency.
In this sense, you should assist the adjuster with vital information regarding your damaged property. Your professional restoration company can document everything, including damaged flooring, wet drywall, soaked furniture, and damaged possessions. Below are some of the ways you may help your insurance company document damages for further verification:
- Don’t remove anything before it has been documented properly by either an insurance representative or your restoration company pictures before removing damaged things from your property
- Find out if your property is located within a disaster region so you may have quick access to resources that can help you restore your damaged property
Take Necessary Action
STOP Restoration has decades of experience handling flooding, water damage and remediating mold. Let us help you create your property maintenance plan and an emergency response plan. A property maintenance plan can help you know what to do just in case of a water emergency or mold damage. This knowledge will save you time and minimize recovery costs that you may incur during the property restoration process. On that note, mitigate mold development, get rid of damaged items, turn off electricity and water sources, and secure your property. At STOP Restoration, we can take up the task of restoring your property through our easy and thoroughly researched property maintenance plan. Contact us today to learn more about property restoration after flooding and mold contamination. Click HERE to learn more today.
*Also, learn more about the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s National Preparedness Month campaign by clicking HERE.
