Most of the time when electronic items become water damaged, they’re on and running and this is what causes the majority of the damage. The electricity and water flowing through the object at the same time is what fries the electronic components inside, not just the water itself.
What almost became a horror story for me was when I left my $40 CD player in the floorboard of the car along with a bag of ice that my brother was supposed to have retrieved after I got home. He didn’t and when I got in the car the next morning, it was completely submersed in water. The worst mistake I could have made at that point was to try and turn it on. Whatever you do, if you have a piece of water damaged equipment like this and it isn’t dry yet, do NOT try to turn it on! I let my CD player dry for about two weeks (after taking the batteries out) before I even considered trying to power it up. An article in the Washington Post claims that a Blackberry that had fallen into the toilet survived because it was put in a bowl of uncooked rice for a few days because rice absorbed all the moisture. If you’re going to go this route, make sure the rice is of a larger grain so it doesn’t work its way inside the device.
If you’re faced with a problem where a liquid spills into a device that is powered on and connected to the current in your wall or the current in your car, disconnect the device from its power source immediately. If it has batteries, too, remove them to make sure it has no power source at all, in case you accidentally press the “on” button. You don’t want to get shocked by touching it while it’s still plugged in, if it plugs into the wall in your house.
Other devices larger than cell phones and CD players get water damaged and those are computers, televisions, stereo equipment, video cameras, and etcetera. These items are best cared for by a professional and in fact, if you have any doubts as to your own ability to work on your smaller water damaged items, it’s really best to do this, anyway. If you’re going to call a professional, though, you should do it quickly: the liquid gradually corrodes some of the internal metal components.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Connecticut water damage contractors and other states and cities such as
Chicago mold remediation companies across the united states.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Filing Your Flood Damage Insurance Claim
A flood can be a homeowner’s worst nightmare, especially if it engulfs almost the entire house like many of the homes that were made uninhabitable by Hurricane Katrina a few years ago. In case you ever have to face this catastrophe, here are a few tips on how to deal with it and file the insurance claim. Depending on the amount of water damage to your home, it may be salvageable and it may not, but the first step is getting your claim filed.
The first thing you should do after the water has been cleared from your home, call your insurance agent or company as soon as you can. If you can, have your name, policy number, and a phone number or e-mail address that you can be reached at handy when you call. This will speed up the process more than you think.
When you’re filing your claim, request a time frame for when your adjuster will be sent to your home. Try to be patient, especially if you live in an area that has withstood extensive damage due to a river flowing over its banks or a dam that has burst. The water damage to your home depends upon just how high the water rose in and around it.
Once the adjuster has become available and is able to reach you and your home, he or she will help you determine just how much they are willing and able to compensate you for the loss of your property and help determine just how extensive the water damage is.
If your contact information changes in any way, let your insurance adjuster know as soon as possible. If you’re in a shelter of some kind or staying with a relative or friend, give your adjuster the name of someone who has the ability to reach you. If you can’t get home, it’s best to make a list of as many items as you can think of that may need to be replaced or repaired in your home. Computers, television sets, clothing, expensive electronic equipment, books, and etcetera should be listed here. List anything of value that could have been water damaged or lost.
If you can return home, you should separate the damaged items from the undamaged items and take pictures of your property to give the adjuster a good idea of the kind of loss you have endured.
Even if this event has never happened to you or if you’re not expecting any water damage like this to your home any time soon (and who really is), one of the best things that you can do for your home is to take a video every year of your home and its contents. Put this video in a waterproof (and fireproof) safe in case the unthinkable ever happens.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
New York water damage restoration contractors and other states and cities such as
Connecticut mold remediation and water damage restoration companies across the united states.
The first thing you should do after the water has been cleared from your home, call your insurance agent or company as soon as you can. If you can, have your name, policy number, and a phone number or e-mail address that you can be reached at handy when you call. This will speed up the process more than you think.
When you’re filing your claim, request a time frame for when your adjuster will be sent to your home. Try to be patient, especially if you live in an area that has withstood extensive damage due to a river flowing over its banks or a dam that has burst. The water damage to your home depends upon just how high the water rose in and around it.
Once the adjuster has become available and is able to reach you and your home, he or she will help you determine just how much they are willing and able to compensate you for the loss of your property and help determine just how extensive the water damage is.
If your contact information changes in any way, let your insurance adjuster know as soon as possible. If you’re in a shelter of some kind or staying with a relative or friend, give your adjuster the name of someone who has the ability to reach you. If you can’t get home, it’s best to make a list of as many items as you can think of that may need to be replaced or repaired in your home. Computers, television sets, clothing, expensive electronic equipment, books, and etcetera should be listed here. List anything of value that could have been water damaged or lost.
If you can return home, you should separate the damaged items from the undamaged items and take pictures of your property to give the adjuster a good idea of the kind of loss you have endured.
Even if this event has never happened to you or if you’re not expecting any water damage like this to your home any time soon (and who really is), one of the best things that you can do for your home is to take a video every year of your home and its contents. Put this video in a waterproof (and fireproof) safe in case the unthinkable ever happens.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
New York water damage restoration contractors and other states and cities such as
Connecticut mold remediation and water damage restoration companies across the united states.
End Mold’s Romance With Your Bathroom
When home buyers finally decide to purchase a new home, one of the first things they consider remodeling tends to be the bathroom. Bathroom remodeling isn’t always the easiest thing to do, especially if you are so unlucky as to find a colony of mold living in what is supposed to be one of the most comforting and relaxing areas of your home. Most people, however, wouldn’t know what to do if they found a mold colony in any part of their home, much less their beloved bathroom, even though this is one of the more likely places to find it.
The reason that the bathroom is one of the most common places to find infestations of mold is because there is a constant pattern of heat and humidity in this space. While some kinds of mold pose no threat to human beings, other kinds of mold can be hazardous to our health and can even render our homes uninhabitable. Black mold is found in many bathrooms and basements and it is very toxic. It has been known to cause rashes, fevers, flu-like symptoms and other health complications. If you discover what you think is black mold (and it truly does appear to be black), it’s best to call in a professional to get rid of it.
While it’s expensive to have the mold in your home removed, you will definitely want to put this on your to-do list. It can and will move to other parts of your home if it’s left unchecked. After the mold is removed successfully and you continue with your bathroom remodeling project, you’ll want to take steps to prevent the re-growth of mold in the future.
Install a bathroom fan while you’re remodeling if you don’t already have one. This is one of the best things that you can do to prevent mold from sneaking back into your quiet space. Bathroom fans get rid of the majority of the moisture that mold needs to grow and survive. Even if you’re not remodeling right now and your bathroom has no visible signs of mold, don’t bet on mold not invading there in the future, if you don’t have a fan in the bathroom, you should get one.
After showering or bathing, the shower curtain should be shaken off in the tub to direct as much water as possible toward the drain. Water that collects on the walls surrounding the tub should also be wiped either dry or down toward the drain with a squeegee. You want all the surfaces in your bathroom to dry out as quickly as possible.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Miami Residential Water Damage Restoration Contractors and
Orlando water Damage companies.
The reason that the bathroom is one of the most common places to find infestations of mold is because there is a constant pattern of heat and humidity in this space. While some kinds of mold pose no threat to human beings, other kinds of mold can be hazardous to our health and can even render our homes uninhabitable. Black mold is found in many bathrooms and basements and it is very toxic. It has been known to cause rashes, fevers, flu-like symptoms and other health complications. If you discover what you think is black mold (and it truly does appear to be black), it’s best to call in a professional to get rid of it.
While it’s expensive to have the mold in your home removed, you will definitely want to put this on your to-do list. It can and will move to other parts of your home if it’s left unchecked. After the mold is removed successfully and you continue with your bathroom remodeling project, you’ll want to take steps to prevent the re-growth of mold in the future.
Install a bathroom fan while you’re remodeling if you don’t already have one. This is one of the best things that you can do to prevent mold from sneaking back into your quiet space. Bathroom fans get rid of the majority of the moisture that mold needs to grow and survive. Even if you’re not remodeling right now and your bathroom has no visible signs of mold, don’t bet on mold not invading there in the future, if you don’t have a fan in the bathroom, you should get one.
After showering or bathing, the shower curtain should be shaken off in the tub to direct as much water as possible toward the drain. Water that collects on the walls surrounding the tub should also be wiped either dry or down toward the drain with a squeegee. You want all the surfaces in your bathroom to dry out as quickly as possible.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
Miami Residential Water Damage Restoration Contractors and
Orlando water Damage companies.
Easy Ways to Stop the Mold Invasion
One of the most damaging things to a building, especially a residential one, is mold. While there are many kinds of mold and some are good and even used to make certain foods, when it grows inside your home it tends to lead to not only structural damage, but damage to the health of the people living in it as well. Home buyers are becoming more and more aware of the mold problem and wondering what they can do about it not only because of the health consequences of mold, but also of the damage it can do to the value of their home. Here are a few things you can do to help prevent mold from growing in your home.
Ventilating your household properly and in the right places is essential. Mold grows in warm, humid areas of your home that are not properly ventilated. It doesn’t need standing water to grow, only a humidity of over around 65% and if the humidity in the house is kept low enough, mold cannot grow. If you see condensation start to build up on a windowpane inside your house, this can be a sign that the humidity in your home is too high. Keep these areas wiped dry as much as possible until you can determine the best way to keep this from happening. Try a de-humidifier to help solve this problem.
Something else that helps with mold growth prevention is paperless sheetrock. This might be only feasible if you’re planning on building a completely new home, but if you’re doing any heavy remodeling or adding on any new space, paperless sheetrock is best because mold loves to feed on paper.
If you store papers and other items in your basement like cardboard boxes, don’t store them directly in contact with the floor, especially if there’s a chance that they could come into contact with moisture such as leaks around the indoor foundation or a leaky water heater. As stated before, mold eats paper and needs moisture to survive.
Clean up spills and any leaks you find in your home as quickly as possible and if you have a fan in your bathroom that can be used to let heat and steam outside the house, use it while showering. If you can vent the heat from items like clothes dryers and stoves to the outside of the house, do this while they are in use, as well.
Cold surfaces in the home such as pipes, especially in basements, should be insulated so condensation does not form. This not only prevents mold, but also helps to prevent the pipes from rusting.
With some smart actions, preventing mold from growing in your home isn’t just beneficial, it’s easy. The benefits of a mold free home definitely outweigh the cost of going to the small bit of trouble to keep it that way.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
New York flood water damage restoration and other states and cities such as
South Carolina mold remediation companies across the united states.
Ventilating your household properly and in the right places is essential. Mold grows in warm, humid areas of your home that are not properly ventilated. It doesn’t need standing water to grow, only a humidity of over around 65% and if the humidity in the house is kept low enough, mold cannot grow. If you see condensation start to build up on a windowpane inside your house, this can be a sign that the humidity in your home is too high. Keep these areas wiped dry as much as possible until you can determine the best way to keep this from happening. Try a de-humidifier to help solve this problem.
Something else that helps with mold growth prevention is paperless sheetrock. This might be only feasible if you’re planning on building a completely new home, but if you’re doing any heavy remodeling or adding on any new space, paperless sheetrock is best because mold loves to feed on paper.
If you store papers and other items in your basement like cardboard boxes, don’t store them directly in contact with the floor, especially if there’s a chance that they could come into contact with moisture such as leaks around the indoor foundation or a leaky water heater. As stated before, mold eats paper and needs moisture to survive.
Clean up spills and any leaks you find in your home as quickly as possible and if you have a fan in your bathroom that can be used to let heat and steam outside the house, use it while showering. If you can vent the heat from items like clothes dryers and stoves to the outside of the house, do this while they are in use, as well.
Cold surfaces in the home such as pipes, especially in basements, should be insulated so condensation does not form. This not only prevents mold, but also helps to prevent the pipes from rusting.
With some smart actions, preventing mold from growing in your home isn’t just beneficial, it’s easy. The benefits of a mold free home definitely outweigh the cost of going to the small bit of trouble to keep it that way.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
New York flood water damage restoration and other states and cities such as
South Carolina mold remediation companies across the united states.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Water Safety and Sanitation During Hurricanes
When you are preparing for a hurricane to hit your home and you plan on staying there instead of evacuating, the most important thing that you need to worry about is your water supply. Even though water damage to your home after the storm is over can be a real headache to have to deal with, the water damage that contaminated sea and sewer water can do to you and your family is even more dangerous. You might be able to repair the water damage to your home with money, but drinking or coming into contact with contaminated water can lead to serious illness and even death in some cases.
You should have a large amount of bottled water on hand at any given time if you live in a flood or hurricane prone area. The number of gallons that you have on hand should be enough for every person with you to have one gallon of water a day for at least a week or two. Keeping water purification tablets on hand is one very important thing that will help you if you happen to run out of bottled water for any reason. Chlorinated bleach can also be used to purify any of the contaminated water that you come across. If the water is cloudy, you can filter it through cloth until it is mostly clear. After that, you can use about 1/8 of a teaspoon of chlorinated bleach to treat a gallon of water. Leave this for at least 30 minutes before you attempt to drink it. This will make sure that all the bacteria and viruses in the water have been killed.
Unfortunately, you cannot trust that the water that comes out of your faucet during a hurricane is safe to drink. Flood waters from the sea and from the sewers can contaminate your local water treatment plants and cause the water in them to become undrinkable. You should never drink tap water until your local government assures you that it is safe to drink.
If you have children in your home, do not let them play outside in flood waters. Even if it gets up into the 80’s and 90’s in temperature, the worst thing that you could do is let the kids play in the water, especially young ones that do not know any better than to drink it. Toys that come into contact with the water need to be disinfected with bleach or other chemicals, but this is only for non-porous toys. Stuffed animals and other items like this must be thrown away immediately.
Jim Corkern is a writer and respected contributor to the Water damage restoration and mold remediation Industry. Visit his sites for more information.
http://www.floodingnc.info
http://www.floodnj.info
You should have a large amount of bottled water on hand at any given time if you live in a flood or hurricane prone area. The number of gallons that you have on hand should be enough for every person with you to have one gallon of water a day for at least a week or two. Keeping water purification tablets on hand is one very important thing that will help you if you happen to run out of bottled water for any reason. Chlorinated bleach can also be used to purify any of the contaminated water that you come across. If the water is cloudy, you can filter it through cloth until it is mostly clear. After that, you can use about 1/8 of a teaspoon of chlorinated bleach to treat a gallon of water. Leave this for at least 30 minutes before you attempt to drink it. This will make sure that all the bacteria and viruses in the water have been killed.
Unfortunately, you cannot trust that the water that comes out of your faucet during a hurricane is safe to drink. Flood waters from the sea and from the sewers can contaminate your local water treatment plants and cause the water in them to become undrinkable. You should never drink tap water until your local government assures you that it is safe to drink.
If you have children in your home, do not let them play outside in flood waters. Even if it gets up into the 80’s and 90’s in temperature, the worst thing that you could do is let the kids play in the water, especially young ones that do not know any better than to drink it. Toys that come into contact with the water need to be disinfected with bleach or other chemicals, but this is only for non-porous toys. Stuffed animals and other items like this must be thrown away immediately.
Jim Corkern is a writer and respected contributor to the Water damage restoration and mold remediation Industry. Visit his sites for more information.
http://www.floodingnc.info
http://www.floodnj.info
Smoke Damage Cleanup
Cleaning up smoke damage after a fire can be a pretty involved task, but if you know what you are doing and follow a few simple rules, it might not be as difficult as you might think. Even though you might want to get the job done as quickly as possible, you might end up doing more harm than good if you do not take your time to do it correctly. Do the job right, not rushed.
If you have pets, the best thing for them is to remove them from the area as soon as possible. You need to keep your pets out of the home until you are done cleaning up the smoke and water damage done to the home after the fire trucks have gone. Birds are especially sensitive to smoke and chemicals in the air, so if you had a pet bird in the home at the time of the fire, you should have it examined by a vet.
Use a vacuum cleaner to clean up any soot and other particles from your furniture and floors, after you are certain that the electrical circuitry in the home was not damaged by the water poured into the home by the fire truck.
Plants should be rinsed with water as soon as possible, but be sure not to drown the plant’s soil in an excess amount of water. If the soil has been saturated by the water from the fire truck and you want to save the plant, the best thing to do is to put it in a new pot with new soil.
Open the windows and doors in your home so air can circulate and help remove all the particles from the air inside. This will help remove the smell of smoke from the home, as well.
Do not sit down on upholstered furniture that has not been cleaned yet. This will only rub the soot down into the fabric and make it more difficult to remove.
Sending your clothes to an ordinary dry cleaner can irreparably damage your clothes.
Do not eat any foods that were in the home at the time of the fire. This includes everything that was in the home, no matter what it is. Replace everything in the home that was edible.
Ceilings and walls that have been smoke damaged can sometimes be cleaned and restored to their former selves, but heavier deposits of smoke must be specially treated so that the surface will accept being painted over again. Sometimes the stains cannot be removed and the surface must be painted.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
North Carolina Water Damage Restoration and other states such as
New Jersey Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states.
If you have pets, the best thing for them is to remove them from the area as soon as possible. You need to keep your pets out of the home until you are done cleaning up the smoke and water damage done to the home after the fire trucks have gone. Birds are especially sensitive to smoke and chemicals in the air, so if you had a pet bird in the home at the time of the fire, you should have it examined by a vet.
Use a vacuum cleaner to clean up any soot and other particles from your furniture and floors, after you are certain that the electrical circuitry in the home was not damaged by the water poured into the home by the fire truck.
Plants should be rinsed with water as soon as possible, but be sure not to drown the plant’s soil in an excess amount of water. If the soil has been saturated by the water from the fire truck and you want to save the plant, the best thing to do is to put it in a new pot with new soil.
Open the windows and doors in your home so air can circulate and help remove all the particles from the air inside. This will help remove the smell of smoke from the home, as well.
Do not sit down on upholstered furniture that has not been cleaned yet. This will only rub the soot down into the fabric and make it more difficult to remove.
Sending your clothes to an ordinary dry cleaner can irreparably damage your clothes.
Do not eat any foods that were in the home at the time of the fire. This includes everything that was in the home, no matter what it is. Replace everything in the home that was edible.
Ceilings and walls that have been smoke damaged can sometimes be cleaned and restored to their former selves, but heavier deposits of smoke must be specially treated so that the surface will accept being painted over again. Sometimes the stains cannot be removed and the surface must be painted.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
North Carolina Water Damage Restoration and other states such as
New Jersey Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states.
Hurricane Preparations and Water Safety
There are quite a few things that you need to do if you are preparing for a hurricane to hit your area and you do not want to leave your home, but perhaps the most important thing is making sure that you have a sizeable supply of bottled water in your home. This should be proportional to the number of people living in your home at the time of the storm.
The safety of the water that you will be drinking while the storm is raging outside and even after the storm is gone is important to your survival. You should keep around at least one gallon of water per person per day. Never assume that the water that comes out of your faucet is clean, because water from the sea and possibly from sewers can contaminate water treatment plants in your area. This contaminated water will make you extremely sick and could even possibly lead to death. During a hurricane or a flood, never drink anything but bottled water. Water purification tablets should also be kept on hand and chlorinated bleach can also be used to purify water in most situations. 8 drops per gallon of contaminated water should be enough. Let the treated water set for at least 30 minutes before drinking it.
While water damage to your home may be an important issue after the flood waters have receded, water damage to your body due to contaminated water is even more important. Even if you are not drinking the contaminated water, it can still cause damage to your system, especially if you have open cuts or wounds that have been exposed to it. Wash these with soap and bottled (or chlorine bleach treated) water to keep them from becoming infected.
Children should not be allowed to play in flood waters, no matter how hot it might get inside the home you are staying in. If there are toys that have come into contact with contaminated water, these need to be disinfected before allowing a child to play with them, as well. The hands of children should also be washed very thoroughly often and especially before meals.
Boarding up your windows and doors with plywood is a good idea to keep your windows from being blown out and the glass sent flying into your home and possibly into you.
Jim Corkern is a writer and respected contributor to the Water damage restoration and mold remediation Industry. Visit his sites for more information.
http://www.floodingct.info
http://www.floodedbasementnj.info
The safety of the water that you will be drinking while the storm is raging outside and even after the storm is gone is important to your survival. You should keep around at least one gallon of water per person per day. Never assume that the water that comes out of your faucet is clean, because water from the sea and possibly from sewers can contaminate water treatment plants in your area. This contaminated water will make you extremely sick and could even possibly lead to death. During a hurricane or a flood, never drink anything but bottled water. Water purification tablets should also be kept on hand and chlorinated bleach can also be used to purify water in most situations. 8 drops per gallon of contaminated water should be enough. Let the treated water set for at least 30 minutes before drinking it.
While water damage to your home may be an important issue after the flood waters have receded, water damage to your body due to contaminated water is even more important. Even if you are not drinking the contaminated water, it can still cause damage to your system, especially if you have open cuts or wounds that have been exposed to it. Wash these with soap and bottled (or chlorine bleach treated) water to keep them from becoming infected.
Children should not be allowed to play in flood waters, no matter how hot it might get inside the home you are staying in. If there are toys that have come into contact with contaminated water, these need to be disinfected before allowing a child to play with them, as well. The hands of children should also be washed very thoroughly often and especially before meals.
Boarding up your windows and doors with plywood is a good idea to keep your windows from being blown out and the glass sent flying into your home and possibly into you.
Jim Corkern is a writer and respected contributor to the Water damage restoration and mold remediation Industry. Visit his sites for more information.
http://www.floodingct.info
http://www.floodedbasementnj.info
How to Contend With Water Damaged Papers
When our homes are water damaged due to floods and hurricanes, one of the things that we do not tend to think about until after we come upon them while attempting to restore the house is our documents. Any important documents that we might have in our homes at the time of the storm can be damaged almost irreparably, but there are ways to salvage these documents and store them later for better protection against not only floods, but fires, as well. Knowing how to deal with these documents after they have already become damaged is essential if you want to save them, especially if they are the only copies in existence.
There is no real reason to panic unless you have been away from the water damaged building for more than a couple of days. Most of the time it takes at least 48 hours for mold to start to grow on cellulose-based items like paper and cardboard, so getting to these soaked documents as soon as possible before those 48 hours are up is important. The environment in the building should be around 65 degrees Fahrenheit if you can manage it and the humidity needs to remain as low as possible. Mold loves humidity.
If you have any standing water still in the home, it needs to be removed as soon as possible. Documents lying in standing water need to be taken out of it and put on a flat surface quickly. Remove them carefully, since they can fall apart, depending on the weight of the paper and how long it has set in the water.
Figure out what documents are the most important to you. These should include marriage and birth certificates, death certificates, divorce papers, bank papers, warranties on large appliances, and any other legal documents you may have in your home. If you are a writer, a printed manuscript of a book you are working on is one thing that could be considered invaluable, especially if you do not have it stored on electronic media or if the media you did have it stored on was damaged during the storm. Take other printed materials like this into consideration depending on your own unique circumstances. If these items are not completely soaked in water, then you can possibly just dry them out using a fan or simply laying them out to dry. If they have been under the water for a long period of time, then freezing them and drying them at a local facility is best.
Using freezer wrap to separate watery books and documents from each other when you are packing them to take to the freeze drying company is best. Do not pack things tightly and label every box with your contact information.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
flood water damage restoration New Jersey and and other states such as
Connecticut Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states.
There is no real reason to panic unless you have been away from the water damaged building for more than a couple of days. Most of the time it takes at least 48 hours for mold to start to grow on cellulose-based items like paper and cardboard, so getting to these soaked documents as soon as possible before those 48 hours are up is important. The environment in the building should be around 65 degrees Fahrenheit if you can manage it and the humidity needs to remain as low as possible. Mold loves humidity.
If you have any standing water still in the home, it needs to be removed as soon as possible. Documents lying in standing water need to be taken out of it and put on a flat surface quickly. Remove them carefully, since they can fall apart, depending on the weight of the paper and how long it has set in the water.
Figure out what documents are the most important to you. These should include marriage and birth certificates, death certificates, divorce papers, bank papers, warranties on large appliances, and any other legal documents you may have in your home. If you are a writer, a printed manuscript of a book you are working on is one thing that could be considered invaluable, especially if you do not have it stored on electronic media or if the media you did have it stored on was damaged during the storm. Take other printed materials like this into consideration depending on your own unique circumstances. If these items are not completely soaked in water, then you can possibly just dry them out using a fan or simply laying them out to dry. If they have been under the water for a long period of time, then freezing them and drying them at a local facility is best.
Using freezer wrap to separate watery books and documents from each other when you are packing them to take to the freeze drying company is best. Do not pack things tightly and label every box with your contact information.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
flood water damage restoration New Jersey and and other states such as
Connecticut Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states.
Flood Damaged Documents
There are hundreds of different kinds of important documents and books that we could have in our homes that might become damaged during a flood or a hurricane and if the copies that we have are the only ones in existence, then safeguarding these items is very important. Whether it is a marriage certificate or a birth certificate, proof of insurance, or any other type of legal document, if it gets ruined due to being submerged in water, you might be in some trouble.
If you are already the victim of a flood or a hurricane and you have to take care of these documents that have already become damaged, then you might not exactly know how to deal with these items. After you have made sure that the electricity is off in your home after the waters have mostly receded is essential. You should do this before re-entering parts of your home that still have standing water in them. Find the documents you need to restore and if they are only damp, then it is possible to just lay them out to dry on a flat surface on their own. If they have been submerged for a while, then the best thing that you can do is take them to a local freeze-dry facility to have them treated.
When packing items to take to a freeze-dry facility, you should purchase freezer wrap from a local department or grocery store. You will use this to separate your papers and books from each other in the boxes you will pack them into. Find the most important documents that you wish to restore and afterward, find the less important ones such as books or anything that is considered “one-of-a-kind”. Pack these items into boxes and label the outside with your name, address, phone number, and any other pertinent information. Do not pack these tightly in the freezer paper.
After your documents have been taken care of and dried efficiently, the best thing to do is to invest in a waterproof and fireproof safe to pack these things in. Cash, jewelry, these documents, and anything else that you wish to have protected against the elements of nature will be very safe in one of these. Once you invest in one and see it work during a fire or a flood, you will be very happy that you made the investment. It will save you both time, effort, and money to invest in an appropriately sized safe.
Jim Corkern is a writer and respected contributor to the Water damage restoration and mold remediation Industry. Visit his sites for more information.
http://www.floodchicago.info
http://www.damagewatersc.info
If you are already the victim of a flood or a hurricane and you have to take care of these documents that have already become damaged, then you might not exactly know how to deal with these items. After you have made sure that the electricity is off in your home after the waters have mostly receded is essential. You should do this before re-entering parts of your home that still have standing water in them. Find the documents you need to restore and if they are only damp, then it is possible to just lay them out to dry on a flat surface on their own. If they have been submerged for a while, then the best thing that you can do is take them to a local freeze-dry facility to have them treated.
When packing items to take to a freeze-dry facility, you should purchase freezer wrap from a local department or grocery store. You will use this to separate your papers and books from each other in the boxes you will pack them into. Find the most important documents that you wish to restore and afterward, find the less important ones such as books or anything that is considered “one-of-a-kind”. Pack these items into boxes and label the outside with your name, address, phone number, and any other pertinent information. Do not pack these tightly in the freezer paper.
After your documents have been taken care of and dried efficiently, the best thing to do is to invest in a waterproof and fireproof safe to pack these things in. Cash, jewelry, these documents, and anything else that you wish to have protected against the elements of nature will be very safe in one of these. Once you invest in one and see it work during a fire or a flood, you will be very happy that you made the investment. It will save you both time, effort, and money to invest in an appropriately sized safe.
Jim Corkern is a writer and respected contributor to the Water damage restoration and mold remediation Industry. Visit his sites for more information.
http://www.floodchicago.info
http://www.damagewatersc.info
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