What the Polar Vortex Means for Your Pipes

1/15/2024 (Permalink)

Polar Vortexes bring exceedingly cold temperatures

As the winter weather continues, "Polar Vortexes" become far more likely, signaling plummeting temperatures and severe weather conditions. This meteorological term, often associated with bone-chilling cold, can have a profound impact on daily life, particularly for homeowners and business owners. In addition to several drops in temperature to worry about, polar vortexes also heavily affect plumbing systems. As temperatures dive, the risk of pipes freezing and subsequently bursting increases, potentially leading to severely damaging water floods. Understanding the polar vortex, how it affects plumbing piping, and the necessary preventive measures are essential for bracing for the winter months. SERVPRO of Parsippany and Montville has crafted some preventive measures you can utilize to ensure your plumbing stays safe during the ongoing polar vortex.

Understanding the Polar Vortex and Its Impact

A polar vortex is essentially a vast expanse of swirling cold air that typically envelopes the polar regions. However, during the winter, the vortex at the North Pole often expands, pushing frigid air toward the equator and affecting much of the Northern Hemisphere. This shift can result in a sudden and steep drop in temperatures, often catching businesses and residences off-guard.

The critical issue with these plummeting temperatures is their effect on water pipes. Water expands when it freezes, and this expansion can exert extraordinary pressure on pipes, regardless of whether they are made of metal or plastic. When the pressure becomes too great, pipes can burst, leading to water damage, the potential for mold growth, and the need for repairs on top of restoration and cleaning services.

Prevention and Protection

To mitigate the risks of a polar vortex freezing your pipes, consider the following preventive steps:

1. Insulate Pipes: Wrapping exposed pipes in foam insulation, particularly those in unheated areas like basements, attics, and garages, can significantly reduce the risk of freezing.
2. Maintain Consistent Indoor Temperature: Keeping your home heated consistently, even when you're away, helps keep the internal temperature of pipes above freezing.
3. Allow Faucets to Drip: Allowing a slight drip in faucets can prevent pressure buildup within pipes, reducing the risk of freezing and bursting.
4. Drain Water from Pools and Sprinklers: Drain water from the swimming pool and sprinkler supply lines following the manufacturer's instructions.
5. Close Inside Valves Supplying Outdoor Hose Bibs: After removing and draining outdoor hoses, close the inside valves that supply these bibs but leave the outside valve open.
6. Insulate Vulnerable Spaces: Increase insulation in areas like attics, basements, and crawl spaces to maintain higher temperatures.
7. Open Cabinet Doors: Allow warmer air to circulate around plumbing by opening kitchen and bathroom cabinet doors.

The polar vortex, while a natural weather phenomenon, poses a significant challenge to plumbing, particularly regarding the risk of frozen and bursting pipes. By understanding this meteorological event and taking proactive, preventative measures, you can safeguard your home against the potentially devastating and costly consequences. Prevention actions are far more effective and less costly than repair. Stay warm, stay informed, and prepare your home for whatever the winter brings. 

Should you incur any water or storm damage during the Polar Vortex, feel free to contact SERVPRO of Parsippany and Montville, and we'll make it "Like It Never Even Happened!"

Common Misconceptions about Mitigation and Restoration

9/26/2019 (Permalink)

An example of carpet being saved by being lifted for drying.

There are many misconceptions regarding the mitigation and restoration of property damage.  However, our technicians are trained to see beyond the misconceptions and misinformation that often complicate a claim.  They will apply the right course of action to mitigate the damages.  If someone doesn’t act quickly enough or doesn’t take the right actions due to these misconceptions, they can end up with even more damage to deal with, that could have easily been avoided.

A professional restoration technician will prioritize mitigation over restoration ensuring damage costs do not escalate. Mitigation is extremely time-critical, as it stops further damage and reduces additional loss. It usually needs to be performed within 24 hours or less. Any delay will further complicate or devalue the mitigation effort.  Restoration, on the other hand, puts the damaged items back to a preloss condition. It is less time-critical, but still important and should be done as quickly as possible.

Here are the more common misconceptions and the truth behind them:

1. Replacing costs less than restoring/salvaging. In most cases, cleaning and salvaging the contents and structure is less expensive than replacing them.  This can vary with the circumstances.  For instance, if after a fire, smoke soot hasn’t been properly cleaned from all surfaces, replacement may be the only option.  Hundreds of dollars of cleaning can become thousands of dollars of replacement due to delayed action.  Today’s restoration professionals are able to effectively clean and remove contaminates, saving expensive replacement costs.
2. If you clean your carpets, they’ll get dirty more quickly. Techniques, equipment, and materials used in the past to clean carpets were inferior to those used by today’s professionals. In the past, inefficient carpet shampooing left a soap residue that attracted soil more rapidly than prior to cleaning. Restoration professionals now use a cleaning process that both flushes and rinses carpets, and prevents that from happening.
3. Drying a home is complete when the carpets are dry. The greatest failure in restoring water-damaged structures is to remove the drying equipment before the drying is complete.  Using the carpet or cushion to determine dryness is a poor misrepresentation of whether the structure is dry or not (and one that is not easily defended if litigation follows).  Carpet and cushions dry quicker than other structural materials and are not an accurate gauge.  The danger with ineffective drying is that it can turn a small loss from water damage into a multi-thousand dollar mold claim.  Professional restoration firms use measuring equipment (moisture meters/sensors) to determine if moisture content has been returned to normal standards.  Meters and sensors are used to document and record the data that justifies the use of the equipment and the best time to remove it.  That is extremely important to accomplish the end result – a totally dry structure.
4. A home that has been damaged by fire will always smell like smoke, so cleaning it fast is unnecessary. If you don’t clean the smoke residue immediately after a fire, the valuables in your home may suffer irreversible damage, due to the acidic nature of the smoke particles.  Prompt cleaning actions can reduce losses if this acid is removed or neutralized.  Odor removal is more complicated than turning on one machine and hoping to achieve satisfactory results.  Restoration for smoke odor has to be thorough. All contaminated areas need to be cleaned, deodorized, and sealed where applicable. It is important that all odor molecules are neutralized, either airborne or absorbed.
5. It’s cheaper to do it yourself rather than hire a restoration company. This holds true in some cases, but you must be extremely careful, since a botched repair can cost you more in the long run.

Professional restoration firms are the best assurance when it comes to mitigation and restoration.  Due to their continuous technical training, they do not repeat the erroneous theories and mistakes of the past. Using the latest equipment and techniques, they make sure that the job is done correctly and completely – the first time.  

Make sure to call SERVPRO of East Central Morris County  at 973-887-9100 so that we can make it "Like it never even happened."

Pack Out Services for Restoration of your Home or Business

9/18/2019 (Permalink)

When you’re faced with restoring structural damage from fire, water, or mold, it’s vital to protect the contents of your home or business. If they haven’t already been damaged, contents may be ruined during the remediation process.  While some content restoration can take place on-site, other items are too delicate, valuable, or heavily damaged to be restored there.  In some cases, the building may also be too heavily damaged to allow on-site restoration.  Pack-out services take the worry out of protecting your belongings in the aftermath of a disaster and let you deal with other pressing matters.

SERVPRO of East Central Morris County will work with your Insurance Carrier and carefully sort items into two categories: salvageable and unsalvageable.  Having professionals make these decisions is better than doing it yourself because we’re more familiar with current restoration methods and technology.  An heirloom that you might think is gone forever could be saved with products that are available only to companies in the restoration industry.

After sorting the items, our technicians create a detailed inventory of what can be saved and what is unsalvageable.  All damage is thoroughly documented for you and your insurance company to review.  This inventory also keeps track of what we have and can be used as a checklist when items are returned later.  Ruined items are stored for inspection by the insurance company.

Items that are salvageable are transported to our secure facility for thorough content restoration cleaning using commercially available products and equipment.  The items are then stored at the facility until you are ready to receive them again. The company will deliver them to you, either at your restored building or a new location.

If you’ve experienced a water, mold or fire at your home, it’s imperative to have the contents cleaned and restored as soon as possible before they’re unsalvageable.  SERVPRO of East Central Morris County provides comprehensive content cleaning on-site (when possible) and pack-out services if the site isn’t secure.  We transport your property to our secure facility for restoration and storage and we’ll deliver them back once you’re ready.

SERVPRO of East Central Morris County is here for you, (973) 887-9100.

Leave the Board ups to the PROs

4/30/2019 (Permalink)

Leave the hassle of board ups to the professionals

Have you ever been driving down a road and see those homes all boarded up; you probably think there's nothing to it right, get some plywood,  screws and you're all set. However there is actually more to it; first off let's talk about some reasons to board up your property: 

• Before or After a Storm
• After a Fire or other Structural Damage
• Maybe it is Vacant or Condemned

These are some of the most common reasons, if you are boarding up your home before a storm consider thickness of plywood or having them custom cut to fit your windows so you don't drill holes into the siding of your home. If extreme storms are common in your area you might consider custom plywood screens that you can keep reusing. If it is after a storm or fire you probably just need the boards up as soon as possible to keep your home secure from vandals. 

Whether it is before or after, boarding up damaged property is a burden that no one should ever have to go through. Especially if it is your property that has been damaged. There will be so many other things that need your attention and this should not be one of them. Boarding up damaged property incorrectly could cause secondary damage like animal or moisture intrusion, making the situation worse than it already is. Plus the process of boarding up after unexpected damage can be dangerous in itself if you do not know how to do it. We here at SERVPRO of East Central Morris County can board up the damaged property, mitigate the original damage. We can provide you with the peace of mind while helping make it "Like it never even happened."

If you experience an unexpected damage to your property please give us a call:

SERVPRO of East Central Morris County

(973) 887-9100

Do You Have Dirty Ducts

3/28/2019 (Permalink)

Do you know what's inside your ducts

Did you know your ventilation system is often the biggest culprit in poor indoor air quality? Inspecting the ductwork in your home/facility should be a high priority. In most cases the HVAC system has been operating for some time without much attention. Dirty Ducts can circulate odors and contaminants through your home or building.

In some circumstances, such as after a fire, smoke or suspected mold growth duct cleaning becomes and essential part of the cleanup process. in most cases we can restore the HVAC system and ductwork to pre-damage condition.

Over time different contaminants or foreign objects can enter and collect in your air ducts that may diminish the indoor air quality of your home or office or cause other damage to your HVAC system; such as

• Rodents
• Insects or Pests
• Dust
• Dirt
• Debris
• Bacteria
• Mold
• Pollen

How we clean your ducts:

1. Our process begins by using patented equipment including a roto-scraper which automatically adapts to the duct's shape and diameter while traveling through the duct, removing debris and filth before we start vacuuming.
2. Next, a powerful push-pull air delivery and collection system transfers the debris from the ducting to a 16 gallon container
3. Air is Filtered through a HEPA filtration system, removing 99.97 percent of the particles in the air stream. HEPA filters capture debris and keep the indoor environment clean.
4. System Filters will either be cleaned or replaced to remove the odor and dirt

Make duct cleaning part of your Spring Cleaning routine and it will help with those seasonal allergies.

April Showers Can Bring Home Headaches

3/25/2019 (Permalink)

Make sure your rain gutters are clear

Did you know that something as simple as clogged gutters can cause major damage in your home. Now that winter is almost over and Spring is coming it is important to check your gutters. With the high winds branches and debris could have filled your gutters you had cleaned just before winter. Cleaning out gutters in the spring might seem like a menial task, but failure to do so can cause major problems for a home. From foundation damage to roof leaks, clogged gutters can lead to expensive repairs when left untreated.

Here are some potential disasters that can happen due to a clogged gutter. 

1. In colder climates, ice dams can form on the gutters or the lower edge of the roof, causing water to pool and eventually seep into the home. While ice dams can form on homes with clean gutters, clogged gutters prevent water from draining, which increases the chance for ice dams.

2. The fascia boards that hold the gutter system are often made of wood. When gutters clog and fill with water, the boards start to deteriorate and rot. If a home has wood siding, clogged gutters can also cause water to overflow out of the gutter system and down the sides of the home.

3. The main role of a gutter system is to channel water off the roof and away from the home's foundation. A blockage can cause water to pour over the sides of the gutter and pool around the foundation. Over time, the water can cause cracks to form and damage the foundation, potentially resulting in collapse. But even if the foundation doesn't fail, the water can still cause mold growth. 

4. A roof replacement can be expensive and it's important to maximize the value of your current roof. When you let your roof sustain continuous damage every time it rains, the clock is ticking and you greatly diminish its lifespan. Something as simple as cleaning out your rain gutters can help you get the absolute most of your roof and will make sure that you're not having to get costly repairs in the meantime.

National Preparedness Month

9/18/2018 (Permalink)

National Preparedness Month