Winter weather can mean frozen pipes and ice damning. These can lead to water damage, leaving your carpets soggy and prime for mold, but we can help! Our team of experts is ready to assist with remediation of flood and water damage, or smoke and water damage after a fire.
Category Archives: Flood Damage Repair & Restoration
What to Do With Water Damage
15
Sep
Water Damage
No one wants to come home to water damaged carpeting. Whether yours is wet from a busted up laundry room pipe, the mounted fire extinguishers going off, or damage after a flood, it can be hard to tell what to do with your carpet after it has sustained water damage. That’s where our expertise comes in. If you’ve ever wondered what to do with your carpet if it’s damaged by water, read this post now so you’ll know what to do when you have to act later!
When you’re making decisions about your carpet in the event of water damage, you basically have two options. They are:
- Option #1 – Attempt to restore it. Of course, the first thing you’ll want to do with your carpet is to restore it like nothing happened. This is quite possible to achieve, and J&S Steamway helps homeowners do this every day. In order to properly restore your carpet, however, you’ll need to follow these specific instructions:
- Get to your carpet right away. Mold spores can grow in as little as 48 hours after the incident and impact your family’s health.
- Remove any standing water and peel back the carpeting. Open any doors and windows to let the air circulate into your home.
- Contact a professional water restoration service (like J&S Steamway) right away to deal with the cleanup process.
- Option #2 – Get a new carpet. In some cases your carpet may be beyond saving and it’s best to just replace it instead. How do you know when you should replace water damaged carpeting? The examples below are good indications:
- Your carpet has been submerged in water for 24 hours or more.
- The carpet was contaminated by flood water that might have had sewage in it.
- The carpet padding underneath was thoroughly wet from the water. Wet carpet padding is difficult to clean and likely needs replacement.
Whether your carpet is restored or gets replaced, timing is critical with water damage. Contact your professional carpet cleaner as soon as the event is over to dry things out quickly and have the best chance of saving your carpet – and your home – from further damage.
Need more help troubleshooting water damaged carpet? J&S Steamway is a licensed professional in fire, water, and flood damage restoration. We’ll help you get things in your house back to normal and in order when disaster strikes. Serving the beautiful Alaska area for over 40 years, we take pride in caring for our customers’ carpets as if they were ours. Contact us today to receive a free consultation on your carpets or ask us any questions about your specific carpet care needs!
How to Tell If You Can Restore Your Carpet
15
Aug
How to Tell If Your Carpet is Spent
When a carpet is water damaged, it is crucial to act as quickly as possible to prevent further damage to property and to avoid creating a health hazard. Mold grows out of control very quickly. If you are returning to a flooded home after 48-72 hours have passed, it is important to wear a respirator to prevent mold spores from getting into your lungs. First, remove any water that you can. Then, you must pull up you carpet, or any other flooring, to dry your sub floor. Open windows and use fans to get air flow. It is necessary to completely clean the carpet to prevent mildew and odors. While bleach is considered a good disinfectant, it can damage some carpets beyond repair.
Not all carpet can or should be saved after being water damaged. The severity of the situation depends upon where the water came from. A busted pipe causes less contamination than a busted dishwasher or toilet. Flood water coming in from outside the home is always particularly dangerous due to high levels of bacteria. If your carpet has been damaged by flood water that may have been contaminated with sewage, you must discard and replace the carpet for health and safety reasons unless it can be professionally disinfected. Carpet that was completely submerged for more than 24 hours should also be considered contaminated even if the water was from a clean source. The padding under the carpet cannot be easily cleaned and will need to be replaced.
Why should you hire a professional for carpet restoration?
- Finding and eliminating hidden moisture requires special equipment. Because it takes only 48 hours for mold to grow and become problematic, carpets need to be thoroughly dried very quickly.
- Preventing mold growth is crucial to you and your families health. Breathing in mold spores is dangerous. Without professional evaluation, you might have mold that you can’t see.
- Drying the water damaged floor with professional speed can prevent costly damage to your subfloor. Otherwise, you could be waiting months for your subfloor to dry completely to put carpet back down.
- Disinfecting the carpet with professional products and equipment ensures that bacterial and fungal contamination is completely eliminated.
Time is critical when it comes to carpet restoration so contact a professional immediately for the greatest chance of success.