Hurricane Season is in Effect

9/20/2022 (Permalink)

Hurricane Season is Still in Effect!

It’s important to follow these steps to ensure you are taking the proper precautions in case of an emergency.

1. Develop an Evacuation Plan - find out if you live in a hurricane evacuation zone and plan where you and your family will go and how to get there. Make sure you keep your pets in mind when you’re preparing to evacuate.
2. Gather Disaster Supplies - get enough food and bottled water for each person in your group or for at least one week. Fill prescriptions ahead of time and collect radios, batteries, phone chargers, extra cash, and gas up your car.
3. Check Your Insurance - get with your insurance agent before the storms hit to discuss flood insurance. Prepare your home and vehicles according to your policy and locate all important documents.
4. Strengthen Your Home - trim trees that could cause damage, seal and cover windows, store loose outdoor items

Help Your Neighbors - help your neighbors, especially the elderly ones collect needed supplies and assist them with evacuation. Check in on them after it’s safe.

Cleaning Soft Goods and Content Affected by Fire Damage

7/21/2022 (Permalink)

When a fire happens, smoke odors and soot are left behind that can coat your whole house and all of your belongings. Unfortunately, this means that even those hard to replace, or irreplaceable sentimental items can get damaged. Luckily, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll lose those items for good. SERVPRO of Elizabeth City/Outer Banks is an Esporta Certified Operator. Esporta is a soft goods cleaning system designed to handle delicate items and other things that would otherwise be very difficult to clean.

What can be cleaned?

• Leather Goods
  • Shoes
  • Purses
  • Jackets

• Laundry
• Household Goods
  • Pillows
  • Comforters
  • Stuffed Animals
  • Upholstery

• Unique, hard to clean items like sports equipment
• Many otherwise uncleanable items

How Does It Work?

Unlike your typical washing machine, the items being cleaned are held stationary to avoid damage from tumbling or spinning, and they’re passed through a detergent. The whole process is computer controlled and utilizes proprietary detergents. The combination of hydraulic action and environmentally friendly detergents restores items to Food Grade Clean by removing 99% of contaminants, while still being gentle on the planet.

When your home suffers from a fire, the restoration costs can get expensive quickly. That’s why here at SERVPRO we’ve adopted a policy of restore not replace, and will always do our best to help ensure that your home and belongings are restored to preloss conditions to the best of our ability.

SERVPRO Handles Large Commercial Damage Restoration

6/15/2022 (Permalink)

Commercial properties come in all shapes and sizes. Some buildings like large hotels, dormitories, warehouse facilities, factories, etc. can encompass hundreds of thousands of square feet of space. It’s easy for a water damage in a facility like this to quickly grow into a huge mess with damage across multiple floors and rooms. Here at SERVPRO of Elizabeth City/Outer Banks we have the commercial large loss division that can handle jobs of any size.

Our Disaster Recovery Teams are composed of elite technicians who have the training and resources to handle large-loss events for industries that have included hospitals, universities, and government facilities. Our franchise network consists of 2,000 franchises located all over the country, allowing us to respond to disasters anywhere. Each large loss project is managed by a project manager from your local SERVPRO location. They’re backed by the SERVPRO headquarters operations team to help you have the smoothest restoration experience possible. Having such a large franchise network gives us the unique advantage of being able to share resources and expertise that help us to tackle jobs that smaller companies could not handle on their own.

Damage to a large facility can be a daunting task, but our teams are available 24/7, 365 days a year to respond to your fire, water, or storm emergencies, and make it “Like it never even happened.”

SERVPRO Cleans Smoke-Damaged Electronics

4/5/2022 (Permalink)

When you experience a fire in your home or business the damage that’s caused is not limited to what was damaged by the actual fire itself. Smoke from the burning materials leaves a thick layer of soot and other contaminants on everything that it touches even when you can’t necessarily see it. These left behind smoke particles can cause further damage to your home and the items in it. This is particularly true of electronics. Even if the electronics were not damaged by the heat of the fire, it is likely that there is a layer of smoke particles covering the insides of the equipment.  This can be dangerous as if these items are turned back on without first being cleaned the soot can cause them to short out and potentially catch fire.

There are two main ways that smoke damage can affect electronics. First is that smoke is acidic. If left unchecked these particles can slowly eat away at and degrade the materials inside your equipment. Secondly, it can act as an insulator. Smoke coats the insides of the electronics and reduces their ability to dissipate heat. This can lead to the equipment overheating.

While you should always have your electronics inspected by a professional after a fire to ensure there is no damage done to them here are a few things to look out for as signs that there may be hidden smoke damage in your equipment.

• Equipment smells like smoke when turned on or plugged in.
• They get hotter than usual during use
• Unexpected noises

If you encounter any of these things after a fire during use of your electronics you should turn them off and unplug them immediately and have them inspected and cleaned by professionals.

Here at SERVPRO of Elizabeth City/Outer Banks our team is highly trained in smoke damage mitigation and is able to use special equipment and cleaners to help remove smoke and lower the chances of damaging the electronics. From clean up to reconstruction, if you experience a fire in your home or business, give us a call and let us know how we can help make it “like it never even happened.”

SERVPRO Restores Your Contents After a Fire

12/8/2021 (Permalink)

After a fire your belongings are likely going to be affected by the smoke, soot, and water from putting the fire out. It is important to get your things cleaned after a fire as the soot and water damage can continue to be harmful to the items even after the fire is put out. This is especially true for things like electronics and documents or photos.

Documents and photographs are often valuable and sometimes irreplaceable, so it is important to act quickly and incredibly cautiously as to not further any damage done to them. While it is sometimes impossible to bring documents back to pre-fire conditions, SERVPRO can help minimize additional damage and save quite a few. Dependent on the type of document and severity of damage that was done we offer five different options for restoration:

1. Air Drying
2. Freezer Drying
3. Dehumidification
4. Vacuum Thermal Drying
5. Vacuum Freeze Drying

Electronics that are fire damaged can pose a serious safety risk and you should never try and turn on any electrical devices that you think might have been damaged by the fire. One thing to keep in mind is that electronics need to be cleaned as soon as possible to prevent further damage. The soot and smoke residues can contain acids that cause corrosion on metal surfaces and if not properly and professionally removed can cause electronics to fail. SERVPRO is happy to offer electronics restoration by qualified electronics technicians for things such as television sets, computers and more.

First Responder Bowl

12/2/2021 (Permalink)

Here at SERVPRO of Elizabeth City/Outer Banks we respond, “Faster to any size disaster.” But there is one group of people who will always get there before we do. First responders. First responders are there when you need them the most and truly are the fastest to any emergency. They put their lives on the line every day to help their community and save lives. These people deserve the utmost respect and support, and that’s why we’re proud hosts of the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl.

The SERVPRO First Responder Bowl is played on December 28th, 2021, at the Gerald J. Stadium on SMU’s campus in Dallas, Texas and broadcasted live on ESPN. This game is meant to honor the brave people who show up first to any emergency ready to do what’s necessary to take care of people. So join us in saying thank you, and tune in this holiday season to check it out!

SERVPRO's Relationship with Insurance Companies

11/11/2021 (Permalink)

SERVPRO of Elizabeth City/Outer Banks boasts a healthy relationship with many insurance companies and adjusters and here’s why!

We respond faster to any size disaster. When your home or business is damaged time is of the essence and being able to respond as fast as possible is key in preventing further damage to your property. We work directly with your insurance and keep a line of communication with both them and you to help ensure that things are taken care of as fast as possible.

Our team prides itself on our repair, not replace mentality, working diligently to do our best and repair anything that has been damaged. This helps keep costs lower, keeping both your wallet and your insurance company happy.

SERVPRO is a leader in the restoration industry. Our teams are highly trained with the latest certifications and state-of-the-art technology. We get the job done well with a reputation to back it. Which is why insurance companies like to use our services. They trust that we understand the scope of the job and will get it done right.

Damage to your home or business and dealing with insurance claims because of it is stressful at best. We understand that handling these issues with care and clarity is of utmost importance. If your property suffers from any damage requiring restoration efforts, please don’t hesitate to call us and ask how we can help.

Water Damage to Your Carpet

11/8/2021 (Permalink)

The carpet in our homes is often exposed to water from various sources like leaks in bathrooms and kitchens. SERVPRO of Elizabeth City/Outer Banks takes a repair, not replace stance on our remediation services because we understand that fully replacing things that could potentially be repaired is a hassle. Here are some advantages of our stance:

• Less disruption to your home and life
• Less damage to your carpet and a smaller chance of carpet delamination
• Often cheaper than replacing the carpet all together

It is, however, important to understand that there are some scenarios where carpet must be removed, and repair/drying is not an option:

• When the carpet has been exposed for more than 72 hours
• Carpet is installed overtop of other flooring like laminate or hardwood
• Water damage is caused by unsanitary water (Grey or Black Water)

The ability to repair and fully dry your carpet is contingent on among other things, our ability to get there fast and address the issue, so if your carpet has suffered from water damage do not delay and give us a call! We’re here to help 24/7, 365 days a year.

Know Your Clouds

11/3/2021 (Permalink)

Do you know that there are over 100 different kinds of clouds? All of these can generally be put into ten basic types:

• Cumulus – These are the clouds you learned how to draw as a kid with flat bottoms and big puffy tops, typically seen on sunny days and often nicknamed the “fair weather cloud”
• Stratus – Stratus clouds form a greyish uniform layer, low in the sky, and kind of look like fog but in the sky instead of on the ground. These clouds are mostly seen on overcast days and can bring mists or drizzles.
• Stratocumulus – Think of a stratus cloud but split it with a knife so that the blue sky shows through. These clouds are seen on “mostly cloudy” days
•  Altocumulus – These are the most common clouds in the middle of the atmosphere. They form big, round masses in bands across the sky and can be white or grey. Typically, you can see these clouds on warm, humid mornings and they can signal future thunderstorms or the onset of cooler weather
• Nimbostratus – This is the cloud that brings the rain. You’ll see these clouds form a dark grey layer over the sky whenever there’s a steady rain or snow
• Altostratus – Grey sheets of clouds covering the whole sky where you can typically still see the sun shining through. These clouds can signal a coming warm front or when paired with cumulus clouds, a cold front.
• Cirrus – These clouds are the wispy white clouds that look almost like curls of hair (hence the name which is Latin for “curl of hair’). Typically, they’re seen during fair weather but can also form ahead of large-scale storms. Sometimes these clouds are also referred to as “mare’s tails”
• Cirrocumulus – Patches of clouds arranged in rows, high up in the sky. There is not much moisture high up in the sky so these clouds are made of ice crystals! These clouds are nicknamed “mackerel scales” because of the look they give the sky why they appear.
• Cirrostratus- These are the translucent clouds that appear across the sky when there is a lot of moisture present in the air high in the atmosphere. They can be identified by the halo effect they have around the sun or moon that’s formed by the light refraction in the ice crystals of the cloud
•  Cumulonimbus – These clouds look similar to the cumulus clouds they are formed from but are much taller with often flattened tops and dark bottoms. These are thunderstorm clouds, and signal nearby severe weather.

Clouds can play a big part in being able to predict what kind of weather is headed your way! For example, there’s an old sailors’ phrase “Mares’ tails and mackerel scales make ships take in their sails.” This means that if you see Cirrocumulus and Cirrus clouds that could mean a warm front is approaching which brings in precipitation, so sailors used to use this as an indicator to prepare the ships for rough seas.

Next time you go outside take a look up at the sky and see if you can figure out what kinds of clouds are up there and if you see “mares’ tails” and “mackerel scales”, just know we saw them too! And we’re ready by the phones should your home or business suffer from any water damage because of the storms. So give us a call and trust is to make it “Like it never even happened.”

SERVPRO Shares Insurance Tip for Your Business

11/2/2021 (Permalink)

While insurance for your business is typically a given, oftentimes people forget a crucial step of the process. Keeping a well-documented picture inventory of the items in your store or office can often save you both time and money when it comes to filing a claim after a disaster or loss. It’s easy to assume that the process for replacing damaged property or belongings is a pretty straightforward process but you’d be surprised to find out that is not often the case without proper detailed documentation.

Insurance companies value items in losses based on market value and/or age and without picture documentation of what condition your items are in, you might find yourself with an inaccurate valuation for your damaged items. For example, your “expensive vintage decor” that burned up in a fire may be valued based on the fact that they are old, or at the cost of current décor. Sometimes, especially with vintage items these valuations are less than what the products are worth. This is where a picture inventory of your items comes into play. You’ll be able to show your insurance company that the “old wooden chair” isn’t actually just an old wooden chair but is actually a mint condition vintage piece of furniture that is worth quite a bit of money.

We sincerely hope that you’ll never actually have to use that list ever, but if you do it can save a lot of headaches, and if you need someone to come in after a disaster to help mitigate your losses, give us a call here at SERVPRO of Elizabeth City/Outer Banks.