Emergency Response: How Residential Damage Restoration Services Can Save Your Home
Here’s the thing about emergencies: they always catch you off guard. Despite your best efforts to be prepared, unforeseen events like storms and accidents are beyond our control. That is why knowing who to call for quality residential restoration services matters.
Knowing how to treat the most common forms of residential damage, like mold infestations and water leaks, is imperative to restore your home to its former glory, as well as offset illness for yourself and your loved ones. By partnering with an emergency response team, you maximize the likelihood of returning your home to its original state.
Continue reading to learn more about the most common types of residential damage and how a restoration service can help!
4 Types of Residential Damage
There are four main types of residential damage you may encounter as a homeowner:
- Water Damage
- Fire Damage
- Mold Infestations
- Storm Damage
Here’s a closer look at what each type of residential damage is and how it occurs.
Residential Water Damage
Water damage is one of the most common types of residential property damage, accounting for approximately 20% of insurance claims throughout the United States. From plumbing issues like burst pipes and faulty fixtures to severe storms resulting in roof leaks, basement floods, or window leaks, water damage can occur in many ways, making it extremely prevalent.
Because of how damaging water can be to your home, it’s critical to act quickly when water damage strikes. Experience in dealing with these factors goes a long way to ensuring your water damage is treated swiftly and correctly – and most importantly, that it doesn’t lead to mold. That’s why it’s critical to contact a professional water damage restoration company.
Residential Fire Damage
House fires may be caused by cooking mishaps, candles left unattended, chimney failure, bad electrical wiring, or even a malfunctioning space heater. Regardless of the cause, the damage that persists after a fire is typically one of the most severe.
This damage could take the form of collapsed walls and floors and even water damage to your carpet, furniture, and drywall to put out the fire. Then, of course, there’s the smoke damage. Not only can smoke discolor your walls and turn them yellow but that smoky smell will get trapped in upholstered items, making it hard to get rid of – that is, until you hire a professional residential fire damage restoration company.
Residential Mold Infestation
Among the home disasters listed, mold is the most likely to pose long-term challenges and risks to residents’ health, mainly due to how and where mold thrives.
Mold needs moisture and humidity to survive. If it has these elements, then it can start growing in as little as 24 hours after exposure to water damage – and on practically any type of surface! Wallpaper, paint, metal, wood…mold can survive on them all.
If left untreated, mold infestations can lead to structural issues throughout your home and even serious health conditions, like respiratory issues, allergic reactions, neurological issues, and immune system suppression.
Unfortunately, a mold infestation is usually out of control by the time homeowners discover it. Furthermore, household cleaners can’t treat mold at the source, but rather just on a surface level. What this means for you is mold growth that keeps coming back, regardless of what you do to try and get rid of it. This scenario continues to highlight the importance of hiring a mold remediation technician.
Residential Storm Damage
Last but not least is storm damage, which, as the name implies, has one direct cause: storms. Severe thunderstorms, hurricanes, hail, and even tornadoes can lead to downed power lines, fallen trees, floods, and damage to your roof, windows, and other parts of your home’s structure. In a nutshell, storm damage can be one of the most devastating forms of damage to deal with because it can result in a total loss.
In the aftermath of a storm, you may need varied services ranging from debris removal to partial demolition of a severely damaged area. These are all services your residential storm damage restoration company can assist you with so you can return to safe premises.
Benefits of Professional Restoration Services
When it comes to residential restoration services, the most significant benefit is that hiring a company can return your home to its original state. However, there are several other benefits of professional home restoration services.
Preventing Further Damage
Hands down, one of the top benefits of hiring a company specializing in professional restoration services is that doing so can prevent your home from experiencing further damage.
Take mold, for example. It’s easily one of the most progressive forms of residential fungi, rapidly growing and taking up residence in your home in as little as 18 days. If mold goes unnoticed (which is easy to do if you only visit your basement or attic once or twice a month), it can lead to severe structural damage, such as rot and decay on your ceiling tiles, floorboards, drywall, and various other surfaces.
As mentioned above, not only can mold thrive on (almost) any surface, but when it does, it eats away at these surfaces/materials, making them susceptible to collapse and so much more. Though this is just one example, it highlights the importance of utilizing residential restoration services.
Even a relatively simple repair like replacing drywall can cost hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, depending on the severity. If you want to avoid costly bills down the line, invest in professional restoration services now.
Health and Safety Concerns Addressed
Another benefit to hiring a mold restoration or residential water damage restoration technician is that doing so can help eliminate your health and safety concerns.
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, “…mold exposure can irritate the eyes, skin, nose, throat, and lungs of both mold-allergic and non-allergic people.”
That list is really just the tip of the iceberg, as further research confirms that exposure to mold (and their mycotoxins) can worsen existing asthma symptoms and other respiratory illnesses, lead to dermatitis, and cause common cold-related symptoms like coughing, red/watery eyes, and sneezing.
However, the list of possible symptoms and illnesses doesn’t stop here, as one study conducted by the National Institutes of Health confirmed that pneumonia is one of the most common manifestations of an Aspergillus mold infection. What makes this news even worse is that Aspergillus is one of the more commonly found residential molds, finding a home in compost bins, on walls, in crawl spaces, and in HVAC systems.
Though the presence of mold is likely to trigger – at the very least common allergy symptoms – water damage also poses a severe risk to homeowners and their families. This is because water damage comes in three categories ranked from least severe to most severe.
The most severe category of water – Black Water – contains toxins from animal waste, decaying animals, heavy metals, and other pathogenic materials. Exposure to Black Water can lead to meningitis, E. coli, and a host of other conditions.
Faster Recovery Time
Hiring a professional to help you with your home’s restoration can speed up the total recovery time. In the case of water damage, for example, getting someone out to your home fast means that the water is removed sooner and the area dried and disinfected sooner, as well. This means that you get to move back in and start using that room sooner, too.
As with any type of task, the sooner you tend to it, the faster you’ll reach the conclusion. Hiring a residential restoration services professional can speed up your move-back-in date by weeks, if not months if you were to solely try and handle the restoration efforts yourself.
Insurance Claims Assistance
Ah, insurance. It’s designed to help you when you need it, but sometimes, there are some unexpected roadblocks to getting the coverage and reimbursement you need for damage to your home.
Fortunately, when you hire a professional restoration company, you can make this process easier because they can offer guidance. Not only does a certified restoration technician routinely work with insurance companies so they can help you understand what steps to take and what documentation to provide, but they are often requested and preferred by insurance adjusters due to their credibility in the industry.
For example, proof of cause of damage is more likely to be taken seriously when provided by a certified restoration technician, making it easier for you to get the money you need. Plus, just having this guidance can make an already difficult situation easier to navigate. One less minefield, as they say.
How to Choose the Right Restoration Company
Whether you are currently dealing with fire damage or a mold infestation or simply want to bookmark a restoration company for potential use in the future, here are a few factors to consider when choosing the right one for you.
Reputation and Experience
First and foremost, you have to consider the restoration’s company reputation and experience. After all, dealing with these types of damage requires specific tools, treatment methods, and knowledge.
Check out the company’s reviews, both on their website and third-party websites like Guild Quality and Google to see what present and former clients are saying about their services. Getting a behind-the-scenes glimpse of their pricing, experience, customer service, and professionalism can give you the confidence boost you need to say yes and hire them.
Certifications and Licensing
Anyone working in the restoration industry can treat fire, water, mold, and storm damage. What sets technicians apart, however, is if they are licensed and certified.
As mentioned above, not only are certified techs able to help you with insurance claims, but they also have experience with the latest restoration treatment methods, technologies, and equipment to ensure that the job gets done right the first time. These things can give you peace of mind that your home is in good hands.
Need Residential Restoration Solutions? BluSky is Here to Help!
Hiring residential restoration services, whether it’s someone who specializes in residential water damage restoration or residential fire damage restoration, can give you peace of mind that your home is in the best of hands. At BluSky, we’re happy to connect you with seasoned pros who can do just that.
Serving residents in over 40 U.S. states, we believe in providing exceptional skill, industry knowledge, and customer service to all who need it. Whether your home was damaged by a flood, bad storm, or fire, we can handle it.
Contact us today at 800-266-5677 or find a location near you to get started! Whether now or in the future, you can count on BluSky for quality residential restoration services.
