Should I Restore Items or Opt For Replacement after Water Damage in My St. Petersburg Home

5/29/2020 (Permalink)

Your home is in good hands with our team at SERVPRO.

SERVPRO Helps Evaluate the Affected Items to Ensure the Best Course of Action when Restoring Properties 

Exposure to water in St. Petersburg, whether sudden or gradual, affects a wide range of contents and building materials negatively. The damages can touch floor materials such as floorboards, wall panels, and even contents such as furniture. One question that you may have a hard time answering is whether to throw away the affected items or find a way to save them. Several factors can influence the decision you make:

What are the common effects of water damage in St. Petersburg homes?

• Moisture retention by porous and semi-porous materials
• Chemical changes such as running of dyes or staining
• Physical changes such as swelling of wood or stretching of carpets
• Deep soiling

A wide range of outcomes is possible when there is water intrusion in a property. The variations arise because of the unique materials found in the property, the amount of water released, and the exposure time, among other things. A flexible response plan is necessary to deal with different problems effectively. A rigid plan such as extracting water only cannot help you deal with soiling or chemical changes caused by the water spill.

How do I complete all the restoration steps?

The different things you have to do to restore damaged materials can overwhelm you, jeopardizing the chances of restoring the home to its preloss state.  For instance, if you have to extract gallons of water around the property, clean soiled or stained areas, and protect materials such as carpets from permanent damage through stretching, you may have a hard time deciding what to deal with first.

One way to deal with the different restoration processes conveniently is by identifying the level of urgency for each process. For instance, instead of assuming that extracting standing water is the most crucial step when dealing with water loss, you should evaluate the loss and determine whether other steps need to be addressed first. In case there is a carpet on the floor, a step like removing items such as furniture, which might stain it with dyes or rust, has a higher priority. Such prioritization helps prevent severe damages while allowing you to complete restoration.

Another way to overcome the challenge posed by restoration processes is dedicating more resources to the job, thus tackling different processes faster or simultaneously. When you hire our SERVPRO team to handle the restoration, we bring a wide range of equipment to the loss site to tackle a wide range of tasks including:

• Water extraction
• Heating where necessary
• Special storage such as freezing to halt deterioration
• Drying or other forms of moisture management

Can factors beyond the level of damage influence the decision of whether to save items?

Sometimes the decision whether to restore an item or material damaged by water depends on factors beyond the level of damage. One such reason is the cost of restoration. If the costs involved in restoring an item are equal or slightly lower than replacement, it might be better to replace, which also creates a chance to focus on other issues. Another reason that may influence the decision of whether to restore or not is the sentimental value the item might have. Saving family heirlooms or other items that you hold dear is worth the extra work or cost that you might incur. Our SERVPRO technicians help in many ways to achieve the intended goal, including using sophisticated drying procedures like:

• Using drying chambers 
• Using specialized cavity drying equipment
• Using specialized document drying techniques such as freeze-drying

When restoring your property after a water intrusion, you should not forget that sometimes the steps you take might not achieve the goal you have in mind. At times, your restoration efforts may not reverse all the damages caused by the water. For example, when the wood swells, drying may remove all the moisture, but the wood might not regain its original shape, thus rendering it useless for the original purpose. In other cases, restoration processes might create new problems. For example, if the issue is a stain on a carpet, spot cleaning can remove it, but also discolor the fibers. A patch is almost as bad as the stain, so such an outcome is not acceptable. Because of the extensive training and experience our technicians have, we can identify damages that can worsen when we attempt restoration, thus allowing you to opt for alternatives early.

The knowhow SERVPRO of NE St. Petersburg offers, helps ease decision-making when restoring items affected by water intrusion in your Northeast St. Petersburg, Shore Acres, or Meadowlawn home. Call us any time at (727) 522-0000. We're Faster To Any Size Disaster.