Month: February 2017

Soil Erosion and Foundation Damage

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Soil Erosion and Foundation DamageTypically when we’re talking about water damage we mean flooding in the home from broken pipes or heavy rains.  That type of water damage is substantial and can compromise the construction and contents of your home equally.  This kind of water damage is repaired by replacing walls, insulation, carpeting, and personal effects while investigating the home for lingering mold.  But there are other dangers that can come from long-term water damage you aren’t aware of.

What is Soil Erosion?

Soil erosion occurs in nature everywhere.  Either from wind or water, the top layer of soil is stripped away, often removing needed support for  solid objects such as rocks (in nature) or man-made structures such as roads and foundations.  As water pools on the surface, it works its way along the path of gravity.  This is usually a downhill flow but, when the ground is saturated, it will force its way through all manner of blockades.  For many homes, this means driving away the soil around your foundation for quick, easy access down.

As soil is washed away, pools can form along the edges of your home.  These small pools will work their way into the gaps between your lawn and the foundation of your home.  Once there, water will seep into cracks in the foundation, widening them as temperatures change, causing expansion and contraction of both the concrete and the water.  Even if your foundation isn’t cracked, it won’t stay that way for long.  Water, in its constant trek to follow gravity, will wash away supporting soil, leading to a cracked foundation.

How Can You Protect Your Foundation?

There are many ways to protect your home and, fortunately, most homes come well-equipped to begin with.

Monitor Your Home During Storms – Always keep an eye out during and after storms for any places around the base of your home where water might begin to pool.  All water should flow away from the base of your home.  Make sure that gutters and downspouts are directing water towards storm drains and that any flower beds, bushes, or other plants are not acting as a barrier and holding water in place against the side of your home.

Use Gutters and Downspouts – Make sure that all gutters and downspouts are clean before it rains.  Yes, cleaning these out is a tiresome chore, but it’s essential.  Clear away and dirt, nest, or other debris and make sure that the spouts are releasing water at least five feet away from your home.  If for some reason your home doesn’t have gutters, have them installed before the next storm.

Landscaping – Grass is an excellent way to prevent soil erosion.  The roots work to keep soil clumped together.  Proper landscaping and design slopes the ground around the edges of the home to lead water towards drains that are not near the home.  Plants, gardens, and grass all work to keep the soil in place so it isn’t washed out with the water.  Keep your lawn healthy and your home will stay healthy too.

Install French Drains – Installing a French drain system around the foundation of your home will give a place for water to travel to.  This is something you’ll need to contact a landscaper or plumber to have installed and it will require trenchwork which means temporary yard damage but, for raised homes, it’s almost essential to keep water from damaging your foundation.

With a little bit of work, forethought, and some maintenance, you can protect your home from water damage caused by soil erosion.  Most homes only require maintenance and a regular inspection.  We recommend making sure that all elements are in good working order before the spring storms roll in.

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Flood Insurance Myths

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Flood Insurance MythsWhen you call RestoPros for help with smoke damage, water damage, or a mold infestation, one of the things we do is work with your insurance company.  But to do that effectively you need to have insurance in the first place.  Not all homeowner or renter insurances policies cover every aspect of the home or source of damage.  One of the more misunderstood insurance plans is that of the flood insurance plan.  These plans are neither mandatory (unless you live in a flood prone area) nor are they part of most home insurance plans.

Flood Insurance is Available Everywhere

While flood plains and high-risk areas often require flood insurance for a mortgage or financed home, that doesn’t mean you have to be in an at-risk home to get flood insurance.  Flooding can be a problem during heavy rains or, for certain situations, burst water mains that can flood your home or apartment.  Since flood insurance is separate from standard insurance, it’s worth taking a look and getting a risk assessment.

Flood Insurance Does Not Cover Everything

Take a careful look at what your policy does and does not cover and in what amounts.  Some policies are focused more towards covering physical structures, reducing costs for repairing your building, while others are focused more on loss of possessions.  Read through documents carefully and balance your insurance based on what’s important to you.

At the same time, not all flood insurance covers every instance of water damage.  Flood insurance and water damage are related but aren’t the same thing.  A damaged roof that leaks in water and causes ‘flooding’ is not the same as damage caused by a flash flood.  Some elements are covered by your homeowners insurance and others will be covered through the flood insurance policy you select.  Review both and identify any places where they overlap or spots where the policies fail to cover such as water back-up insurance.  If there’s a hole in your insurance you may find yourself having to cover damages out of pocket.

Once a Flood Plain, Always a Flood Plain

Landscapes change over time.  In the city, as new developments are made and city blocks are restructured, flood plains and flood risks change.  Some sites, such as floodsmart.gov are designed to keep you up-to-date on which areas are at risk and which are now safe from potential flooding.  If you’re concerned that heavy rains in the future may lead to flooding, or are considering purchasing a new home, check to see what the chance of flooding is.  If the risk is high, invest in quality insurance and store valuables in high areas of the home.

Flood insurance is a worthwhile tool and will help to offset the costs of restoring your home from water damage, structural damage and mold growth in the event of a flood.  Insurance is the best way to handle damage to your home in the event of a disaster and is always purchased separately from  regular renter’s or homeowner’s insurance.

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How to Prevent Food from Spoiling

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How to Prevent Food from SpoilingNo food lasts forever, not even that one you’re thinking of.  It’s a shame that we don’t have meals with eternal shelf-lives but we can prolong the ones that they do have.  While refrigeration and airtight packaging have improved the sell-by-dates of many products, there are simple things you can do to improve just how long your food lasts.  Leftovers are an important part of any family dynamic, but when they sit for too long they, like any overly humid part of your home, can start to develop mold and rot.

Food spoils when bacteria and mold begin to grow in or on it.  This process of rotting and spoiling is both gross (because of mold and bacteria) and hazardous (due to the byproducts of both these things).  Food poisoning and foodborne illnesses are more common than you might think, with the CDC estimating that roughly 1 in 6 Americans get sick from foodborne illnesses each year.

Refrigeration

Most of the time when we talk about mold we recommend keeping things cool, ventilated, and dry.  Cool and dry is ideal for most of the food you store as well.  Desiccants are necessary to help keep powders such as flour or baking soda from clumping together when stored while the cold storage of a fridge or freezer helps to stall or stop the buildup of mold and bacteria in food.

Both bacteria and mold are living organisms.  They require certain conditions to thrive and aren’t as adapted to cold environments.  Chilling or freezing an area reduces the ability for spores and bacteria to propagate.  For one thing, the cold temperature is not a sustainable environment while frozen water is not suitable for bacteria to breed in.  You should store most foods in your refrigerator when they aren’t being consumed.  Even all-day events and parties shouldn’t leave items such as cheese, meat, or vegetables out for more than 30 minutes to an hour.

Foods that shouldn’t be refrigerated but should be eaten within a few days of purchase are:

  • Melons
  • Potatoes
  • Tomatoes
  • Onions
  • Bread
  • Apples
  • Avocados

Bear in mind that not refrigerating these items reduces their shelf-life but improves their flavor.  Always inspect food before cooking with it.  To store them for the long-term, freezing is the best option.

Sealed Containers

Another way to protect your food from spoiling is to make sure that it stays in a sealed container.  Without a replenished supply of air, many of the oxygen-dependent molds and bacteria are not able to thrive.  Sealed containers, prevent food from drying out while keeping them guarded against additional contaminants carried through the air or on dust particles.

Salting and Preservation

This isn’t used as often in homes but it’s interesting to point out.  Salted meats were an initial way to preserve meat throughout the winter.  The salt itself would cure the meat, preventing bacteria and mold from setting in and rotting the meat.  You’re also left with a very tasty, if salty, slice of beef.

At the end of the day, the way you protect your food is similar to how you protect your home from mold and mildew.  Storing food in a cool, dry location is important for prolonging its shelf-life.  Environments that are hot or humid will promote rotting faster as they improve the spread of mold and bacteria, facilitating the breakdown of food.  Any food that has been sitting out for multiple hours becomes suspect, as bacteria can set in without showing symptoms early on.  Stay safe, and stay healthy!

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Paint Matching and Repair

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Paint Matching and RepairOne of the worst drawbacks to needing repairs after home damage (whether it was caused by water, smoke, or mold) is trying to match paint colors to repair walls.  It’s difficult enough to match colors on tiny repairs such as removed nails or scratches from wall hangings, furniture, or children, but replacing large patches of paint after repairing drywall in a public room is difficult.  For many people, they just can’t seem to get the color to match just right no matter how hard they try.  Color-matching is hard, and even experts can have difficulty with it.  Lighting, material, and paint-type can all affect the final color and leave you with something that matched right up until it dried.

How to Match Paint

The best way to match paint for your walls is to keep an original can of the paint.  If you painted the walls to begin with, keep an original color swatch or paint can from the initial project.  It’s far easier to match a paint sample when you can take the can in to a professional paint mixer to do the color matching in the store.  If you don’t have an original can, here’s what you should do:

Match the Type of Paint – Try to find out what type of base paint was used to paint your walls (or any object for that matter.  There are minor variations between acrylic, latex, oil, and water paints and if you want a perfect match you’ll need to make sure you’re using the same kind of paint.  Otherwise the final product will look different.

Keep Materials Similar – The most difficult color match for older cars is the bumper.  When cars switched to plastic bumpers, color matching became extremely difficult.  Paint colors dry in a different shade when applied to plastic as opposed to glass, metal, or even drywall.  If you can, take in a sample of the material you’re working with and paint it with the new paint to see if it dries the same color.  Always use the same material and never assume it will look the same on metal as it does on plastics or wood.

Color Guide Samples
Close-up of Color Swatches

Use Color Swatches – This is really the most important thing to keep in mind.  Bring in as many color swatches as you can get.  Compare the different colors to the paint on your walls and mark them down.  Do not ever buy paint after only a single comparison.  You want to test each swatch under different lighting conditions.  Ideally, compare the swatch to your paint during the middle of the day, at dusk, and after dark under the same type of light that you use in your home.  Light bulbs and sources matter for color display.  Most homes use 2700-3000K light bulbs which can change the color of the room when compared to the same wall in direct sunlight.

Once you’ve matched the paint to your wall, don’t just apply it.  Test it out on a few materials (preferably any rebuilding materials you have left from the reconstruction).  Be sure to clean the area, prime the wall for painting first, and then apply the paint evenly.  It’s important to let the paint dry thoroughly between coats.  Once you’re done, no one will know there was ever any damage to begin with.

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