Month: May 2017

How can I help my Friends who have Mold?

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How can I help my Friends who have Mold?We’re experts when it comes to mold remediation.  No matter the scale of infestation or damage to your home, RestoPros is ready to deliver when it comes to cleaning, repairing, and restoring your home from flooding, mold, mildew, and even trauma.  That said, we’ve done our best to equip you with the knowledge you need to recognize and resolve damage to your home in the event of a crisis.  But there’s only so much you can do by yourself.  Calling in a professional team, even with the fastest response, can take time.  So what advice can we give to those in North Texas who want to help out friends but don’t have the experience to remediate the damage themselves?

Show Hospitality

For many people, cleanup of a home after flooding or disaster isn’t an afternoon event.  In some cases, mold cleanup is a single room and family can live around the cleanup.  Restoration can take place while the homeowner is at work and their kids are at school.  During the summer, the kids need a place to stay and for large-scale problems, many folks need a place to stay for a day or two to speed up the process.  Hotels may be inexpensive but it’s a great opportunity to reach out and offer your guest room or couch to a friend so they have a place to crash.  Even just offering to watch their kids in the meantime will help.

Mold is often found in bathrooms and kitchens, which means that when a home is being cleaned and mold removed, the kitchen isn’t accessible.  Want to help out a friend that’s recently found mold throughout their home?  Offer to take them to lunch.  It can help relieve stress and will provide a meal that they don’t have to find a way to prepare without a kitchen.  Plus, it gets them out of the house so they aren’t trying to move around drying equipment while it’s in use.

Hold a House Warming

This is something that’s not commonly thought of.  We hold apartment and house-warming parties when people move, often bringing them items that they already have in abundance.  But when a disaster strikes, a family can lose many items in an instant.  Once the cleanup is done and the flood waters have receded, a gift of towels, linens, toiletries, and in some cases clothes are helpful to get friends back on their feet.  It doesn’t have to be much, but asking how you can help or offering to hold a ‘back to normal’ party after the home has been restored can be great way to brighten a friend’s spirits after catastrophe.

Just Be There

It’s advice that we all know, but just being there for your friends is probably the best help you can give.  Staying at hand in an emergency, helping to pick up or drop off their kids or cleanup may or may not be helpful depending on the situation.  The best advice we have for you is to just be nearby when your friends need you and ask them what would be most beneficial.  Whether it’s borrowing your shower so they can go to work refreshed or simply just being able to hang out somewhere that’s not their home, they’ll let you know what they need.

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Moisture Vaporators and Water Collection

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We live on a planet where two-thirds of the surface of the world is covered by water.  But there are a few places on the surface of this world where there is, practically, no water.  The air itself is so dry that all containers need to be air sealed to prevent the water from evaporating rapidly.  Air, even in deserts, carries trace amounts of water in it.  The drier the air, the more readily it picks up water (which has a few interesting factors such as promoting cooling through evaporation).

This brings us back to the title of this blog.  40 years ago, STAR WARS debuted in theaters.  Amidst the galactic civil war, we’re introduced to a farmer on a desert world.  His job is to pull water from dry air using an apparatus called a moisture vaporator for use in drinking and growing crops on the arid world.

How a Moisture Vaporator Works

The short answer is pressure and temperature.  Moisture vaporators in STAR WARS would function similarly to an air conditioner or dehumidifier here on Earth.  You see, dehumidifiers contain many of the same parts you find in an air conditioner.  As heat is being transferred between through the unit, the pressure and temperature changes affect how much water the air around it can hold.  Water from the air condenses on the piping and flows into a drip pan.  This is part of why it’s important to get your HVAC system inspected regularly, as it helps you stop mold before it starts of the water has failed to evaporate after condensing.

For a moisture farm, a similar powered system could be used to pull water from dry air.  You would need a more powerful compressor to cool the air in that heat and you would need a better refrigerant than any that we currently use to get the temperature and pressure differences, but it’s theoretically possible.

Still, what if you wanted to farm moisture from a dry climate but don’t have the infrastructure for high-powered weather vanes?  Physical construction can work to your advantage here.  In fact, a team at MIT did just that using a metal organic framework to capture water from the air and collect it during the cool desert nights.

Ideal Humidity

We should point out that, while you don’t need to farm moisture at home, it’s important to regulate the humidity of your home to prevent mold growth.  It can also help you save money in the form of cooling during the summer by helping to improve evaporation using dry air.

Buying a hygrometer, dehumidifier, and a humidifier are all useful tactics for controlling the humidity of your home.  But what’s the ideal humidity level?  45% is best.  Decreasing humidity will save you money on cooling costs and make it unlikely that you’ll have a problem with mold, but reducing humidity too far will have a negative impact on you as well.  Low humidity will mean added heating costs in the winter and will lead to dry skin, lips, and a possible sore throat when you wake up in the morning.

Pushing humidity to far above 45%, while it will improve heating costs in the winter, increases the risk of mold and mildew growth.  So be cautious when adjusting humidity throughout your home.

A Sewer Pipe Burst! Now What?

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Black water linesDamaged pipes and water leaks can lead to mold growth or damaged walls, ceiling, and insulation.  A backed-up drain can cause all of these things by raising relative humidity and it adds in the dangers of dirty water.

While most water lines carry grey-water (used water that is no longer potable) from washing machines and sinks, other water lines carry hazardous human waste.  Still worse, common chemical drain cleaners are caustic and, when they fail to clean out a deep clog they aren’t designed for, flow back up the pipe along with all the other hazards, slowly eating away at pipes and leaving a caustic danger for you to deal with.

So what do you do when a pipe bursts or heavy rainfall leads to a backed-up sewer line that overflows to fill your yard or home?  How should one respond to a failed blackwater line?

Emergency Response

The problem with blackwater lines is that they aren’t pressurized.  Unlike the clean water in your home, shutting off the main valve in for your plumbing won’t always stop the flow of water into your home.  When a blackwater line breaks, the contents of the pipe simply flow with the water. When it’s raining outside, flooding water picks up both black- and grey-water (along with all of their contents) and carries it along.  Shutting off the valve won’t stop this backflow.

When it’s a sewer clog or a toilet that won’t stop running, then shutting off the main valve is the first step.  Preventing additional water flow is essential to stopping the spread of the contaminated water.

The second response is to turn off the main circuit breaker if you can reach it safely.  In flood conditions it’s best to retreat to high ground if you can do so without crossing water.  If the flooding is limited to your home, retreat to an upper room after you’ve shut off the water and call water drying specialists to begin the cleanup process.

Dealing with Bio-Hazards

Even after the flooding has stopped, do not set foot in water that’s been contaminated.  Any water that’s come into contact with an open sewer or water from backed-up sewer line is hazardous and unsafe.  You’ll need to contact a hazard cleanup team that’s skilled in dealing with biological contaminants.  Fumes and bacteria from this water will make you sick and it’s best left to professionals.  Professional cleaning crews will remove the water, dry out the area, and disinfect any contaminated surfaces.

Unfortunately, many personal items are not able to be restored once exposed to damage from a blackwater line.  Risk of infection from diseases carried in this water is never worth the restoration process.  In many cases, insulation and flooring will need to be replaced completely.

Don’t take chances when it comes to dirty water.  It’s never a smart thing to risk your health just to save a little money.

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Protecting Against Flooding Dangers

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The rainy season in Texas can be difficult to predict.  With sudden flare-ups of flash flooding and jumps between clear skies and hailstorms, dealing with a storm is less about responding to the weather forecast and more about general preparation for storms.  Still, in the event of a flood, as most residents are going to face one at some point or other, knowing how to respond to protect yourself, your home, and your belongings is essential.

Dealing with a Flood

We’ll start with the most urgent, what to do when your home is already being flooded.  Regardless of whether your home is being flooded by a burst pipe or excessive rain, the response is roughly the same.  The main difference is, if the flooding is due to a pipe, turn off the main shutoff valve first.  Then:

  • Turn off the circuit breaker to the flooded areas
  • Do not enter the water without protective clothing if a black- or grey-water line has broken
  • Use a shop-vac to begin pumping water out of the room
  • Remove water-logged items for drying immediately
  • Dry carpets, walls, and furniture immediately, seek professional drying services if needed
  • Have your home inspected for mold after the flood has been cleaned up and all areas are dry
  • Repair any damages to pipes, walls, roofing, or foundation

Once a room has been flooded, it’s a race against time to save as much as possible.  Especially during the rainy season it’s always a good idea to store valuables and items that cannot be replaced on high shelves where they’re less likely to be affected by flooding.  This kind of preventative step is essential to dealing with any kind of storm damage or flooding.  What follows are some other prevention measures you can take to deal with flooding before it starts.

Know Where Your Shutoffs Are

Make sure you know how to access all the water shutoff valves in your home.  The most important of these is, of course, the main water shutoff valve.  For any major leak or burst pipe, the first thing you should do is shut off water to the problem area, so know where your shutoff valve is located.

You should also remember to turn this valve off when you go on vacation.  First, this helps reduce water consumption if there are any drips or leaks.  Second, it will prevent an uncontrolled flood of water if something does go wrong while you’re out.

Appliance Maintenance

So many appliances in our homes use water.  The ice machine in your fridge, your instant coffee maker, the washing machine, and the dishwasher are all appliances with direct connections to a water source.  Ignoring basic maintenance for these devices and their connections is a recipe for disaster.  Water storage units like your water heater should be drained and the sediment removed regularly, while water hose connections (such as the one on your washing machine) should be inspected for signs of aging, wear, or seal damage.

Storm Doors and Windows

Damaged frames, loose weather-stripping, and sticky doors are all signs that it’s time to fix your home.  Sticky doors are usually caused by wood that swells due to higher humidity (or a cracked foundation).  When it comes to water ingress, making sure that your windows and doors are sealed against the weather is essentially.  Check the edges of each, making sure that both the frame and the door or window are making a firm seal.  Examine any weather-stripping to make sure it’s not worn away or damaged, and replace as needed.

Protect your Foundation

Always protect your foundation.  The concrete slab beneath your home needs some water in the surrounding soil to keep it from cracking, but too much water will lead to seepage.  Concrete is mildly porous and when water pools next to your foundation it will, eventually, find a way in.  Make sure that gutters are draining away from your foundation, that the ground is always sloped away from the edge of your home, and that bushes and flowerbeds are far enough from the edge to prevent water from pooling.

You should also take care of cracks in your foundation immediately.  Water will cause more damage if it’s able to enter your foundation and will eventually seep into your home as well.  Repair cracks and have your foundation resealed or lined to prevent future damage.

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