Hiring a Professional Water Damage Restoration Company To Clean Property Flooding

Floods are nasty buggers, spoiling lands, farms, roads and everywhere they hit. But what are worse are the floods that ruin someone’s home and property, destroying your home interiors, furniture and other personal belongings. Not to mention the kind of environmental damage and health damage it causes for everyone, including spoilage of everything that comes in its path. Property flooding can not only be an extensive problem but an expensive problem as well and it is often best left to a professional water damage restoration company to rid your property of damages and clear it of contaminants and other debris.

The thing about flood waters is that they not only contain debris and trash, but huge amounts of mud that enter your home and accumulate inside, spoiling your interiors, walls, floors, carpets and upholstery, along with damaging wallboard, furniture and appliances at times. Flood damage can bring in a lot of residual damages to your property, and stagnant water can damage expensive electronic systems like your heater or Air conditioner, spoil other utilities, create blockage in your drainage system and even harm the foundation of your property, so much so that you will have to renovate the basic structure of your home.

When you hire a professional water damage restoration company, the first thing they will do is survey the amount of damage cause to your property. They will make a record of the materials that have been damaged and then make you a list of the cost required to get them repaired or replaced. Once the value of the damage has been estimated, they will inspect the water affected area using probes, infrared tools, etc to determine the actual source of the damage and the total area of the damage. Once they check that, they will be able to tell you if the waters contained bacteria or other microbes.

The restoration service you have chosen will want to quarantine your property to avoid any more contamination and damage to the already effected area. They will first filter out all the water, drain out debris, clear off mud and soil and then dry the structure thoroughly that might even take weeks. All contaminated area will be sanitized carefully, and all effected materials and areas deodorized. If required, they will even break part of your drywall or flooring to get rid of irreplaceable damage to your property structure. Once the property has been cleaned, air purifiers, air scrubbers, dehumidifiers, sub-floor drying machines and wood structure drying equipments will be brought in.

If you are confused about finding the right water damage restoration company, go through your local yellow pages or ask your friends and neighbors if they know one. Once the labor-intensive cleanup is over, the company you hired will go over, checking their inventory and revaluating everything. Make sure you dispose of all upholstery and furniture that have been damaged beyond repair, including curtains or carpet before you being the refurnishing process. Flood water restoration is painful and a lengthy process, but with the right equipment, you can finish it easily and without much of a headache.

How To Save Money By Lowering Your Credit Card Interest Rates

The popularity of credit cards has led more and more people to rely on credit as an alternative to cash.  Credit cards provide people with a line of credit that they can access any time of the month, for as long as they don’t exceed their credit limit.  Credit cards work in a way that allows you to purchase something now and pay for it later.  Depending on what time of the month you make your purchase, you are given as much as a forty-five day grace period.  Other than this, some establishments even offer installment options wherein you get to purchase something expensive and break down the payments into installments over a few months.  You get to pay the total amount in installments and with a 0% interest rate.  This is very useful for big-ticket items like appliances and gadgets.

The Power of Credit Cards

If used properly, credit cards can actually be quite beneficial.  It enables you to spend even if your paycheck hasn’t arrived yet, and it enables you to purchase something expensive and pay for it in fractions.  These are benefits that you don’t get if you pay in cash.  To encourage usage, credit card companies also give exciting rewards to their loyal users.  It’s very tempting to look at credit cards as a magical solution to everything, but there’s a danger to credit cards that causes a lot of people to be buried in debt. 

Understanding Interest Rates

Before you decide to use a credit card, you have to make sure that you understand how credit card interest rates work.  You have to realize that you’re purchasing things on credit but that doesn’t mean you got a free pass.  You still have to pay for whatever you purchased, otherwise you have to pay for the monthly interest rates that credit card companies charge and your balances will grow, instead of declining.  Once you fail to pay the debt you owe a credit card company, you are charged a certain interest rate that’s usually very steep.  You have to understand that this interest rate applies to your entire outstanding balance, so it’s not merely enough to pay for the minimum amount due.  This is exactly how a lot of people get buried in debt, so you have to be wary.

Seeking Lower Rates

In applying for credit cards, you have to look into the interest rates that different credit card companies offer.  There are several credit card packages available, and not all interest rates are the same.  Ideally, you would want to go with the company that offers you the lowest interest rates possible because this will save you a lot of money, many companies will offer promotional zero percent rates, for 12-18 months.  This gives you access to all the benefits of a credit card but with rates that are not so high.  When you’re already buried in debt, some companies also offer to consolidate your credit card debt for you.  All you have to do is transfer your debt to their company and they’ll offer you a payment package with interest rates that are a lot lower.

The Art Of Safely Removing An Ice Dam From Your Gutter

You may have noticed some icicles attached to and hanging from your gutters and thought that they were visually pleasing. However, be warned they are indicators of damage that may be building up behind them. So let’s figure out what ice dams are, how they’re formed and the best, safest and most effective way to remove them.

So what exactly is an ice dam and how is it caused?

Generally speaking it’s a wall of ice that that starts to form up by the edge of the roof, usually at the gutters. When it’s formed, the excess water starts to back up and behind the “ice dam” and creates a puddle of water that can leak into your house and cause significant damage to walls, insulation and ceilings.

When you have heavy snow fall or a blizzard and your attic isn’t ventilated correctly, this in turn creates warmer areas in your attic. So when the snow begins to melt, the accumulated snow on your roof starts to run down your roof until it reaches a colder section like your gutters and starts to freeze again and voila’ you now have an ice damn.

What is the best way to clean and remove those ice dams?

Regular gutter maintenance as in cleaning your gutters on a regular basis is the first step in this process. However, if the conditions are right, your gutters will still accumulate ice dams, because without a soffit the melted water has nowhere to go it will just re-freeze when it gets into those gutters.

Be warned, removing an ice dam is no easy task. If you’re not the active “handyman” type of person you might want to consider hiring a professional contractor to get the job done. Make sure if you do choose to hire a contractor that they are experienced and know what they’re doing.  There have been several horror stories of un- professional contractors that just removed the gutters and when then next snow came it had nowhere to go and fell to the foundation and flooded the basement!

Some important things I want you to remember when you decide to take on the ice dam removal task yourself.  If you roof is covered in snow, don’t walk on it! And if you’re using a ladder, use it the right way. Don’t step on the top rung and make sure you tie it off etc.

The first thing that you need to do is:

·       Remove the snow and ice from the roof

·       Using a push broom or roof rake slowly and carefully pull it down the slope of the roof line

·       Don’t pull it across the roof, because you may damage your shingles

·       Make a little channel by carefully chipping through the ice dam

·       You don’t need to remove all the ice in gutters, just enough to let the water flow through

·       If you have removed the snow from the roof,  the remaining ice in the gutters will melt out and drain when the temperature rises

To lower your chances of having to deal with ice dams in the future, make sure you properly ventilate and insulate your attic. Do some research to find out how many square feet of ventilation that you need per foot of attic floor, each region varies. You can also look into getting an electric vent fan that works on a thermostat to keep the inside temperature consistent.