Recent Posts
Most Popular Months For Fire Season Are Here.
9/6/2022 (Permalink)
There is a wildfire happening in this homes backyard
To the contrary of what people think, nowadays fire season is all year round. This contributed to the changes on climate.
Although they happen all year round, there is still fire season happening. In California fire season is between July and October, still September and October being the peak months for fires causing more damage. Yes, there may be more fires happening in July, however because of the dry conditions, no rain, and dry vegetation make the perfect environment for catastrophic fires. Specially when there are strong and high speed winds!
Here are some tips to help prevent fire damage to your property due to wild fires.
1. Keep flammable object away from your home. Things like gas or propane tanks, lawn mowers , furniture, toys, etc...
2. Clear out your roof, gutters, decks, and patios from any tree debris or any type of debris for that matter.
3. Remove any dry vegetations around your home or at least anything within 5 feet.
4. Remove any over hanging trees and tree branches. At least 10 feet away from your home and roof.
5. Trim tree limbs that are within 10 off the ground
6. Cover vents and under decks to prevent amber intrusion.
Take these tips and implement them to help prevent fire damage to you property.
Signs that a storm may be approaching
7/15/2022 (Permalink)
There are a lot of dark fluffy clouds
Yes, it is summer season but as you can tell from the last coupe of days that summer is not exempt from getting rain and thunder. In other words, we still get storms during the summer now.
Our world and weather have drastically changed. Now we get weather changes in the blink of an eye. One minute it is hot and the next we are in the middle if a thunder and lightning storm, like the one that we just got in southern Cali a few days ago. So how can you tell when a storm is coming?
Well, there are weather changes that you can see before the storm actually arrives. Look for changed such as:
- Large, puffy cumulus clouds
- Abrupt changes in the wind direction
- Drop in atmospheric pressure
- Sudden drop in temperature
- Darkening sky and clouds
So even though it is summer, prepared for storms because you want to be prepared for any weather changes.
Check out of our other blogs. We have one to help prepare for storm season.
Repeating water conservation tips for the continuing drought 2022
7/1/2022 (Permalink)
California drought monitor graph as of June 28th, 2022
Last year I posted a blog to help the drought situation, but it seems that we are still in Drought! We are now facing historic levels of dryness that has gone on for 3 years now. The water reservoir levels are at an all time low.
If you haven’t done anything to help and do your part for this drought that we are facing, now is the time to begin helping. The same tips that were on my other blog are added to this one plus some more. We now have to make conserving water part of our daily lives.
- Water your yard in the morning or evening– when you water during the day when the sun is hot makes the water evaporate quickly and plants don’t benefit from it like they should. And if you will be doing some remodeling in your garden consider planting desert plants because they don’t need to be watered so much.
- Check for leaks with the toilet test– one way to check if your toilet is leaking is to put food coloring in the septic tank and if it seeps to the bowl with it being flushed you have a leak and they can leak up to 100 gallons per day. An inexpensive rubber flapper may be all you need to fix it.
- Check for leaks in all other pluming- Have a licensed plumber repair all leaks including leaking faucets by replacing washers.
- Shorten your shower– cutting down 2 mins of your shower time can save 1750 gallons per year. Turn off the water while you soap and/or shave.
- Use the dishwasher -Hand-washing your dishes can use up to 27 gallons of water, compared to just 3 gallons for a new Energy Star-rated dishwasher.
- Cover the pool – If you do have a pool make sure to cover it to prevent water evaporation.
- Harvesting Rain water – When we get rain, it is a good idea to invest in water reservoir tanks.
- Appliances- Choose appliances that are more energy and water efficient.
There are many other tips and more info on the following sites.
How to prepared for storm season right now.
6/27/2022 (Permalink)
sign asking "Are you ready?"
Summer is just about to begin, but that does not mean its too early to start preparing for storm season. Yes, storm season is months away, but there are many reasons to start with the preparations early. I will mention these reasons while I also list the things you can do right now to prepare for the storm season.
Things to do right now to prepare for storm season.
In case you have to evacuate:
- Assemble your own preparedness kit with the following: Flashlights, batteries, cash, and First aid supplies, water, cellphone charger and power bank.
- Make sure that your vehicle is prepared for a storm. Check that your windshield wipers are working properly and cleaning all the water. Check your tire that are not worn out by doing the penny test.
- Create an emergency plan and include an out-of-town contact to be your check-in person. Choose a local place where your family can meet in the case your get separated or are separated in the case that your home is unsafe.
Preparing you Home:
- Clean the gutters, trim over hanging trees and trim dread branches.
- have a licensed roofer do a roof inspection to see if there are damages that need to get addressed and fixed
- secure fences.
- Buy sand bags to have just incase needed.
- Secure Furniture
- Make a list of all your personal belongings.
- Inspect all your door and windows and reseal if necessary.
You can start with all of this right now as most of these things a cheaper in price as opposed to getting them during storm season. Starting right now gives you time to plan and get all of this done before those storm months and if anything needs to be exchanged or revised/redone you will have time. You will not be caught off guard getting all this done before time.
A staffing company
6/7/2022 (Permalink)
Thermal camera detecting moisture.
Just this year we were called to do mitigation on a staffing company. This was a water loss that affected quite a few rooms in the building. At first, they were not able to pin point what was the cause of loss because the water was rising up from the floor in various rooms. You could see that the water was seeping thru the floor planks as you step on them.
In one office there was an anti-slip mat where the water was trapped under, so when it was pack out day to start drying, the mat was removed and a whole puddle was discovered. We set up about 9-10 air movers and 2-3 dehumidifiers to begin the drying process.
The plumbers were able to find the source of the leak and fix it and the pack out has already started. Everything from most of the affected rooms were packed out and moved out.
The drying process was not helping the floor so unfortunately the floor had to be removed to be able to get under and so that no moisture was left and mold doesn’t start growing.
SERVPRO of Bellflower finished the drying and now we are in the reconstruction stage.
Have water damage at your commercial property? We Got you!! SERVPRO of Bellflower!
The Kiwanis Fire Presentation
6/7/2022 (Permalink)
SERVPRO of Bellflower is part of a couple organizations including the Kiwanis.
The Kiwanis is a global organization dedicated to helping children all over the world. They help from fighting hunger to providing education. They are an organization in 80 countries and with over 550,000 members. SERVPRO of Bellflower is proud to be a member.
As a member of the Kiwanis, we are able to do presentations and help members be aware of the risks and hazards or water damage, fire damage, mold damage and many other topics.
On may 20th SERVPRO of Bellflower was guest speakers to do a presentation of the hazards of Home Fire Damage. We talked about the following topics: The main causes of home fires, Tips on how to prepare in case it happens, what happens after, & preventative tips.
The full presentation was not long at all but it had very important information that could save a life in case there are in a fire situation or at least helps with what to do after there is a fire, so you know where to start.
Water damage due to solar panel installation company
5/6/2022 (Permalink)
Screw pierced water line
Water damage is prone to happen to anyone’s property. Most of the time it is no one’s fault because it could be an appliance malfunction, appliance wear and tear, piping deterioration, storm damage or things like that. Though, sometimes it can be someone’s fault or accidental fault, like this case.
A property owner at San Luis Obispo called us because he noticed that there was a leak in the celling of his living room. Our techs were sent to do an inspection that same day. Upon arrival they began their inspection and noticed that in-fact there was water damage on the celling and very little on the floor.
The techs continued the inspection to determine the cause of loss. They asked the property owner if he had just installed the solar panels. He responded that yes, they were just installed. They asked because they noticed that there was a screw that had pierced a water line. The installers had made a mistake and made a hole on water like and cause water damage to the home.
We were able to dry in a few days and they had that pipe repaired.
Reaching 2000 SERVPRO franchises
5/5/2022 (Permalink)
2000 Franchises
In 1046 10 large carpet cleaning company founded the National Institute of Rug Cleaning (NIRC) which then later was rebranded 3 time, but it was in the 1960’s when it was rebranded from NIRC to The Association of Interior Decor Specialist that the restoration industry really began. Since then so many changes and additions have happened. Since the beginning of the industry SERVPRO came to be in 1967 by Ted and Doris Isaacson as a painting company but because of their background and experience in the restoration industry they turned it into exactly that. A restoration company with franchise opportunities.
Since then, SERVPRO has grown so much and franchised have been opened up all over the U.S. and Canada. All strategically placed so that whenever there is a loss, they can get to it as soon as possible.
It hasn’t been too long ago when I was saying that there were around 1,900 franchises currently open. Actually, I just said it at a presentation about two months ago and just a few days ago SERVPRO did their 200th SERVPRO episode announcing that they had just sold their 2000 plus 1 franchise! We currently have 2001 franchises and growing.
We work with insurance.
5/4/2022 (Permalink)
Insurance companies
Why hire SERVPRO of Bellflower? Well, there are many, many, reasons why but one of the main ones is that we not only take self-pay jobs, we also work with insurance.
SERVPRO of Bellflower understands that most of these jobs are claims because really who has $10,000, $20,000 lying around and isn’t that the reason we get insurance in the first place. So that if we ever have to go through this we are covered and not have to worry about how you are going to pay for all of this.
We keep in-touch with your adjuster at all times and while we inform him of every step, we do the same with you.
We work with almost every insurance company. So, need to worry that we will not make you property “Like it never even happened.”
How SERVPRO of Bellflower remove smoke and soot from your home after a fire.
4/29/2022 (Permalink)
Something left on top of stove caught fire
When a fire occurs there are residues that are left behind called soot. A lot of the time these fires are not that big, but the smoke and soot that they leave behind is a big job.
What is smoke and soot? Smoke is the cloud that carries the soot. Soot is the fine particle dust that is left behind. Soot clings on to wall, ceilings and building contents. Its is very difficult to remove and sometimes even impossible.
SERVPRO of Bellflower uses industrial chemicals produced specially for those types of jobs, along with specialized equipment.
We use dry sponges to remove soot. When it is a smaller job it where there isn’t a lot of visible soot, it is fairly easy to remove. Now, when it is on the bigger side, we can remove a lot of the soot but not completely. Like I said some soot is impossible to be removed. When we are done, we have to wipe walls and ceilings with a solution called “Wall and all”. When done with that we wipe with another solution to wipe down the walls and ceiling from that chemical so no chemicals are left on walls or ceilings.
Personal contents like big furniture are cleaned and wiped down on site and stored in onsite storage units if needed to be stores for some days. Smaller contents are packed safely in boxes and brought back to our facility to be cleaned and clothes are washed and dry-cleaned.
When everything is washed, cleaned, and wiped down, everything is put back to its place.
We take care of your stuff like if it was ours.
24/7 Emergency Service
