Archive for the ‘Water Damage’ Category

Discard Molded Foods

Thursday, June 26th, 2008

If we all kept our refrigerators cleaned out along with keeping an eye on what outdated items exist in it, we would probably all have healthier meals throughout the day.  Most people, however, tend to forget just how important cleaning out their fridges can be and just accept the fact that foods will become moldy and that you will have to throw away a fair portion of the food that you store every year.  There are a few things that you can do to prevent mold from growing in your refrigerator, but one of the best things is just to simply keep track of what food is in your refrigerator and how long it has been in there. 

Some outdated items are fine as long as they have not been opened.  Even things like mayonnaise or sour cream can last quite a while as long as they are still in sealed containers.  But, after these are opened, their shelf life drastically decreases and the chance that mold will start to grow inside them goes up significantly.  When you break the seal on an item such as this, you let the air in your home and your refrigerator inside the container.  If mold spores are in the air in your home (and they probably are), these will get inside the container, as well.  This does not mean that they will start to grow immediately, but the longer it remains uneaten, the bigger the chance that it will become the home of a mold colony.

Something else to keep an eye on is sour cream.  Sour cream is notorious for becoming molded and this is unfortunately one of the foods that cannot be saved once it does.  Once you start to see mold spots growing in your tub of sour cream, it is time to throw it out.  This is a porous, highly moist food item and like other foods that meet that criteria, once it becomes contaminated by mold on the top, the whole container is, as well. 

Other porous items that you might not keep in your refrigerator that are popular with mold are baked items.  These are things like bread, cookies, cakes, and just about anything else that you bake in the oven.  These should be thrown away and never eaten.

Other moist items in your refrigerator that tend to have mold problems are things like jelly and jam.  Other spreads such as marmalade can also become molded if left uneaten long enough, so these should be completely discarded as well as soon as mold spots begin to appear.

Fire Damage Restoration

How to Dry Out Your Home

Thursday, June 19th, 2008

If you have had a home or some kind of building submerged in water, by way of either rain, or some kind of flood, then you are probably well aware of just how frustrating of a task drying it out can be. If you have not had to do this before, then you’re in luck, because here are some different ways to start drying it out.

One of the most unexpected things that can happen is a flood. And sometimes, the water can get high enough to where it can get inside of your home, or building, and drying this water out is a long arduous process. And, depending on the building, hot air drying techniques can do more harm than do help.

The very first thing you should do before drying your building out, is to make sure that there is no room for electrical hazard. You should make sure that all of the power in your home is completely off. You shouldn’t just be aware of the electrical hazards; you should keep an eye out for biological ones, because the flood water could very well be infected with human waste, chemicals, dead bodies, and countless amounts of bacteria that could cause serious medical harm. It is important that you protect your eyes, hands, mouth, and wear a respirator. You should wash your hands very thoroughly after cleaning, and once again before eating. It is recommended that you use strong disinfectant hand soap.

It is also important that you keep documentation of the damage done to your home. It is preferred that you document the damage with photos and a video camera. This will be a big help when making an insurance claim and finding out what compensation you will be eligible for.

You should also take time to make temporary repairs to prevent more water from getting into your home and causing further damage. Once again, these repairs should only be temporary.

A recommended place to begin drying out your home is the attic. If there is any wet insulation, you should remove it immediately, because it is cumbersome, and holds a lot of moisture for a long period of time causing more damage to the foundation, such as wood rot, rust, and drywall damage. It is also important to remove anything else that has water on it, or in it. You should make sure, after these measures are taken, that you keep your home cool, and that air is circulating. You might want to keep your windows open for a short amount of time, as long as it’s not raining.

Flood Damage Help