Acworth, GA Home Damaged by Water During Rainstorm

7/22/2020 (Permalink)

SERVPRO of Bartow County is always ready to answer your call for help. Whether it's water, fire, or mold restoration call SERVPRO of Bartow County!

Severe storms happen nearly every single day here in the US, varying greatly in strength and magnitude. The NSSL (National Severe Storms Laboratory), part of the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), classifies a storm as “severe” when it contains one or more of the following: hail one inch or greater, winds gusting in excess of 57.5 mph (50 knots), or tornadic activity. They also estimate that about 10% of the 100,000+ storms that the US faces each year are categorized as severe weather. That means on average in the United States we face nearly 10,000 severe weather events each year.

Sometimes it seems like severe weather is becoming more and more common and touches our lives in many different ways. It could be a class three tornado with winds up to 165 miles per hour, other times it could be a pop-up rain storm that causes hail or isolated flash floods. No matter what type of disaster affects your Bartow County home, SERVPRO of Bartow County is here to help pick up the pieces and make it "Like it never even happened." We are available 24-hours a day, seven days a week and are always ready to answer your emergency service call. 

SERVPRO of Bartow County is a preferred service provider for most major insurance providers like State Farm, American Family Insurance, Metlife, and The Hartford. We also have a great working relationship with our local insurance claims adjusters and insurance agents. Before you file an insurance claim on your home or business policy, call SERVPRO of Bartow County. We can provide you with the information you need, to make an educated decision, concerning the restoration of your property and will provide you with a scope of work and estimate, so that you can decide if filing a claim is your best plan of action.

*The following is a synopsis of the services SERVPRO of Bartow County performed for an Acworth, GA customer. SERVPRO believes strongly in our customers' rights to privacy and would never publish any materials related to the service we’ve performed for our customer, without their express written consent. This homeowner was gracious enough to authorize SERVPRO of Bartow County  to share their experience working with us, and for that we are very thankful.

Customer Initial Call/Notification of Loss: This Acworth, GA customer called SERVPRO of Bartow County at approximately 7:00 am, to request emergency water extraction services. Our highly trained and experienced loss coordinator, calmed down our frantic customer by assuring them that help was on the way. While dispatching a team of water restoration and drying specialists to the homeowner’s address, complete with commercial water extraction equipment, our loss coordinator gathered information concerning the water loss and status of the customers home. Asking questions like:

• Customers name and contact information
• The street address of the property where the damage is located
• Customers insurance information
• How recently did the damage occur?
• What caused the damage? 
• Have utilities (water, gas, or electricity) been turned off?

SERVPRO gathers this information to better inform our technicians and prepare them for the restoration project at hand, as well as insure that they have all the equipment necessary to start mitigating and restoring our customers property, as soon as they arrive on site. SERVPRO of Bartow County prides itself on being faster to any size disaster, and can be on-site within two hours of notification, for emergency service calls. In this instance, SERVPRO of Bartow County arrived at our customer’s home just after 8:00 am, ready to start the drying process. 

Cause of Loss: The cause of loss was due to a sump pump failure. The sump pump was installed in the customer’s crawl space when the home was built in 1998 and in retrospect was due for replacement or at minimum, maintenance based on its age and frequent use. During a heavy rain storm, water levels in our customer’s crawl space drainage system overwhelmed the sump pump and the motor eventually malfunctioned, allowing the water to collect in the crawl space. The storm water arose to affect several areas on the main level of the customer’s home, which would require professional restoration and mitigation.

Kitchen: The kitchen measured thirty feet by fifteen feet with nine foot ceilings. The flooring in the kitchen was sight finished hardwood floors which had been 100% affected by class-3 black water and would have to be removed, bagged and disposed of properly. Baseboards were also 100% affected by highly contaminated stormwater and were removed; All 85 linear feet of baseboards were removed, bagged, and disposed of properly. There was minimal water damage to the sheetrock walls, but due to the nature of the contaminated water, a two foot flood cut was made to remove any contaminated drywall (a two foot flood cut is performed by removing the bottom two feet of sheetrock in a given area due to flood water contamination). The entire affected area was cleaned using antimicrobial disinfectants like Sporiciden, SERVPROXIDE, and Benefect to prevent future mold growth. Five low profile air movers and a low grain refrigerant (LGR) dehumidifier were strategically placed throughout the affected area, to facilitate the drying process over the course of the next three days.

Dining Room: The dining room measured twenty feet by fifteen feet with nine foot ceilings. Again the site finished hardwood floors were highly affected by grossly contaminated rainwater, and would have to be completely removed, bagged and disposed of properly. Baseboards, totaling 29 linear feet, were also removed, bagged and disposed of properly, due to contact with storm water. A two foot flood cut was neatly made to the drywall in the dining room, to remove any affected sheetrock, then was bagged and disposed of properly. The entire affected area was cleaned using antimicrobial disinfectants to prevent future mold growth. Four centrifugal air movers and a single LGR dehumidifier were spaced and rotated throughout the affected area for three days, to dry the structure/building materials to preloss condition and in accordance with IICRC S500 Standards.

Hallway: The hallway measured eight feet by five feet with nine foot ceilings. The flooring in the hallway was carpet which was about 75% affected by grossly contaminated class-3 black water. Because the carpeting is a porous textile, both the carpet and underlying pad were removed, bagged and disposed of in accordance with IICRC guidelines. Around sixteen linear feet of baseboards were removed, bagged and disposed of properly. The entire affected area was cleaned using SERVPRO’s proprietary antimicrobial disinfectants and cleaning products to sanitize the area and to prevent future mold growth. Drying of the hallway was exhilarated with the use of a couple of axial air movers and took place over the next few days.

Crawl Space: The crawl space measured forty-five feet by thirty-five feet with a ceiling that started at about six feet high and decreased to only a few inches of clearance. When our technicians arrived on site, water had collected at the lowest point in the crawl space and was incontact with the insulation, floor joist, subfloor of the main level of the home. SERVPRO’s highly trained and well equipped team of drying specialists used a three inch high volume water pump to remove the majority of the standing water along with their truck mounted vacuum extractor. All damp insulation in the crawl space was removed, bagged and disposed of properly, totaling around 390 square feet of removed insulation. The floor joist and subfloor were cleaned using SERVPRO’s proprietary cleaning products and was treated with antimicrobial products to prevent future mold growth. One LGR dehumidifier and eight axial air movers were dirctionalized and vented to dry the above floor joist and subfloor to preloss condition.

Got water damage? Call SERVPRO of Bartow County today (770) 387-7455!

SERVPRO of Bartow County is a woman owned business and has been locally owned and operated for over seven years. We are proud to support and serve Acworth, GA, Cartersville, GA, Allatoona, GA, Adairsville, GA, Euharlee, GA, Rydal, GA, Emerson, GA, Atco, GA, White, GA, Cassville, GA, Kingston, GA and Taylorsville, GA.

If you enjoyed this blog or would like some additional information on storm restoration, check out some of our previous Storm Restoration Blog Posts: “How to File a Flood Water Insurance Claim in Acworth, GA”; “SERVPRO of Bartow County: Cartersville’s Premier Storm Restoration Company”; “History of Bartow County’s Natural Disaster and Weather Extremes”; “Bartow County’s Epic Flood”; “Hurricane Dorian and the Aftermath”; “Summer Storm Safety In Cartersville, GA”; “Storm Insurance Related Questions”

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