You woke up to water damage. Now what? If you’re like most people in Portland, you’re likely wondering what to do. Your next step should be contacting a water damage Oregon-based company.
Simply put, sometimes water damage is just unavoidable. To return your home or commercial property to its original state, call a tech for help. The sooner help arrives, the sooner you can treat water damage and combat mold.
Here’s what you need to know about water damage and the solutions available to you.
What Causes Water Damage?
Water damage has many different causes. Some are preventable, like a roof leak, while others – like a flood – are tough to avoid. Regardless of how it happens, a professional company like PNW Restoration can fix it. Here are the most common causes of water damage in Portland, OR:
- Clogged gutters
- Damaged roof shingles
- Floods
- Burst pipes
- Overflowing tubs and toilets
- Broken appliances, like a washing machine or water heater
- Melting snow
- Heavy rainstorms
There are a few reasons it’s important to know what caused your current water damage. The first has to do with your insurance company. The sooner you know what caused the damage, the sooner you can take action. Insurance companies will need proof that you tried to remedy the damage – e.g., placing a bucket beneath a ceiling leak.
Furthermore, knowing what caused the water damage is helpful for your remediation appointment. This helps save your tech time by pointing them in the direction of what you believe to be the cause.
Keep in mind that our techs will conduct a thorough investigation into all the possible causes of your water damage. This ensures that we’re fixing the actual problem, not just putting a band-aid on it as a solution.
Solutions for Treating Water Damage
There are several ways you can go about treating water damage, both by yourself and with the help of a technician. Let’s say that your water damage is minor, like in the form of a burst pipe beneath the bathroom sink. Once you treat the leak, then you can quickly clean up the water left behind. If opting for this, make sure to thoroughly dry out the area. Any moisture left behind can lead to mold in as little as 24 hours.
Generally speaking, you can treat water damage yourself if you are either trained in the field or it’s relatively small. All other cases require the assistance of a trained professional. When a tech comes out, they will first inspect your property to find the source of the water damage.
After the inspection, they will create a plan of action. If there is standing water, like with a flood, then the first step will be to remove the water. This is usually done with buckets and wet-dry vacuums. Then, damaged items will be removed or remedied, depending on the severity of the damage. If items can be saved, your tech will let you know.
Once that is all done, they will move on to drying out the area. This is usually the longest step in the water damage restoration process. It can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days, depending on the severity of the water damage. If you have any questions about what to expect from this process, don’t hesitate to ask your tech upon arrival.
Why Hiring a Professional is the Solution to Treating Water Damage
It may be tempting to try and deal with water damage yourself, but doing so puts you at risk of other problems. If water sits out too long, it can lead to mold in 24 -48 hours. Once mold develops, you will likely have to call a mold remediation company to treat it.
Furthermore, water damage can sometimes be too unsafe to be around. Depending on where the water came from, it could have airborne toxins that could make you and your family sick. Between these issues and how time-consuming it is to treat, water damage in Oregon is best left to the professionals.
If you need water damage restoration help, PNW Restoration should be your first call.
Call Your Trusted Water Damage Oregon Team at PNW Restoration to Return Your Home or Business to Normal
When unexpected water damage happens, you need to know who to call to repair it. The longer water sits, the more likely it is that mold will develop. To avoid this issue, contact the water damage Oregon-based team at PNW Restoration.
At PNW Restoration, we have years of experience treating various states of water damage. No matter how big, small, or severe, you can trust we’ll get the job done. Contact us today to schedule your consultation. We’re here to repair your home or business and get it back to normal.
