Category: Blog

When seeking out a solution to a water damage problem, many people have different ways of doing so. Some seek out the trusted advice of family and friends. Others choose to search online or even in the phonebook still. The thing they all have in common is that they are going to eventually have someone in their home, cleaning up the mess. And despite all the advice they’ll find online or from their trusted sources, there’s still the chance that they may have hired someone completely unqualified to do the job.

According to a survey of 20 recent clients, here are the top 2 things that people were looking for when seeking out a water damage restoration company:

Positive AND negative reviews (and the company’s response): Of course, every company wants to only have positive reviews online, but, something that caught us off guard was the researcher’s desire to find a good number of reviews and to see how the company responded to negative feedback (if at all). In the connected online community of today, actual feedback and actual responses are rare, but, gaining traction as more companies are realizing that people who make the decisions in a household value a company’s response to feedback both negative and positive.

In addition, an extremely HIGH number of positive reviews might be an indicator of issues as well, such as a company engaging in Pay-for-Play practices by offering compensation for positive reviews. In short, people researching companies to hire want to know that what they’re reading online can be accurate. Too many vague, glowing reviews can be a signal that perhaps not everything is above board with this company.

How long they have been in business: In other areas adjacent to water damage restoration, reputations of companies as “shady” or being labeled “fly by night” are not to be desired. In the construction industry, for instance, some companies have the bad habit of changing their name in order to not be held culpable for problems. Other ways of skirting responsibility include changing over ownership to someone else in the organization, but in name only, claiming “Under New Ownership” in order to try and salvage their reputation. Unequivocally, IRS does not engage in practices such as these, and has had the same name and owner since the company was founded.

When you choose a company to work with, you deserve honesty and truth. IRS is here to help you get your home back to normal, and you can count on us to treat you fairly and your home with the same respect we treat our homes.

The after effects of fire damage can be difficult to deal with. Have you ever been to a bonfire, a campfire or just had a big 4th of July cookout? Then you probably know how long that smell sticks around in your clothing, your hair and anything else the smoke encounters. The same happens in your home after a fire disaster. The smoke particles, which are only microns wide across, settle and attach themselves onto porous materials, only coming out after a very thorough cleaning. But what happens when you can’t wash and dry your home like you can do with a tee shirt and a pair of jeans?

Much like dry cleaning takes clothing that cannot be washed with water due to the material, there exist solutions to smoke damage that involve a chemical process. Typically, this chemical is deployed using a thermal fogger, with atomizes the chemical to the same size as the smoke particles, ensuring that the chemical cleaner will go everywhere that the smoke was able to travel.

How this process remediates the actual smoke smell is by encapsulation and neutralization of the odor. By atomizing the chemical to the point of being able to travel to the same places where smoke gets, the chemical is then able to bond and encapsulate the smoke particles, keeping their odor from emanating. After allowing the recommended time for the chemical to work fully, the air is then cleared in the area with the help of air scrubbers fitted with HEPA filters. After this process is complete, the odor should be completely gone from your home or business and you would never suspect that anything occurred in the first place.

When dealing with specialized situations such as smoke damage remediation, make sure you hire a company with the experience to do the job right the first time. IRS is here for you when you need us and when you work with IRS, you’re in capable hands.

After disaster strikes, prioritizing getting your home back together is among the first things that homeowners want to do. However, when a larger disaster takes place, such as a fire in your home, matters become more complicated. Lots of questions need to be answered and lots of decisions need to be made in order to get the ball rolling, but, with an experienced company on your side like IRS, we hope to allay those fears and help get your home back into pre-loss condition faster than any other company in the Las Vegas Valley.

First, let’s talk about water damage after a fire. Typically, during a fire scenario, everyone concerned is focused on extinguishing the flames in order to keep them from doing more damage than they already have. On average, extinguishing fires using a truck-mounted supply can push anywhere between 500-800 gallons of water per minute. While the fire itself does its own damage, leaving any amount of water in that environment for an extended period can and will cause its own problems.

It’s recommended to have the water extracted as soon as is possible in order to begin the dry out process. However, in many cases, electric to the house may have been disabled due to the fire, or, the meter may have been damaged. Either way, power may not be available. And, in these cases, generators have been used on site to power extractors, air movers, dehumidifiers and any other equipment that is needed in order to begin remediating the damage caused by the water used to extinguish the fire.

If there is any silver lining, the water that is being extracted is from the city main or from the fire truck, meaning that it is not hazardous and can be cleaned up without any additional issues that might come with something like a Category 3 loss (read more here…). This is not to say that it’s benign, but, if cleaned up quickly after the fact and not left to stay wet for more than 24-48 hours, then your chances of avoiding more issues is very good.

With a knowledgeable company like IRS, you can be assured that you’re in capable hands. Let us help you get back on your feet and your home back to the way it was before disaster struck.

Something that we love doing here on the IRS blog is pulling back the curtain a bit to show you the process behind the work we do. While we know it’s not standard for a company to do this, with many in the industry hiding behind “Trade Secrets”, we feel it is important to educate and inform people about what actually happens during any type of remediation job we encounter.

For instance, our trucks are geo-located using GPS for a good number of reasons. The most important of which is that when we get a call to come out to a water loss emergency, we dispatch our closest crew to that job in order to make sure our response times are well within our emergency window.

Each crew carries a standard set of kit in every truck to ensure we are prepared to handle anything standard, as well as a few unpredictables. The standard tool and inspection kit that our crews carry are filled with every tool needed during most jobs, including basic shop essentials such as hammers, screwdrivers, drills, measuring tape, drywall saws, etc. Safety equipment and PPE are also standard parts of this kit, including eyewear, protective suits, booties (for protecting your flooring from our workers’ footwear) among other things.

Our crews also are assigned moisture detection equipment, such as moisture meters of both the invasive and non-invasive varieties, moisture meters and hydrometers. This specialty equipment is used to detect moisture anywhere that moisture can be hidden. Each of our certified techs is assigned a kit of their own, as well, including a thermal imaging camera, which can be used in conjunction with our other moisture-detecting equipment in order to pinpoint where a loss is coming from.

Finally, our trucks themselves come equipped with a few standard large pieces of equipment that can be deployed immediately at your home without having to go back to our shop in order to retrieve. These include a variety of air movers and dehumidifiers so that we may get started on any type of water loss at the soonest possible moment.

While it may not seem like a huge amount of gear to get started on the type of work we do, without these important pieces of equipment, our trained and skilled technicians could not do the jobs they do every day. Next time IRS is on your job, feel free to ask our techs about any of the gear they use during your job and they can let you know why we do what we do with it, and how it figures into the overall job. That’s the IRS difference.

When it comes to the safety and security of your home, many people place value on the locks they have on their doors, or the security system they have in place in order to prevent break-ins, yet, very few people ever consider or mention ants and other pests making themselves at home inside your home.

Could seeing ants or other pests inside your home be a sign of something like a water damage problem? Yes, it certainly can be, but, it could also be indicative of other problems as well, so, in order to determine why they are in your home, it is important to note where you find them and the conditions present in those locations.

In the Nevada desert, it’s difficult to find moisture freely outdoors, so, many bugs and pests will take any opportunity to live near a water source, even if it’s in your home (much to your chagrin). Where they move in on depends on the layout of your home and where your water leak is. In some cases, you may find you have a leak under your garage and find dirt and ant mounts appearing around cracks. You might also find them congregating near sinks or other piped water sources.

But, regardless of the place wherein you find them, we are certain you don’t want them there. So, what can you do about them? At IRS, we are all about getting to the root cause of problems, and this is no exception. To simply bug bomb the house or put down insecticides would only be dealing with the symptoms of the real problem: a water leak somewhere that these insects are using as a food source.

We recommend contacting a professional if you suspect you have a water leak somewhere hidden. A knowledgeable company, such as IRS, can determine (non-invasively, in many cases) whether you have a leaky pipe hidden under concrete or elsewhere. When these root problems are addressed and repaired, you will find in nearly all cases that once the water source is gone, these pests move on, leaving you with a safe and dry home.

When removing water from materials such as carpet, depending on the method, there might be a lot of questions running through your mind. What type of materials are in my carpet? Can anything be done to make the process go faster? Is my rug supposed to smell bad? Today, we will try to answer some of these questions for you.

Different types of materials do impact drying time. Unless you were very involved in the process of picking materials for your home, or you live in an apartment or condo, you may not even know what type of material your carpet is comprised of. You might not have even known that there are many different types of carpeting materials, period!

Natural fibers and synthetic fibers are affected by water differently, leaving their drying time much different. In addition, other factors such as the thickness of the padding underneath the carpeting can affect drying time as well. Natural fibers such as wool and jute can have their advantages, such as their strength and stain resistance. However, one of the drawbacks to natural fibers is how much harder it is to effectively dry out. Another drawback is the potential for odors when dealing with natural fibers.

Synthetics, on the other hand, come in a variety of types and styles. Without going into too much specific detail regarding all the different types of synthetic fibers, synthetics do tend to dry much faster than natural fibers, mostly because the carpet material itself is not made to be porous and does not tend to hold moisture well at all.

However, other materials such as the carpet padding, regardless if you have it under natural or synthetic carpet, still has the potential to hold water, which is why mechanical removal of water is recommended more than simply using a dehumidifier in conjunction with air movers. In fact, mechanical removal of water by using water extractors (read more here…) is 10,000 TIMES more effective than the above method of water removal.

So, while the type of carpet you have plays a large role in the drying time, using the right equipment to get the job done quickly and effectively plays just as important of a role when it comes to health of your home.

Short Answer: Yes!

Long Answer: When your home experiences water damage, one thing that is often overlooked is whether you should get your carpet professionally cleaned afterward. While we pull moisture out and deal with potential mold hazards among other things during your restoration process, one thing we don’t do is clean your carpet. So, what are the benefits to getting your carpet cleaned, and, should you do it?

While we have already covered mVOCs in a previous blog post (read more here…), it bears repeating that people tend to forget that carpet collects a lot of organic bio material, including skin cells, pet dander, dust, and all kinds of things we can’t see as well. Any time that water meets these things, ecosystems can form leading to all kinds of smells. Think of it like a wet dog, where the dander and bacteria on their skin has something to feed on when introduced to water. That same process can happen with carpet.

Regarding health benefits, it bears mentioning that when not wet, those same dust, dander, air and other particles can find themselves airborne when disturbed, potentially finding their way into your body either through breathing or through ingesting in some other way.

Other than health benefits, the general appearance of your carpet may have degraded over time due to lack of maintenance. By taking the opportunity to give your carpet the best cleaning that it has had in a long time, you may find that the visual benefits of having a clean carpet are just as satisfying as the health benefits.

Considering the relatively low cost involved with cleaning carpet (we often see offers for as low as 8 dollars per room here in Las Vegas), as long as you know you can trust the company to do the job right, it’s a service we highly recommend after cleaning up water damage. Not only will your home be cleaner, but you may notice it smells better and is, in general, a more pleasant place to spend your time.

You may never have heard of the term, but you may certainly have smelled their smell. mVOC stands for Microbial Volatile Organic Compounds and can best be described as that musty moldy smell many people associate with wet dogs and dank locker rooms. The way these smells are produced is via off-gassing from the growth of microbes; that musty smell might as well be described as the flatulence from mold.

When we compare the smell of mVOC’s with wet dog, let’s look a little closer at what causes that wet dog smell to try and determine the similarities. Like humans, dogs are covered in skin cells, fur (hair in our cases) and other organic material. Unless you are bathing that dog regularly, there is probably an accumulation of dead skin cells, all kinds of bacteria and all sorts of weird stuff just waiting for the next step: the addition of water and the creation of a small ecosystem. These microbes and bacteria now feed off the water and the organic material, leading to that wonderful smell we all are familiar with.

With a wet carpet, for instance, there are a lot of similarities. One thing people often forget is how much dust, dead skin cells and other bio material our carpets collect and accumulate. Even regular vacuuming can only do so much. So, when a water intrusion occurs at your property and comes into contact with that bio material hidden in your carpet, very similar processes happen, and bacteria and microbes feed, creating a little ecosystem and producing mVOCs.

In order to deal with the odors, specific steps can be taken during the remediation process to eliminate them. While mVOCs cannot be removed from the air through conventional means, such as HEPA filters, thoroughly cleaning items and disinfecting them with UV light is one of the few effective means of eliminating these smells entirely.

When dealing with odor problems in general, looking for the root cause instead of covering up the smell is always the recommended course of action. When it comes to mVOCs, their presence is an indication of a problem that needs to be dealt with instead of covering it up. When you want to get it dealt with right, IRS has your back.

When dealing with cabinetry, it’s important to remember that as an organic material, wood is a prime spot for developing mold and microbial growth if it becomes damp and moist in the dark hidden areas that are seemingly in abundance in a cabinet. Under the toe kicks, behind the back of the cabinet against the walls, between cabinets or near water sources and dishwashers, the list goes on. These are all spots where mold growth tends to be found but are not the only ones.

But, why so much focus on cabinets and drying them out properly? Why is this so important? One of the reasons is that cabinets, like so many other furnishings in your home, can be very expensive to replace. When confronted with the decision to allow mold to damage cabinetry beyond repair, many people would probably choose the option to save their cabinetry with just a little bit of drying technology.

One way in which IRS deals with water damage under cabinets is by using a system called InjectiDry, wherein your toe kicks are removed, and a number of small holes are drilled in order to pass the hoses for the drying system which allow an internal drying process to occur. These access holes are then covered by the toe kick after the job is completed. While other drying techniques are available, we find using InjectiDry for this particular application is among the best options due to the rapid speed at which it dries cabinets completely, leaving no possibility for the growth and spread of mold.

If left unchecked, cabinets can be fertile breeding grounds for microbial growth. Considering the cost of replacing cabinets, it makes sense that any company that cares would try to do anything they can to help save you, the homeowner, the headache, hassle and cost of replacing cabinets when it is entirely possible to dry out your cabinets in place for a fraction of the cost.

If you decide to work with a company that does not offer any options other than replacements, it might be worth a moment to ask yourself who benefits the most from this transaction. In many cases, you may find that the company works with a supplier that offers them a cut of the sale as a kickback, or, they might even make replacement cabinets in-house and charge you or your insurance the full amount for cabinets made of material not comparable to the originals.

Be safe and informed out there, and if you ever need a company that you can trust to be honest with you about your home, IRS is always here to help you 24 hours a day.

Short answer: Your carpet

Long answer: Have you ever seen techs from a water damage restoration company and thought to yourself “I could do that, I know when things are dry”? Well, if you haven’t, we can guarantee that someone at some point has. During a water mitigation, one of the first things (if not the first thing, aside from non-porous surfaces) to dry out completely is your carpeting. However, just because your carpet is dry to the touch, doesn’t mean that the job is done. Here are just a few things that are NOT dry, when your carpet FEELS dry to the touch.

Carpet padding and underlayment, both of which can hold onto moisture much longer than expected, tend to be a big surprise, considering that carpet itself can feel dry. Even a bit of moisture left in the padding can create a fertile breeding ground for microbial growth, which is why we stress the importance of allowing our drying equipment to work fully.

Drywall, which continues to wick moisture up the walls, even after water in its’ surrounding area is cleaned up. Unless properly dried out, drywall provides a perfect platform for mold, with organic material and a source of water to feed off. We also like to add “behind baseboards” in this category because they go hand-in-hand. When water is trapped behind baseboards, it tends to also be trapped against the drywall behind those baseboards. Both materials create a dark, moist atmosphere

Kitchen Cabinet bases are particularly susceptible to sustaining long term water damage if not dealt with properly. Like drywall, cabinetry tends to wick up moisture and hold it in dank areas, where mold can feed off the organic wood materials and the water stored within them.

Luckily, all these problems can be solved with a little patience and allowing the drying process to follow through to completion. In cases such as the kitchen cabinets, specialty equipment such as the InjectiDry system might be brought in to speed up the process, but, that’s a blog post for another time!

When all is said and done, if allowed to finish completely, drying out water damage doesn’t have to be a guessing game. Even when your carpet feels dry, allow the experts at IRS to take readings and make determinations of courses of action in order to make sure your home is safe, dry and done right the first time.