Fast Action Is Crucial After a Flood in Your Charleston Property
8/5/2019 (Permalink)
How SERVPRO Handles Carpeting for Flood Damaged Charleston Homes
Some of our most involved work when handling the effects of flood damage in a local home happens when we start to restore or replace the carpeting inside the building. Depending on the situation, the carpeting may need no replacements whatsoever, a partial "patched" replacement job, or full replacement across one or more affected rooms. We take care not to replace any material that can still be saved, but regardless of what treatments we can use for the project, we always have our work cut out for us.
Does the Carpet Need to Be Replaced?
One of the first evaluations conducted by our inspectors after flood damage hits a Charleston home is the state of the flooring. Flood damage that involves black or grey water (including all flooding that happens during a storm) forces us to replace any affected carpeting as quickly as possible. Many floodwater sources are contaminated with bacteria and fungal spores and can lead to mold growth and potential health hazards inside carpeting that is not thrown out. Even with clean-water flooding, we may need to remove carpeting that has warped and shrunk too far to be saved. Not all situations require full replacements, however - sometimes we can cut out a fraction of the room's carpeting and replace it with material that matches the clean side.
How We Save Clean Carpet
The first step in saving carpet is to dry it as rapidly as possible. For this part of the process, we bring in our air movers, powerful devices that create air currents above and below the carpeting to whisk away water. During this process, we keep an eye on the materials to prevent them from shrinking as they dry. Sometimes, we may need to replace tack strips that have absorbed too much water. This is one of our top priorities since fresh tack strips can help to keep the shape in drying carpets.
Putting Down New Carpeting
If we need to replace carpeting for any reason, we compare the styling of your floors to our internal database to find matching materials. We install fresh tack strips and carpet rolls after deodorizing the area to make the room looking "Like it never even happened."
SERVPRO of Downtown Charleston stays ready 24/7 to respond to local calls for help with flood damage from any source. Contact us at (843) 577-2470 for our emergency damage mitigation and restoration services.
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