Andrea Brooks Andrea Brooks

Do’s and Don’ts when you have a fire

Be safe and be sure the fire is out before you do anything else! 

Once it is safe to return to the home, it is very tempting to want to clean everything yourself because it is YOUR home, and you want it to be livable for you and your loved ones.  That can be a mistake! With some surfaces and some cleaners, cleaning on your own can cause more damage than the fire did. ServiceMaster technicians use special cleaners and professional techniques to remove the residual soot and smoke from your home. Proper cleaning is also needed so you will not be breathing in dangerous particulates that are harmful to your health. So, what do you do? What should you be sure to not do?  

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Andrea Brooks Andrea Brooks

Avoiding Cross Contamination During Cleaning

When people are ready to get the spring cleaning put behind them, they can often take shortcuts to save time, energy or other resources. This can lead to cross contamination if the cleaner is not careful. Cross contamination is when germs are carried from one surface to another. This is usually an undesirable result and sometimes it can even cause health concerns. This can be done by using the same cleaning materials in both rooms while cleaning. So how do we protect ourselves from cross contamination through our cleaning practices? 

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Andrea Brooks Andrea Brooks

Removing Moldy Smells from Your Home

If you recently experienced water damage to your home, whether from burst pipes in December or another cause, be careful – a remaining odor could do more than simply stink. Lingering water damage smells could be a sign that you still have mold growing in your home. Mold thrives in damp conditions. Protect your home and your health by learning how to safely eliminate odors after water damage in your home, using these tips from ServiceMaster Restore®.

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Andrea Brooks Andrea Brooks

Checklist to Help Winterize Your Home

We have already experienced a deep freeze here in Georgia in the last throes of 2022, but winter is just getting started so it is still essential that your home is prepared for the cold. Don’t wait until it’s too late. Follow these easy cold-weather preparation tips from the experts at ServiceMaster Restore. Below you’ll find a selection of checklists and tips to winterize your home and help keep everyone safe.

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Andrea Brooks Andrea Brooks

Factors That Affect Water Damage Restoration Cost

Water damage can ruin everything from your furniture and rugs to your studs, structure of your home, and even your electrical wiring, if submerged for an extended period. But it doesn’t just cause problems in the moment. If left untreated, even a little water damage will inevitably worsen over time and can cause major problems such as warped floors, damaged walls, and even lead to mold growth. That’s why taking water damage restoration seriously, and thoroughly are so critical. It’s not just about stopping the immediate damage; it’s about preventing complications in the future.

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Andrea Brooks Andrea Brooks

Thanksgiving is coming; is your home ready?

We all know there is a LOT of information out there on how to be ready to be the perfect host for your family and friends at Thanksgiving. There are articles about decorations, guest lists, recipes, shopping, and cooking for the big day. This does not always include getting your home ready. So how do you get the home itself ready to be filled with visitors while you are busy in the kitchen?

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Andrea Brooks Andrea Brooks

Tips for Getting Burnt Food Smells Out of Your Home

Unless you never cook, you have had a bad day where the meal you are cooking burned leaving that awful smoke and burnt smell all over your house! Everyone that lives there wants you to make it stop. What do you do when you need to clean a burnt odor out of your home because that smell goes everywhere and gets into everything?

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Andrea Brooks Andrea Brooks

How does water damage mitigation equipment work to dry your home?

Water damage mitigations are very complex. Each loss has different needs depending on source of loss, areas affected, age and layout of the home or business, how long things have been wet, the amount of water involved, whether there is any biological growth such as mold, etc. So how do the different pieces of equipment work together to dry your home or business?

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Andrea Brooks Andrea Brooks

Water Damage Dry Standards – What are they, and how are they measured?

If you have ever had a water loss requiring mitigation, you know that the technicians must check regularly to make sure drying is progressing and to determine when it is time to remove the equipment. To understand what they are doing, you need to understand what they are looking for when they evaluate the damage from a water loss.

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Sandy Williamson Sandy Williamson

Water Damage - When to Call ServiceMaster

In the “old days” that most of us don’t remember, when people needed water for cooking, drinking, washing, etc., they would go outside to a well and pump or draw water in a bucket. If they needed hot water, the well water was put into a kettle over a fire. Not easy, but the system worked.

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