Dallas Tornado Damage Repairs

10/24/2019 (Permalink)

SERVPRO of North Irving is locally owned and has restored thousands of properties in their 30+ year history. Contact us for Dallas tornado repairs.

Repairing Your Dallas Home After Tornado Damage

What Comes After Roof Tarping and Board-Up?

Temporary repairs like roof tarping and board-up will go a long way to helping the homes avoid secondary damage.  Most homes and businesses have had temporary repairs completed on their properties, and this helps satisfy your insurance company’s homeowner insurance temporary repairs requirement. 

There’s still more that needs to get done before your home is back to normal.  

If you are hiring a restoration company, what comes next? What should you expect?  

Debris Removal

All debris needs to be removed from your home for a few reasons. First, it’s a matter of safety. Second, the restoration company you choose will need space to move in and out of your home. Third, any debris that remains on your yard has the potential to damage the underlying grass.  

A full-service restoration company will handle the debris removal for you, including large trees.  Everything should be hauled away -- not remain on the curb. 

Move-Out

In homes with extensive damage, all belongings may need to be moved out so workers can correctly clean and restore the property.  

The move-out process has to be meticulously documented.  The reason for this is because all documentation is presented to your insurance adjuster so your claim can be validated.  Just as important, you and your restoration company need to know what items can be salvaged and cleaned and what items have to be thrown away.

Every item should be documented, inventoried, and safely boxed.  Then, they should be taken to the restoration company’s cleaning facilities.  The items are unpacked, sanitized, and repackaged. Your items are then put into a storage facility for safekeeping until they can be returned to you. 

Cleaning Your Belongings - Content Cleaning

Cleaning your belongings is important, especially if they were contaminated during the storm.  Your restoration company should first make sure content cleaning is approved by your adjuster -- this will ensure you don’t have to pay for this out-of-pocket in the back end.  

There are different ways your items can be cleaned.  Companies can either use an ultrasonic machine and/or clean items by hand. 

An ultrasonic machine can clean every nook and cranny of your item.  Picture a large, deep bathtub filled with water. Your items will be loaded onto baskets and dipped into this bathtub, which has detergents and billions of small bubbles inside.  In just a few minutes, contaminants are removed from your items. The final steps are to dry the items, document their cleaning, and re-pack them for storage. This is our preferred cleaning method. 

Another method is hand cleaning.  This process is slower than using an ultrasonic, but may be necessary for especially delicate items.  

Cleaning Your Clothing - Textile Cleaning

Textiles are clothing, blankets, soft toys, sports equipment, and shoes.  If your textiles need to be cleaned, ask your restoration provider: Do you clean textiles in-house? 

Many adjusters today will only approve textile cleaning from restoration companies that can provide this service in-house.  

Textile cleaning can be accomplished in a variety of ways.  One of them is dry-cleaning, although this is rarely done in-house with a full-service restoration provider. 

Instead, full-service restoration providers tend to use a process called the Esporta Wash System.  This is a specialty wet-wash system that uses hydraulic pressure to sanitize items back to food-grade safety. We are a Certified Esporta Wash System operator.

Demolition

After your contents have been moved out, your home’s cleaning can begin.  Your home should ideally be cleared of all outside debris before this step starts.  This will simply help the technicians walk in and out of your property without any additional tripping hazards. 

Demolition is a big part of cleaning your home because everything that was broken inside and cannot be salvaged has to be taken out before it can be replaced.  Demolition can take hours to days, depending on the extent of the damage to your property.  

Trash Haulaway

All debris and demolished items should be hauled away at the end of every shift.  During storm situations, city garbage services may run behind schedule. Taking debris away will discourage unwanted visitors from picking your items and will help set up a safe worksite for the following day. 

Reconstruction in Dallas

It’s important to meet the Reconstruction Manager of the full-service restoration company you use.  Ask yourself:

• How experienced are they?
• Are they someone I trust and will want to work with for the duration of my project?
• How will they work with my insurance adjuster to make sure my claim is covered?
• Will they be available to answer all my questions in a timely manner?
• How will they guide me through the rebuild of my home?
• How long do they think repairs will take?

A great Reconstruction Manager should have plenty of experience rebuilding homes.  They should be empathetic to your situation and have the same goal that you do -- to rebuild your home correctly, safely, and as quickly as possible.  

A Reconstruction Manager will have a team of technicians and administrators behind them to help move the process forward.  There should be frequent communication with both you and your adjuster about the process, and they should be available to answer your questions quickly. 

During a storm situation, your home or property is unlikely to be the only one that has been affected.  This, unfortunately, means that some flooring, wall, and other kinds of suppliers may be on backorder which will delay your reconstruction.  If this is the case, expect a great Reconstruction Manager to be upfront and honest about a realistic timeline for your project.  

Post-Construction Cleanup - Structure Cleaning

After the construction is complete, we’re almost done.  Your restoration company should clean up after the work they’ve just completed.  Since reconstruction dust tends to get everywhere, expect your home to be thoroughly cleaned before your return -- air ducts included!

Move-Back

Finally, it’ll be time to move back into your home.  Your restoration company will take all of your clean items out of storage and drop them off at your house.  Ask your company about their unpacking process. Some may simply drop off your items in boxes while others will take the extra step of unpacking and setting your items for you. 

Water Damage Restoration After Tornado in Dallas

Some properties experienced water damage when storms came just a few days after the tornado.  For those properties, the water damage remediation process along with the tornado restoration process is necessary.  

In this situation, temporary repairs (roof tarping and board-up) are still the first necessary measures to take.  They will help keep additional weather out of the home and will make it possible to stabilize your home for mitigation work to take place.  

Dallas water damage restoration includes:

• Water Removal.  All standing water has to be extracted from your property. The areas it touched need to be sanitized. 
• Drying.  To help prevent mold growth and further damage, the home has to be dried.  Commercial air movers and dehumidifiers should be installed. 
• Daily Moisture Checks.  Every day, a technician should visit your property and ensure that the drying plan is going smoothly.  Changes should be made immediately to help the home dry quickly. 

Choosing One Full-Service Restoration Company or Many Companies

Choosing to work with either one full-service restoration company or many different companies is a decision that only you can make.  

By law, your insurance company and adjuster must honor your choice of company(ies) to work with. 

Let’s Finish Getting Your Home Back Together

Our franchise has been locally owned and operated for over 30 years.  In that time, we’ve restored thousands of homes and have worked with insurance companies to process claims.  

If you are looking for a company to help you finish your home’s cleanup and restoration, we’re here for you the rest of the way. 

We are 1 Company for 100% Restoration.  We routinely help homeowners in need cleanup and restore their properties -- from start to end.  Our full-service restoration services help make an already difficult time easier to manage because we assign you one point of contact that you know you can always count on to guide you every step of the way.  

We live and work in our hometown of Dallas. When the tornadoes hit, we were fortunate enough to stay safe.  Not everyone is able to say that. Whether you decide to let us be your restoration company or not, we’re here to help our neighbors. 

Contact us if you’re interested in a free consultation.  We’ll visit you at your property, answer your questions, and give you guidance during this difficult time.  

We’re here to help.