Tag Archives: hurricanes

After Florence: Your house has flooded. Here’s what you should do | Bedford Corners Real Estate

Steps you need to take after a flood

When floodwaters from now-Tropical Storm Florence finally subside and residents are allowed to return to their communities in North and South Carolina, the shift to recovery mode may seem overwhelming.For flood restoration service you will get right here on Smart Dry Restoration.

But what you do in the days after a devastating storm can mean the difference between a relatively fast cleanup and an expensive months-long demolition nightmare.

Experts advise these steps to help protect your safety and your wallet.

Taking care of your health

“The first thing you need to do is take care of yourself. Make sure you’re emotionally OK,” said Elaina Sutley, assistant professor of structural engineering at The University of Kansas. “Only then should you start assessing any structural damage.”

What materials do I need? You should make sure you have knee-high rubber boots, long-sleeve clothing, a respirator, a flashlight, a camera and liquid bleach.

Where do I start? Start by turning off any gas or power to prevent explosions or electrocution. Then begin drying out your home and addressing the structural damage such as a wall collapse or sinking ceilings. And remember: There may still be water left either in the basement or seeping from soaked furniture.

“You need to open up windows and doors. Let things dry out,” Sutley said. Fans and humidifiers can help speed up the drying process.

While everything dries, which can take a few days, homeowners are encouraged to toss any food left in the home along with any absorbent material that has come in contact with water.

“If there was salt-water flooding, there might be corrosion so get an electrician to look at that,” said Jeffrey Schlegelmilch of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness. “Even if it’s not salt water, things could still be dangerous. Fact-check with a professional before plugging anything in.” Call your home electrician services immediately.

What do I do with damaged items? Coastal areas that have experienced floods in the past will likely have protocols for picking up and handling debris such as drywall and large furniture.

What can I keep? Family heirlooms, jewelry, photographs and other valuables can be air-dried and saved. Clean and disinfect them if they came in contact with floodwater.

What should I avoid? Other than contaminated water flow, there could also be animals trapped in your home brought in by the floodwaters.

“Areas like North Carolina have a lot of poisonous snakes. Floodwaters can bring these into your home. Look out for any critters that could be lurking in hidden areas,” Schlegelmilch said.

What happens if I wait? “If your home is just left to sit, it will continue to deteriorate, and it becomes even more of a health threat,” Schlegelmilch said.

Summer’s heat and humidity make for prime conditions for mold, so act fast, Sutley said.

Taking care of your wallet

The sooner homeowners file claims with an insurance agency or the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the faster a resolution can be reached. However, traditional homeowner policies don’t cover flooding. Only flood insurance policies reimburse families for water damage caused by flooding.

“After Hurricane Matthew hit the southeastern United States, I worked on a project where we spoke to households and businesses about receiving assistance from their insurance or FEMA,” Sutley said. “Most people who had insurance and filed a claim received help within 30 days. Most people who applied for FEMA had received it within a month.”

What do I need? Insurance documents, home deeds and your Social Security card can get you started on making an insurance claim.

Photos and videos of the property both before and after the flood are also essential since recovery agencies will likely request proof of the damage.

Where do I start? It’s important to contact your insurance agency before you remove anything from your home. “Insurance companies sometimes want to send someone down to investigate before anything is taken out,” Schlegelmilch said.

After contacting your insurance company, work can began. Homeowners are encouraged to remove any carpet or drywall that has come in contact with water before mold starts to form.

“I would look to CDC guidance for which bleach to use. You don’t want just to get surfaces to look clean, you want to make sure that there aren’t any living mold spores,” Schlegelmilch said.

What if I don’t have insurance? It’s pretty common for people not to have flood insurance, no matter their income level. In coastal regions, it may be mandatory. But for those who live further inland, there are often local aid options.

“Find out what types of public assistance is available in your area,” Schlegelmilch said. “There are a lot of charities that pop up to help people get back in their homes. Some move people to the top of the list who are low income or have disabilities.”

To find out if you qualify for assistance or for more information, check FEMA’s website disasterassistance.gov.

What remodelers learned from storm Sandy | Pound Ridge Real Estate

The Sandy Spectacle

Lessons learned from previous hurricanes

Hurricane Sandy, possibly the most publicized weather event in memory, has dissipated. But remodelers whose businesses lay in its path are likely to recall it for a long time to come. Their experience may also prove instructive: Sandy, climate scientists point out, likely offers a foretaste of things to come, as severe storms, tornadoes, and other freakish weather events begin to occur more often.

Many remodelers in Sandy’s path responded to the storm rather than just locking their doors and waiting for the maelstrom to pass like other businesses did. “We want to be the only company [homeowners] think of when they need to call a remodeler,” says Matt LeFaivre, president of LeFaivre Construction, in Taneytown, Md.

Here are some lessons passed on by owners of those companies:

1) Secure the jobs you’re currently working on: A crew from LeFaivre Construction spent six hours closing up an open wall adjacent to the location of the stick-built sunroom it was about to build. Some companies postponed jobs about to start. Dutchess Building Specialists, in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., postponed removing a roof that was set to come off prior to building a two-story addition, its president Brian Altmann says, and brought in three extra people to get a shingle roofing job wrapped up the Friday before the storm hit.

2) Safeguard buildings and their contents: Obvious measures include covering windows with plywood against glass-shattering debris. But what about rising water? If it’s at all a possibility, clear floors. The foot of seawater that entered Pardini Construction, a mile and a half from the beach in Long Branch, N.J., would have caused far more destruction had electronics and files not been removed, according to sales manager David Brown. And don’t forget data. In addition to regularly backing up computer files, Matt LeFaivre made two separate copies of hard drive contents and stored these at off-site locations. Know how you can Secure you homes here.

3) Take care of your own: In the days before Sandy struck and devastated Long Island, Alure Home Improvement held an “emergency response meeting” to, in the words of its president Sal Ferro, determine “how we support clients, family, friends, and employees immediately after.” Make employees your first concern. If their homes are damaged or they are concerned about damage, they probably, in any case, won’t be part of your emergency response effort for clients. Have a plan and make everyone part of it. Episcopo Brothers, in Summit, N.J., “let everyone know they had to be available for the next two weeks,” says co-owner Joe Episcopo.

4) Decide what services to offer and prioritize requests: In areas slammed by Sandy, homeowners contacting remodeling companies were mostly seeking repair of damaged exteriors, especially roofs. That ranged from “a few calls” at Dutchess Building Specialists to hundreds a day at companies in New Jersey and on Long Island. When Hurricane Isabel hit the Virginia coast in 2003, Criner Remodeling owner Robert Criner found himself so swamped with calls that he at first limited commitments to past customers, then past customers within 10 miles of the company’s offices, then to past customers within 5 miles of the company’s offices. Criner says he quickly realized he “can’t solve everybody’s problems.”

5) Reach out before, during, and after the storm: Gehman Custom Remodeling, in Harleysville, Pa., sent an email blast immediately following Hurricane Sandy, alerting its list that the company was available for repair work. Owner Dennis Gehman says that for taking care of its customers, “we gained a few more.” But if he had to do it again, “we’d do an email blast a day or two before” the storm letting people know “that our phones are on and we’ll respond as long as it’s safe to be out.”

6) Set up clear lines of communication: If land lines to your office go down, how will customers reach you? Episcopo & Sons posted owner and employee cell phone numbers on a landing page. But if your phone system and office staff aren’t set up for it and too many calls come in at the same time, you’ll lose some. Joe Percario, owner of Percario General Contractor, in Roselle, N.J., estimates he received at least 350 calls via cell phone during the first day of Sandy. If he was going to do it again, Percario says, he’d hire an answering service to forward all calls as text messages or email, to ensure that all calls are responded to and that contact information is captured.

7) Prepare to be without fuel and power: In New Jersey and parts of New York, gas stations had no power and fuel trucks were delayed. Episcopo & Sons managed the problem by purchasing 300 gallons of gas and 200 gallons of diesel before Sandy hit. Meanwhile, many companies struggled to work around partial or total power failure. Percario says that if he knew he was going to go through a Sandy-type storm again he’d equip his office with an industrial generator similar to the Honda 9,000-watt industrial generator (price $5,400) he used at home.

8) Stock the equipment and material you’ll need for the work you’ll do:Alure’s Ferro says that his ideas about how to manage an emergency situation evolved “from the day before Sandy to the day after to today.” Among other things, he says, his company would have more remediation equipment on hand. List the products you need, including tarps, chain saws, dewatering pumps, fans, and dehumidifiers. You can lease some of these, but it’s good to get your name in at the company where you lease equipment well before the demand really starts.

9) Know the experts to call: A tree hits a roof and the homeowner calls a day later wanting you to replace the shattered rafters and rebuild walls and floors. But you can’t get started before removing the tree. Tree removal specialists do that. (No, they don’t have to be licensed.) Relationships with such local service providers are essential. LeFaivre Construction, for instance, typically refers clients to one of two local tree removal companies. If clients call and get no response, president Matt LeFaivre calls the tree companies personally.

10) Assess whether you’re set up to handle insurance work: Flooded basements, smashed roofs, yards strewn with downed trees … How will you bill for the repair work you do? Criner says that he opted to submit an estimate with a fixed price rather than billing hourly. He advises that homeowners need to be aware that their insurance may not cover the total cost of all work. With major damage repairs, you’ll probably be dealing with insurance adjusters. It’s a good idea to get someone on your staff trained in how to do that — and expect clients for repair or storm damage work to be in a somewhat different frame of mind than clients for a new kitchen.

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http://www.remodeling.hw.net/business/leadership/postmortem-10-lessons-remodelers-learned-from-hurricane-sandy?utm_source=newsletter&utm_content=Brief&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=REM_091118A%20(1)%20B&he=bd1fdc24fd8e2adb3989dffba484790dcdb46483