Do I need fire insurance for my building?

10/10/2022 (Permalink)

Is Fire Insurance Required For My Building?

Fire insurance is a type of property insurance that covers the cost of damage to your Mead, CO building, its contents, and surrounding structures. This type of coverage is important for any business owner, but it's especially vital if your building has some sort of fire vulnerability, such as an electrical or gas system. Fire insurance also protects against water damage caused by floods or leaks.

What Is Fire Insurance?

Fire insurance is a form of property insurance that protects the insured against financial losses caused by fire. Property damage and business interruption are two key coverages that are included in standard fire policies. The policyholder can choose whether to include other coverage options, such as personal property loss or additional living expenses.

Fire policies typically pay for:

• Cost of fire restoration (the cost to repair or replace damaged structures)
• Loss of inventory from a preventable cause occurring during a covered period (if the policyholder maintains adequate security)

How to file a fire claim

If you have suffered a fire in your building, here are the steps to take:

• Call your property insurance company. The adjuster will come out, assess the damage, and give you an estimate for repairs.
• Get a fire restoration specialist to help with cleanup (removing soot from walls and ceiling) if needed.
• Make sure that all your possessions are covered by smoke damage coverage!

Step 1: Contact your insurance provider.

After you contact the fire department, it is important to contact your insurance provider. They will be able to give you more details about what the next steps are and whether they cover any of the damage that has occurred.

If you have an insurance claim reference number (if not given by your provider, ask for one), then call up your fire restoration specialist and tell them what happened. At SERVPRO, they will handle the entire claims process from start to finish. They will also send out an adjuster to inspect the damage and assess if there is any threat left behind from smoke or other toxic gases that could cause further problems in nearby homes/buildings or affect the air quality.

Step 2: Contact a fire restoration specialist.

Once you’ve contacted your insurance provider, find a reputable fire restoration specialist, such as SERVPRO. It is easy to find them online by searching for “Fire Restoration Company Near Me” or similar terms. It is important to look for a company that has the training, experience, and equipment necessary to handle a fire loss. Fire damage can be difficult to clean up, and requires trained professionals in order to be done correctly.

Step 3: Determine the extent of the damage.

The next step in the process is to determine the extent of the damage. This can be a difficult task, as it may not be immediately apparent how much water was used to put out a fire or how much smoke damage there was. It's important that you document this process as soon as possible so that you can present it to your insurance company later. The more extensive your documentation and a photographic record is, the better prepared you'll be if there are any disputes over what happened during an incident. Luckily, when you call a company such as SERVPRO, we take care of this entire process for you. From start to finish our adjusters and technicians will document the damage and progress through restoration.

Step 4: Initiate the recovery process.

Once your fire insurance claim has been accepted, you can begin the recovery process. This begins with removing smoke and soot from the air, which is important to prevent further damage from occurring. You'll also want to begin cleaning up any water damage caused by hoses used by firefighters during their response efforts. It's important not to throw away any damaged items until they are assessed by an adjuster or other representative of your insurance company; otherwise, you may needlessly be denied compensation for those items later in the claims process.

If you’re in the process of buying fire insurance, it’s important to understand what the policy covers and how much coverage you need. This article gives a few tips on how to do that and outlines what steps should be taken after a fire has occurred.

6 Steps for Cleaning Up Sewer Damage

7/8/2022 (Permalink)

6 Steps To Getting Rid Of Sewer Damage

A persistent clog or the smell of sewer gas tells you that you have a problem with the plumbing in your commercial building. If you don’t fix it, it could turn into a bigger problem that requires sewer cleanup. Sewage remediation experts are trained to complete the cleaning process from start to finish. Here are the six steps they typically follow.

1. Area Containment

Before they deal with the mess, the experts will likely take measures to ensure that it doesn’t spread to unaffected areas. This may involve sealing off the area where the sewer backup occurred and not allowing anyone to enter it who isn’t wearing the appropriate protective gear.

2. Sewage Extraction

Cleaning can’t happen until the contaminated water and detritus have been removed and disposed of safely. Technicians pump the standing water out, removing any debris or particles that came out of the flooded toilet with it.

3. Material Removal

Anything the contaminated water touches must be taken out of the building. This includes all furniture, office equipment, and documents as well as walls, floors, and ceiling tiles that were affected.

4. Surface Extraction

All surfaces must be thoroughly dried during sewer cleanup. The sooner this can happen, the less likely it is that your building will develop a mold problem.

5. Surface Disinfection

Using industrial-strength cleaners, technicians thoroughly disinfect every surface that came into contact with the contamination. After cleaning, the area is tested to make sure all traces of the germs from the sewer water are gone.

6. Area Restoration

The items that can be salvaged are cleaned and returned to the building. The items that cannot be saved must be replaced.

Experts in Longmont, CO, should be called at the first sign that you need sewer cleanup. Don’t ignore the signs that your building may be contaminated. A speedy cleanup process helps you get back to business.

How Do I Know When It Is Time to Replace A Toilet?

7/1/2022 (Permalink)

What Are the Signs That It's Time To Replace My Toilet?

Toilets are highly reliable bathroom appliances that can last up to 15 years in Lyons, CO.  Throughout the course of its life, it may need smaller repairs, such as:

• Float adjusting
• Fixing broken chains
• Changing the flapper

If it is so reliable, how do you know when it is time to replace a toilet? A leaking toilet is not always a sign that it needs to be replaced. Here are a few indications that fixing a toilet's parts will not be sufficient.

There are Cracks in the Ceramic Toilet

If your toilet has cracks, you may need to replace it entirely. When they are noticed in time, cracks can be filled before they spread. Cracks that spread and begin to leak, however, are irreparable and are an indication that the entire toilet should be replaced. If the leak has caused substantial water damage to your property, contact a water damage restoration service to help clean it up and restore your property.

The Toilet is Old

The durability of a toilet can be a con if it means your toilet is too old. Regulations for toilets have changed over the years. You should replace an old toilet if it is over 25 years in age to meet the regulation of 1.6 gallons per flush.

Parts Continue to Break

If you find yourself having to continuously replace toilet parts, it may be a sign that it has reached the end of its lifespan. Likewise, a crack on your toilet that spreads even after you have filled it is a clear sign that you should replace your toilet. A leaking toilet that does not stop spreading water to your floor is a hazard and should be replaced.

A leaking toilet can have many causes and should be addressed to prevent water damage to your property. Whether you need toilet repair or replacement services, contact a plumber to get the job done.

How Smoke Affects Your Building After a Fire

5/4/2022 (Permalink)

After A Fire, How Smoke Affects Your Building.

After a fire in your Longmont, CO, building, you will probably be most concerned with the damage caused by the flames. This is often the easiest to see and can have the most obvious effect on your building. However, smoke damage can also be extensive. There are multiple ways in which smoke can affect your work environment after a fire.

1. Surface Discoloration

During a fire, smoke travels further than the flames and can affect a much larger area. Soot can settle on surfaces, causing discoloration on walls, floors, furniture and other items. Smoke cleaning on hard surfaces can be done relatively easily, but porous items may need extra care.

2. Equipment Damage

Even if the fire itself does not touch your equipment, that does not mean that it has escaped damage entirely. Smoke and soot can become trapped inside electronic devices, causing corrosion if it is not removed quickly.

If you think that a computer or other device has been affected by smoke, do not turn it on until it has been inspected by a professional and smoke cleaning has been done. Doing so could cause the smoke to move throughout the interior of the device and cause even more damage.

3. Smoke Odor

Not all damage from smoke is visible. In some cases, you may experience a persistent odor after a fire. This can be because of soot and smoke particles trapped inside carpeting, furniture or other porous materials or particles in the air. Dry cleaning affected belongings can reduce this odor. If it does not go away after that, you may need to use an air scrubber or purifier to remove lingering smoke from the building’s environment.

Flames from a fire can have an obvious effect on your building, but it is not the only damage that will occur. It is important to have smoke cleaning done to return the environment to its pre-fire state. Professional services can perform cleanup and repairs to return your building to a safe and comfortable space.

The Most Effective Sandbag Alternatives

2/2/2022 (Permalink)

Alternatives To Sandbags That Work

Sandbags can be heavy and messy to fill. Commercial property owners seeking more convenient ways to limit flood damage should consider one or more of the following sand bag alternatives.

Absorbent Materials

Some materials are designed to absorb fresh or flood water and act as barriers. Several styles for absorbent flood control are currently available:

• Crystallized polymer
  
• Powder-filled barriers
  
• Self-inflating sand-less bags

These porous flood dams are intended for one-time use and should be disposed of after each flood event. All of these options are easier to deploy than sandbags.

Water-Filled Barriers

Filling a water barrier can be easier than filling a sand bag. There are several different styles of water-filled barriers to choose from:

• Baffle systems
  
• Cofferdams
  
• Modular blocks
  
• Tube designs

These designs are available in a wide range of sizes. Unlike some flood control materials with fillers that become contaminated, these barriers can be reused multiple times.

Self-Stabilizing Barriers

Self-stabilizing barriers are easy to use to keep flood waters away from a structure. Some of these options are better suited for blocking entrances or windows, while others can be set up in longer runs to keep flood water out of a larger area. Most of these designs can be reused many times.

Levee Machines

Machines are also available to quickly fill bags with sand. The same materials used to make sandbags are needed, with the exception of a shovel. It will also be necessary to either hire or train a crew to safely use this machinery prior to a flood.

All of these sand bag alternatives are relatively easy to use. A property owner may want to invest in a reusable flood prevention solution to limit the amount of water that enters a commercial structure in Longmont, CO. If water breaches the barriers and causes damage, contact a flood damage mitigation and restoration company.