Unfortunately, ascertaining the correct solution can be difficult when there are so many misleading resources online about mold. Some folks might say it’s a non-issue, while others say you might as well tear down your entire house to get rid of it.

There are many anecdotal opinions about mold online, but who better to trust than professionals who have over 30 years of experience in mold removal? At SM Absolute, we provide comprehensive mold remediation services, and we’ve dedicated endless hours to learning the intricacies of mold and the absolute best ways to take care of it. With that being said, there are many misconceptions we often see online about mold. Here are some of them — keep them in mind so that you don’t find yourself uninformed in the face of mold growth!

MYTH: I Don’t See Any Mold, So There’s No Problem

One of the most insidious aspects of mold is that it often becomes a problem far before you can spot it in your home. The reason for this is that mold propagates in the form of microscopic spores. These spores go airborne until they find a moisture-rich spot onto which they can settle and grow. Once they find a home, they will grow until they become a colony.

You know those little black, blue, and green mold splotches you see? Those are actually colonies that have had substantial time to grow. Before you could see them, you can bet that the mold was already there. So don’t ever assume that you don’t have mold just because you can’t see it!

It’s also worth mentioning that mold might be growing in areas that you don’t see. It’s not uncommon for mold to grow within the walls, or behind appliances such as your dishwasher.

MYTH: Mold Is Only Dangerous to Children and People With Asthma

Mold growth, after a certain point, starts to have measurable effects on the air quality of your home, and it can result in health problems for everyone who’s breathing it in. But, for some reason, many people believe that mold-infected air isn’t strong enough to cause problems in healthy adults. They assert that only children are at risk, or people with respiratory issues such as asthma.

Like many myths, there is some truth here — children and asthma-ridden folks are definitely more susceptible to mold-related air quality problems, and the effects might manifest themselves more severely in them. But make no mistake — indoor air quality is dangerous to anybody. Mold growth can cause sore throats, coughing, dizziness, and other nasty symptoms. This is especially true when you neglect treatment and let it grow for a long time. Get ahead of the problem by calling us for mold removal services today!

MYTH: I Haven’t Had Any Water Damage, So I’m Not At Risk for Mold Growth

Mold spores can only grow into colonies in moisture-rich spots, so it makes sense to correlate water damage problems with mold growth. But, it’s a mistake to believe that you need a higher-than-usual concentration of water for mold to grow. California, being a coastal state, has more than enough humidity to facilitate mold colonies, so it can easily grow in your home or building even if you haven’t had any water-related incidents.

The trick, then, is not to destroy mold spores in your home (which is virtually impossible), but to prevent the possibility of it growing into colonies by dehumidifying air. This is one crucial aspect of our mold remediation process — on top of eliminating colonies, we take every measure to ensure that mold isn’t able to grow back.

Myth: I Can Take Care of Mold Removal Myself

The problem with mold is that it’s much more than just a nasty stain; it’s a sizeable collection of microscopic organisms that are hellbent on surviving no matter where they are. Even worse, they’re airborne, so when you scrub away colonies with as much soap and water as you can, you’re really just dispersing spores back into the air and temporarily displacing them. If you don’t take drastic measures to prevent further growth, the problem is just going to circle around back to you.

We follow a comprehensive process at SM Absolute to eliminate mold and prevent it from growing again. Check out the infographic below to see all the steps that are necessary — most of these fall outside of the scope of a simple DIY job!

Mold Removal Services in San Diego and Riverside County

Are you struggling with mold? Have you found yourself coughing and sneezing more than usual? Are you tired of the icky green and black spots that are adorning your walls? It’s time to call for professional mold remediation. This essential service is one of our specialties at ServiceMaster Absolute, and we’ve helped thousands of San Diego and Riverside County homeowners to achieve long-term solutions against mold growth. Contact us today to get started!

The wonderful greenery and scenic landscapes that make an area so ideal to live in have the regrettable side effect of being flammable. If you live in a dry climate, the presence of wildfires is an unfortunate reality. As wildfires become a more regular and intense occurrence throughout the western United States, there is not much business owners can do to prevent smoke entering their local atmospheres and affecting the breathing quality, and health, of their employees. But what can you do? You can prepare your office or other building with the right products to protect indoor air quality and mitigate the effects of smoke particulate exposure.

Wildfire season is upon us.

In fact, the wildfire season in California now stretches year-round. This means that wildfires, smoke pollution, and low air quality are a constant issue for business owners. Wildfire statistics from 2018 show that last year proved to be the most widespread and costly year on record. These fires also caused a record amount of smoke and soot particulates to spread throughout the state. When you look up into the sky during or after a wildfire near you, it is easy to see how the smoke affects the atmosphere. The heat from the wildfire flames causes smoke and soot particulates to rise into the sky and become airborne. From there, wind carries those particles across a larger area. These particulates may block out or dampen sunlight, and you may even be able to smell smoke.

Even if these effects are not extremely pronounced in your area, if there is a wildfire nearby, it is likely that smoke particles are entering your lungs and attaching themselves to your clothes and skin. The small particles that are harder to see and smell are actually the most impactful to your health – according to the EPA, those particles can enter your bloodstream through lung tissue.

When people notice the immediate effects of nearby wildfires, they will often flock to local stores to obtain respiratory face masks and other immediate protection measures. While these measures are not necessarily in vain, using a temporary face mask while outside in direct exposure is not enough to completely protect one’s health from the adverse effects of smoke particulates. The quality of the air being brought into and circulated throughout an occupied building is also of utmost importance. If that air is not properly filtered as it makes its way throughout the building, the air system is essentially spreading the harmful effects of outside smoke throughout the building itself. This can cause smoke damage to the ducts in your building and harm your workers’ health. You can’t expect the workers and visitors inside your commercial building to wear face masks at all times during periods of low air quality, so what do you do?

Stop Indoor Air Pollution Before It Happens

The best way to ensure the indoor air quality of your commercial building and safeguard the health of its occupants is to equip your space with the most affordable and efficient air filtration system on the market. In order to ensure the best quality air flow throughout your commercial building, you will want to make sure that the air is properly filtered and diffused. A diffuser is an extremely common component of heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning systems, otherwise known as HVAC systems. A proper diffuser will effectively deliver filtered air conditioning and ventilation, as well as accurately distribute air throughout the desired area. When you are ready to upgrade your system to mitigate the effects of smoke damage, ServiceMaster Absolute is here for your needs.  We will ensure your HVAC system keeps up with California’s year-round wildfires.

Your Air, Your Health

Don’t let the effects of smoke impact your building. Our team will be there to help guide you down the path to recovery. Our team of IIRC Certified Fire & Smoke Restoration Technicians can often reach your location in less than an hour, and our specialists will work as quickly as possible to stop the smoke damage and remove its hazardous effects. Contact us today!

Unfortunately, they do happen, and no matter how far along your “days without incident” sign is, sometimes you just can’t anticipate an accident.

In the event that an industrial accident does happen in your building, it’s important to take a breath and consider the best ways to resolve it. While we can’t help with everything, we can provide professional industrial accident cleanup services, and we strongly advise against doing this job on your own.

Here are some reasons why industrial accident cleaning should strictly be left to professionals.

Biological Contamination

While this is a bit more macabre than usual for a blog post, it’s something that needs to be addressed if we’re talking about industrial accidents — bodily harm, whether it is relatively minor or fatal, can cause biological contamination and it should absolutely be handled by professionals.

In the event where a copious amount of blood is spilled, great care should be taken by an expert team who has the equipment to properly clean up the mess. Blood can seep into machinery, run through the floor, and more, and you should never take your chances. We have the equipment that’s necessary to completely clean everything up so not a trace remains.

If the worst should happen and there’s a fatality in your company, calling a company for industrial accident cleanup is a necessity. Appropriate steps need to be taken to ensure that the premises is completely restored from the biological mess that results from a deceased body, and it also avoids legal headaches when you can say that you had a professional company to clean up everything. In other words, you just really don’t want to take risks here. If you experience a death in your building, the cleanup should be the least of your worries — save yourself a headache by letting the experts take care of it instead of making things worse by trying to do it yourself.

Proper Cleaning Avoids Accidents in the Future

We aren’t going to pretend that we’re engineering geniuses or robotics experts. However, we do know that, when a major accident happens, great care should be taken to ensure that everything is restored to perfect working order. If things aren’t properly cleaned, you risk the possibility of debris or other materials jeopardizing your workplace.

If, for example, an accident happens with one of your industrial machines, failing to clean up perfectly could result in things getting caught up inside its interior, potentially causing a malfunction in the future. Or suppose you have a chemical spill — you don’t want a situation where you leave any region of your floor covered in a wet or sticky substance. Both options could potentially result in accidents due to the simple fact that they’re a deviation from the norm.

Industrial Accident Cleaning Helps to Avoid Lawsuits

What we do at ServiceMaster Absolute is damage restoration. The word restoration is important here because it implies a return to the original state of what was damaged. This is essential for industrial accident cleanup, because there needs to be no doubt in people’s minds that the area is safe to work in.

When you clean things up yourself, it’s just lacking that sense of authority that you need when people ask you, “is this going to happen again?” By all means, you should be resorting to the professionals in every aspect of the damage control, cleanup just being one of them. If your machine broke, you’d better hire an expert to repair it. If there was an injury, you should be bringing them to the doctor instead of treating it yourself. And, of course, if there’s a mess in the premises, you should call a restoration company to clean it up.

Calling the professionals at every corner helps to assure people that everything possible has been done to prevent another accident.

Cleanup Often Goes Hand-In-Hand With Repairs

With many industrial accidents, it’s highly possible for the resulting mess to be directly correlated with structural harm. If someone drives a forklift into the wall, for example, you’re looking at several degrees of damage — the wall may be broken apart, pieces of the forklift might be scattered about the ground, blood and biological waste could be running from the driver, and surrounding products could ostensibly fall into the vicinity from the impact.
While fallen products and items aren’t terribly hard to pick up (unless they were hazardous chemicals, in which case the problem is escalated), the same can’t be said for the broken wall. Unfortunately, a lot of building owners end up wasting a lot of money because they call different companies to take care of the incident — a cleaning company for the mess, and a construction company for the wall repairs.

However, it’s important for you to know that you often don’t have to double dip into professional services! If you call a company like SM Absolute, you can kill two birds with one stone. We offer structural repair services in addition to our normal damage restoration services. We could easily clean up the damage that’s caused by an accident, and repair it in the process! That’s something that’s going to be monumentally difficult for an amateur, no matter who you are.

Sanitation is Essential

Finally, one aspect of industrial accidents that’s not terribly uncommon is the accidental proliferation of harmful or toxic chemicals in the workplace. This is definitely something that shouldn’t be handled by an amateur, because the mere job of cleaning up chemicals can be a legitimate health hazard. Some chemicals are unsafe to touch, breathe, or maintain general proximity to for extended periods.

If you call a professional damage restoration company, you can bet they’ll have the supplies, expertise, and experience to completely take care of toxic accidents or harmful chemical spills. It’s not always as easy as simply spraying it with Windex and scrubbing away — every accident deserves its own special form of treatment.

We also know of the best ways to completely dispose of waste after the actual cleaning and sanitation has been done. In the same way that a traditional cleaning process doesn’t work for some chemicals, many of them also can’t be disposed of traditionally.

We’ve worked with just about every chemical under the sun and you can bet that we’re connected with the proper channels which will allow us to safely and responsibly dispose of toxic or hazardous materials.

Industrial Accident Cleanup in Chula Vista

At SM Absolute, we are no strangers to emergency damage restoration to the people of Chula Vista and the surrounding areas. As part of those services, we have provided industrial accident cleanup many times over to various businesses. It’s not the easiest job in our repertoire, but it’s by far one of the most important.

If you’re in a situation that calls for professional damage cleanup, we encourage you to contact us today. This is a job that shoudn’t be treated lightly. Whether you’re in Chula Vista, San Diego, Coronado, Riverside, or other surrounding areas in Southern California, we hope to hear from you soon.

The task of restoration in of itself means bringing something that’s damaged back into a condition that feels new. In the case of commercial and residential restoration, this often means replacing damaged components such as drywall or floors. Indeed, at times the job resembles something more similar to construction and building if the damage is bad enough.

The restoration process can be lengthy and difficult, but it’s understandable if you want to see it done as soon as possible. The good news is that there are things you can do on your own to make the job easier for the professionals when they come around! If you want to expedite the restoration process, consider taking these steps:

Chronicle the Damage

Whether it’s fire damage restoration, flood damage cleanup, or any other kind of service, the first step is always the same — you need to assess the extent of the damage and get a professional quote on how much it will cost to repair it.

The more info we get, the easier it is to form a solid estimate and create an action plan for carrying out the restoration. While we won’t do anything until we’ve seen the damage ourselves, having pictures beforehand helps us to get an idea of what we’ll be working with.

Another resource that’s invaluable to us is your own memory of the disaster. If you communicate with us and tell us exactly how the damage played out, it can inform our restoration plans.

For example, consider a house fire. A fire always starts and ends somewhere, and if we’re carrying out repairs, it helps to know where the fire started, how it spread, and how it was eventually put out. If, for example, the fire spread to a certain room but didn’t create very much visible damage before being put out, it’s still possible that the walls and furniture in that room will need extensive smoke damage treatment.

It’s understandable that you won’t have a perfect memory of the event — you may not have even been present when it happened! But the more you can tell us about the disaster, the more well-equipped we’ll be to fix it.

Maintain Good Communication

As with any business, service, or product, a good transaction requires good faith from both parties. At ServiceMaster Absolute, we make it our absolute top priority to treat the unique needs that our clients have. You can bet that we’ll talk with you, get a detailed assessment of the job requirements, and carry them out, informing you along the way. We are proud of our devotion to amazing customer service, and with that being said, the easiest restoration jobs are the ones where the client returns the favor.

Specifically, it’s nice to be able to maintain solid and reliable communication with our clients. It’s possible that we might need to stop by your property to get a full assessment of the damage which needs restoration — this would require an initial call, an appointment for us to stop by, and for us to be able to do the task when we arrive.

If an appointment is set but we can’t get a hold of you, or we go to your property and you’re not there despite your assurances that you would be, this delays the entire process.

There are a lot of little things that you can communicate with us that will make the process easier on both ends, such as the following:

• Availability: Communication is always easier when both parties know the others’ availability, so if we need to reach you for some reason, it helps to know when to when is appropriate.
• Entry Details: Many residences and commercial buildings have barriers that don’t allow you simply park your car and get out. Your neighborhood might have a security gate, your office might have some sort of special access system, and so on. We ask that you please provide us with the relevant information we know to enter the property.
• Preferences: While we generally advise our clients to trust out counsel on the nature of the job, some people have defined preferences on certain details. If we know these before we start the job, it will ensure that everything is done to your exact taste.

Prepare the Job Site

One of the biggest obstacles in a restoration job is preparing the job site itself for work. Most jobs require the space to be relatively empty, allowing our team to bring in our equipment and have breathing room as we perform exhaustive tasks such as teardown or deep cleaning.

For that reason, one of the best ways to ensure that the job is done quickly is to have the space prepared beforehand, by moving all of the furniture and items that are in the immediate space.

Now, we know this isn’t really a simple task, and that’s why we’d never ask you to do it by yourself. Did you know that we offer temporary packing services?

How Temporary Packing Services Make the Restoration Job Easier

If you order temporary packing services, our team of damage restoration professionals will come to your home or commercial building, and pack up all of the furniture and items that are in the job site. We will then transport all of these things to a temporary storage unit, where they will remain until the job is completely finished.

This is a boon to the job for a few reasons. If you don’t call us to move that stuff, you may end up having to do it on your own. This is not only exceedingly strenuous and time-consuming, but it also means that your stuff will just be sitting in another part of your building. This could make it more difficult to use any of the other space or to pass through it. Furthermore, you’d have to do the same thing again to get all of the stuff back into the room or area that’s being restored.

This is a burden for both parties — it takes up a lot of your time and energy, and it can potentially put clutter in our path, even if it’s not in the immediate area that we’re working in.

While it takes a fair amount of time and effort for us to pack all your stuff into a storage unit, it’s a service we’re happy to offer, both because it benefits the customer immensely, and makes the job easier in the long-run.

Water, Flood, and Fire Damage Restoration in Carlsbad and San Diego

Do you have a need for restoration services? Please call ServiceMaster Absolute if you need professional assistance in restoring your home or building. We have the team, experience, and tools necessary to get the job done in a timely manner. Whether it’s fire damage, flood restoration, or smoke damage cleanup, we are happy to help. Contact us today!

Don’t worry, we’re here to help. As it turns out, we have some great idea for some last-minute Christmas presents. They’re a little unconventional, but sometimes those are the best types of gifts.

Specifically, we’re talking about the idea of treating your loved ones to restoration services! Many working adults already have pretty much all of the things they need, so helping them to make productive improvements and repairs in their home can be a unique gift that eases their overall burden and saves them money.

Here are some great ideas for some restoration services you could treat your friends or family to this Christmas:

Drywall Repair and Patching

Some people think that it’s only necessary to perform maintenance on drywall when there’s obvious, severe damage to it. But there are actually many reasons to work on your drywall, which means this can be a valuable service to anyone, even if there’s no one in the family who has recently punched a hole in the wall.

Here are some reasons why the average homeowner might have need of drywall repair services, even if they don’t realize it themselves:

• Fortifying Their Walls: This is especially important for people who have older homes! As with anything in this world, houses and structures tend to weaken over time. This is true for your walls, even if they seem like they’re in ship-shape condition. If you order a team of professionals to fortify the walls, you can ensure that they’ll hold up better to long-term wear and tear. As a bonus, this can also increase your home’s value and give you peace of mind for the future.
• Smoothing Out Chips and Dents: Show us a person that doesn’t have a single chip or dent in their walls, and we’ll show you someone that just hasn’t looked hard enough. It’s pretty much an inevitability that walls in any given home or apartment are going to get dinged up over time, even if it’s just minor. Fortunately, a team of experts such as ours at ServiceMaster Restore can make your walls look good as new.
• Creating Consistency For a New Paint Job: Sometimes, drywall repair and maintenance is done with a bigger goal in mind, paving the way for a more ambitious project. One example is a new coat of paint — a great gift idea is to help prepare your loved one’s home for a new paint job, something that could breathe new life into their home and make it feel new.
• Repairing Holes and Major Damage: This, naturally, is the point where you *need* drywall repair. If you know someone who has significant damage to any of their walls, you can do them a huge favor by getting it fixed for them during the holidays; something that can relieve their burden.

Carpet Cleaning and Hardwood Floor Repair

If you want to go the extra mile with your Christmas gift, you can also consider treating them to floor repair and replacement services. Whether your loved one owns carpeted floors, hard floors, or both, there’s always work that can be done.

Here are some things we could do to a floor that would leave it in much better shape than it was before:

• Carpet Cleaning: Carpets aren’t like hard floors, where you can just scrub them squeaky clean. Dirt, grime, particulate matter, and all kinds of other nasty stuff can accumulate in your carpets, and they don’t just come out when it’s vacuumed. It would be prudent for any homeowner to schedule routine carpet cleaning services at various points in the year. Unfortunately, many people don’t have the budget for this, so it goes ignored. A great reason to consider it as a Christmas gift!
• Hard Floor Repair: Hard floor is often more susceptible to damage than carpet. Tiles can break, chip, or fall apart, and wood floors are easily warped by water. This is a nuisance that often goes long without repair. Fixing the problem for good could go a long way into making your loved one’s home feeling more comfortable and new.
• Carpet or Hard Floor Replacement: One of the best Christmas gifts you could ever get someone is helping them to swap out their 70s teal shag carpet to something new and modern, whether it’s a more tasteful carpet choice, or hard floors. This is something we’re highly experienced in and it could be a total game-changer for the recipient’s living space.

Paint Jobs

We briefly touched on this above, but it deserves its own mention because of how much it can completely transform one’s living space into something that feels completely new!

People tend to underestimate the value of a good paint job that’s performed with an end-goal in mind, such as being complementary to a specific style of interior design. Some rooms are decorated in spite of the paint job — other rooms are decorated in harmony with it, and you can always spot the difference.

At ServiceMaster Absolute, we provide extensive interior paint job services. Getting a new paint job can revitalize a room. Sometimes, it’s nice to do it just because you want a new look, and sometimes a paint job is made necessary from drywall repair — it’s difficult in most cases to find the exact match for the original paint job, so it’s often required to repaint a wall entirely after repairs so there’s not a discrepancy in color shades.

Structural Repair Services

At ServiceMaster Absolute, we specialize in restoration jobs, particularly in repairing damage that has been incurred by fire, smoke, water, floods, or mold. Through our many years of service serving San Diego, Chula Vista, Riverside, and other surrounding regions, you can bet we know a thing or two about structural repair.

Drywall, floors, and paint jobs are three of the most important components in structural repair, but there are also plenty of other jobs that we can do. Do you have a loved one who has a part of their home that needs repair or maintenance? Don’t hesitate to contact us to see if it’s something we’re able to service.

We can help to repair virtually any kind of damage in someone’s home. For many people, this is the best kind of Christmas present, because it frees them of the obligation to spend time and money on the repairs. In many ways, you’re lightening the burden of your friend or family member, and isn’t that a special type of gift unto itself?

Damage Restoration Services in San Diego and Riverside

You don’t have much time left! If you’re still fishing for a good gift, consider getting something that will leave a lasting impact in the lives of the people you’re shopping for. Consider getting something that will ease their workload, relieve them of stress, and give them peace of mind.

Damage restoration services from ServiceMaster Absolute is what you’re looking for. Are you curious as to what your intended project might cost? Contact us today for a free quote!

Dealing with a fire is enough of an ordeal in and of itself, but the aftermath of it can be equally, if not more complicated. We wish this blog post wasn’t so relevant at the moment, but with wildfires tearing through southern California, there’s no better time than now to be educated and informed about the best course of action after a fire.

Hopefully, you’ll never have to use this advice, but in the event that you do suffer a house fire, here are the steps that you should take:

Find Food and Shelter

Have you ever heard of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs? It’s a psychological theory about what humans need most, the idea being that one can’t reach higher levels of self-actualization until more basic, fundamental needs are met first.

At the very bottom of the list are the physiological needs that humans have — food and drink, closely followed by shelter. The bottom line is that, no matter our circumstances, aspirations, abilities, or desires, if we can’t meet these basic needs, all is lost.

A house fire effectively leaves you homeless. So, before you do anything else, look for somewhere to stay. Family and friends should be your first recourse, but you can always find a hotel until you can arrange for long-term arrangements. Disaster relief agencies are also usually willing to provide shelter.
Note that it’s important to find a place to stay even if your home was only partially damaged. This is because of smoke damage — having high levels of it inside your home is a health hazard. Best to stay someone else until you can call for fire damage restoration services.

Make Important Phone Calls

After you’ve settled for some shelter, you can take a moment to sit down, breathe for a moment, and assess your situation. There are plenty of calls you’ll need to make. Here are some numbers you should dial in the event of catastrophic fire damage to your San Diego home:

• Loved Ones: The logistics of dealing with the fire are, of course, important, but leaving your friends and family loved one is a cruelty that they don’t deserve. Tell them what has happened, the state of your situation, and that you’re okay. It’s enough for them just to know, but you also might receive unexpected aid, which can be welcome in such a dire situation.
• The Police: Did you know that seriously damaged homes are enticing targets for thieves? It’s cold, and it’s heartless, but virtue never was the strong point of thieves. It’s not a bad idea to alert the police of the fire — this could reduce the likelihood of being robbed while you’re away.
• Your Insurance Company: Your insurance company is equipped and prepared to deal with a disaster such as this. They will provide valuable guidance for the steps you need to take in this emergency situation, and they will also provide all the important details of what will be happening with your finances.
• Utilities: Is it overwhelmingly clear that you won’t be able to return to your home for a long time (or ever), you don’t want to throw money down the drain into utilities you won’t use. Cancel them all or freeze services. Internet, water, electric, gas, the works — you won’t need them for the foreseeable future.
• Landlord or Lender: Whether you’re renting or mortgaging, there’s someone you owe money to, and they are going to want to know that their property is burnt to a crisp. The fire will more than likely affect your payment plan, so it’s good to keep them in the loop and work with them.
• Disaster Relief Services: As we briefly mentioned above, disaster relief services can provide essential food and shelter in times of crisis, but you need to register them. If you do this immediately after the disaster, their help could go a long way while you get back on your feet.

Inspect the Damage

You’re probably not going to want to wait very long to return to your home — the anticipation of learning just how much was lost is ever-present while you’re away. Your local firefighters will give you the clear when your home is once again safe to enter.

When you’re back home, there are a lot of things you’ll want to take inventory of — it’s not just about recovering your stuff. Here are some things to consider when you’re inspecting the fire damage:

• Take Photos: Photos do a better job at capturing the damage than your memory ever can. This is important for the aftermath, where you’ll want to contact fire damage restoration companies. Take photos of the home, of damaged items, of surrounding debris, broken utility lines, and so on. When in doubt, take a photo.
• Create a List of Damaged Possessions: Creating an inventory of your possessions will be essential for insurance purposes. It’s good to have a list of all the property you can recall in general, but especially important will be those items which were ruined by the fire.
• Assess the Safety: In addition to the things you lost, it’s good to have a general idea of the structural integrity of your home as well as general safety conditions. Are there weak walls or beams? Are there downed power lines? Take note of everything. Professionals have their own means of doing this, but it never hurts to make them aware of certain dangers before they go in.
• Recover Your Possessions: Finally, make sure you take anything that can be recovered. A fire rarely ever claims every single object in the home, and it’s fairly likely you’ll find some items of value that have survived. It’s best to recover these so they don’t wallow in smoke damage or be left open for thieves.

Call a San Diego Fire Damage Restoration Company

If you happen to be in the area where most of our clientele live, you’re probably somewhere near San Diego, or at least in Southern California, be it Riverside, Chula Vista, or Los Angeles. In any case, the next thing you need to do is call a company for fire damage restoration services.

That’s where we come in.

In the most tragic cases of fires, a home can’t be repaired. However, there are many cases where the building and property are salvageable. If you call ServiceMaster Absolute for fire damage restoration, we will work as hard as we can, as fast as we can, around the clock so that you can return to a normal living situation as soon as possible.

We conduct smoke and fire damage restoration services on the regular here at ServiceMaster Absolute, and we have clientele all over the Southern California area who have testified of our incredible service. This praise is due to one factor alone — we care about our clients. We want the best for them, and because of that, we put everything we have into the jobs we take.

Are you the unfortunate victim of a fire, or you know someone who is? Contact us today.

Sometimes, the answer is obvious — water damage in the room itself is a quick path to baseboard swelling, so if your dishwasher or washing machines have recently experienced a massive leak, it’s a clear sign of water damage.

However, sometimes you see baseboard swelling without any good reason to believe that you have water damage problems in your home. We’ve seen this countless times at ServiceMaster Absolute, so we’re here to give you the rundown on baseboard swelling, and what it could mean for your home.

Baseboard Swelling is a Sign of Water Damage

First, let’s just get this out of the way — baseboard swelling is a sign of water damage. Yes, as we mentioned, this should be obvious if you’ve recently experienced any water-related catastrophes in your home. However, water damage isn’t always obvious, and sometimes the first thing that tips you off to hidden problems in your home is something simple, such as baseboard swelling.

If you haven’t had any spills lately, it’s possible the problem could be behind the walls. Leaky pipes can cause moisture to build up in your home’s internals, and as it pools over time, it can start to affect the drywall, ceiling, and baseboards of your home.

MDF Baseboards

If your baseboard has been swelling, peeling, or bubbling, you probably have MDF baseboards. MDF baseboards (short for multi-density fiberboards) are made up of multiple layers of sawdust and resin. MDF boards are a more affordable alternative to real wood baseboards, and they’re exceedingly common in most standard homes.

There are many advantages to MDF boards, but water resistance isn’t one of them. In fact, the composition of MDF boards makes them especially vulnerable to moisture. MDF boards are porous on a micro scale, making it extremely easy for them to absorb water. And when they do, they will start to warp, which is one thing that’s happening when you see them swelling.

What You Can Do About It

Repair

While we generally advocate replacing your baseboards entirely, this is an expense that many people, understandably, don’t want to go through if a DIY option exists. There are situations where your baseboards can be repaired instead of replaced entirely.

• If you’ve solved the water damage problem for good
• If they have dried and the swelling has receded
• If the warping was minimal or barely noticeable
• If the biggest problem was peeling paint

In these scenarios, you could get away with sanding and repainting your baseboards.

Replacement

If your baseboards have warped significantly, it’s best to replace them. Solid, straight baseboards are important to have because they protect the junction between wall and floor. Without baseboards, this area is more vulnerable and more open, leaving your home more susceptible to bugs and dust buildup.

When your baseboards swell and warp, they not only look unsightly, they also cease to perform their job. Warping and swelling invariably distorts the position of your baseboard and can create small openings, which defeats the purpose of the baseboard in the first place.

Water Damage Repair and Restoration in San Diego and Riverside

The good news is this — if you’re in San Diego, Riverside, Chula Vista, La Jolla, or any other of the surrounding Southern California areas, we can help you with your water damage problems. Baseboard repair and replacement is business as usual for ServiceMaster Absolute, and you can bet we put the highest level of care and effort into the jobs we do.

If you’re in need of water damage restoration, flood repair, structural repairs, and much more, contact SM Absolute today.

In this blog, we’ll take a look at some of the essential steps you can take in your emergency preparedness strategy. While fires, floods, and all other manner of disaster can strike at any time and incur unavoidable damage, there are several practical steps that you can make which will be invaluable in the face of any disaster. There are things you can do to ensure that you’ll be safe and provided for in an emergency, and there also measures that can be taken which can reduce that damage that is inflicted on your home and property.

Preparing an Emergency Kit

Create a Food Storage

In times of disaster, it’s immensely important to have food on hand. While you may not have the means to salvage your food in the event of a house fire, you should have some prepared for any other event that would displace you from your home.

This is important for more reasons than you’d think. The most common objection against food storage is the idea that, in modern society, food isn’t hard to come by. Yes, you can eat out at restaurants and take a trip to the grocery store, and if the disaster is isolated to just your home, food probably won’t be the most pressing concern.

However, in times of widespread disaster, it’s critical having a food supply. While food is abundant in California, you’d be surprised to see how quickly the grocery store shelves go barren when everybody is rushing to provide for themselves in an emergency. Access to food can become more difficult by an order of magnitude in occasions where everyone in the city suddenly needs it, and in this scenario, nothing is more valuable than the supply you’ve stocked up.

Food storage needs to be able to rest idly in a home until emergency strikes, so you’ll want things that are non-perishable or otherwise long-lasting. Here are some good recommendations:

• Canned foods such as vegetables and soups
• Powdered substances that can be mixed with water
• Rice

Water

In a similar vein to food storage, you’ll want a fresh supply of water too. Water is generally available in the same way food is, but in the same way, access to clean water can become a much more complicated affair in a large-scale emergency. One gallon of water per person, per day is a good number to aim for, and you should have at least three days’ worth saved up.

First Aid

There’s nothing more important than first-aid in an emergency situation, especially if the fire and flood in question is affecting an entire community. You never know when you’ll need first-aid — whether it’s for yourself, your family, or random strangers.

Injuries can be dangerous in times of disaster. If it’s large-scale, medics and emergency responders might have their hands full. But even if it’s only your home, it’s easy to be distracted by everything else that’s going on. You’ll want to be especially wary of burns if you’re in proximity to fire, and cuts can be extremely dangerous when you’re on the move because they can become infected if you don’t clean them properly.

It’s not hard to find comprehensive first-aid kits that contain just about everything you need, but regardless, here are some things to consider including:

• Bandages and wraps
• Splinting materials
• Syringes
• Stitching supplies
• Creams, cleansers, and antiseptics
• Painkillers
• Prescription Medication

Documents

Of course, every single article you ever read will instruct you on the basics of first-aid and food storage. However, there’s one important emergency supply that a lot of people forget about — documents and paperwork.

One defining trait of disasters is that they often come completely unexpectedly. In a worst case scenario, you might be forced to evacuate your home with almost no notice, and your essential documents might get washed away by water or disintegrated by flames. Your wallet could be among the casualties, or perhaps your important insurance information.

It’s a good practice to have copies of all the important documents you’d ever need in the case of an emergency. Here are some things you’ll definitely want:

Personal Identification: A driver’s license and/or another form of valid ID is essential. You’ll need it to drive, and if you were unlucky enough to lose your cash or credit cards in the disaster, it will be essential in accessing your bank accounts. It also doesn’t hurt to have social security cards, passports, birth certificates, and so on — basically, any form of legal identification you’ve ever acquired should have a copy in your emergency kit.

Insurance Information: While most modern insurance companies have ways of accessing your info should you lose your cards, the truth is that it’s almost always a huge pain, and having all of your insurance information on hand will save you significant headaches. Having proper fire and flood insurance is a life-saver after a disaster — make sure you’re ready to take advantage of it.

Money: Hopefully you were able to save your wallet in the disaster, but if you didn’t, it’s nice to have some backup in your kit. Consider getting a copy of your credit or debit card and keeping it in your kit, as well as some emergency cash.

Storing Your Emergency Kit

It’s good to consider the ramifications of where you store your kit. Consider the fact that you’ll want it to be easily accessible in times of an emergency. If it’s possible, the best practice is to store it somewhere where it would be isolated from disasters that hit your home — floods and fires being the biggest risk factors.

You’ll also want to ensure that the kit isn’t in a location where it would be easily stolen, for obvious reasons (especially if you’re storing your documents inside). For all of the items that can fit in a container, find something that you can lock shut which is easily transportable, such as a rolling suitcase.

If you have auxiliary structures on your property such as a shack, it can be good to store your emergency kit there. A separate building is more likely to survive a house fire, and if you place your supplies high up, they’re also well-protected against floods.

Fire and Flood Restoration in San Diego and Riverside

And, of course, it’s important in every disaster situation to see that the damage is repaired or restored. That’s where we come in. We’re experts in fire damage restoration, flood damage repair, smoke damage clean up, structural repair, and more. We’ve dedicated our lives to mastering residential and commercial building restoration, and we understand how important it is to have these services readily available in times of unexpected disaster.

We cover a vast amount of areas in the Southern California region. San Diego, Riverside, Chula Vista, Corona, and all the surrounding cities are all within our range, and if you’re unsure of whether we could make the trip to your home or commercial building, we urge you to give us a call and ask. We are committed to helping our fellow California residents with damage restoration and we’re highly flexible. If you have recently experienced significant damage to your house or building, contact us today!

A lot of people love converting their home into a haunted house, and we can’t blame ‘em. It’s good fun, it can be great for a party, or memorable for trick or treaters. But, as professionals in the industry of commercial and residential damage restoration, we have to warn you against a few extreme measures.

Want to build a haunted house? Here’s what not to do.

Don’t: Create a Foul Stench With Real Mold

Are you looking to create the most authentic haunted experience possible? What would a real haunted house be, if not filled with the foulest stench? While we’ve never been to an actual haunted house, we’re going to assume they don’t exactly smell like perfume. But we’re going to warn you — if you want to create “the funk of 40,000 years” in your home, please don’t purposefully introduce mold into your home to do so.

Did you know that mold, in addition to foul odors, has detrimental health effects? It can trigger allergies, cause asthma attacks, and worsen the air quality in your home. If you want to create a nasty smell in your home, do it some other way. Or maybe just don’t do it all; we could live with our haunted houses being slightly less authentic.

Don’t: Create an Actual Crime Scene

Yes, Halloween is a holiday where we celebrate the macabre. If it wasn’t such an ingrained tradition in our society, people would probably lose their minds at the prospect of a day where severed heads, bloodied corpses, and spooky monsters make up the lion’s share of decorations. But we’re used to it! So what’s the harm in adding some blood to your haunted house?

Well, before you get any ideas, consider our very professional advice — don’t make an actual crime scene in your home. SM Absolute has performed countless jobs of trauma and crime scene cleanup, and trust us when we say that real blood isn’t pretty, and crime scenes can have severe effects on their environment with biohazards galore. You don’t want this in your home.

And aside from that, well, it’s murder, and that is actually a much more compelling and important reason not to do this.

Don’t: Burn Down Your Home for the Cool Aesthetics

The “old burned down home” is as common a trope in Halloween media as spooky skeletons themselves. But, as tempting as it is to commit arson on your own home, stop for a moment and think of the consequences!

Fire damage restoration is a taxing process, even for professionals such as our team at SM Absolute, and if you ever plan on actually using your home again, you’d be better off not taking a torch to the walls.

And that’s not even considering the grievous effects of smoke damage — did you know that smoke can have long-lasting effects on your furniture and walls? Also, you don’t want little trick or treaters inhaling that as they walk through your incredible authentic haunted house. Think of the children!

Although we appreciate having clients that are willing to pay us for fire and smoke restoration services, we simply can’t advocate that you burn your house down, even if we stand to make a buck from it. Stick to the good old-fashioned jack o’ lanterns and fake spider webs to make your home spooky.

Damage Restoration Services in Riverside and San Diego

We shouldn’t have to tell you why intentionally damaging your home is just a bad idea, even if it could potentially lead to having the coolest haunted house on the block. However, if your home is already damaged in some way, that’s something we’re willing to help with.

At ServiceMaster Absolute, we offer quality crime scene cleanup, and fire damage restoration. And that’s not all we offer — we have a wide variety of other services as well, such as water damage repair, odor removal, and structural repairs. When it comes to restoration jobs, we offer pretty much everything under the sun and we’d be happy to help with whatever needs you have.

We’ve served more clients than we can count in the San Diego and Riverside area, hitting up areas such as Murrieta, Indio, Banning, Palm Springs, La Jolla, Chula Vista, and more. Contact us today for our commercial and residential damage restoration services!

With that being said, it can be extremely difficult for people to maintain their composure when they’re in a fire. It’s a highly stressful, life-or-death situation that can easily send you in a panic. That’s why it’s essential to know exactly what you need to do when you find yourself caught in a building fire.

What You Need to Remember If You’re In a Burning Building

Do NOT Inhale the Smoke

The first thing that you need to know is that you absolutely cannot inhale the tremendous amounts of smoke that will be present. This is one of the most important items on this list, because of the misconceptions a lot of people have about smoke. Most people have breathed in smoke during their lives, whether it’s from cigarettes or campfires, but these things are absolutely dwarfed by the amount of smoke that a house fire produces.

Smoke is toxic and it’s created in tremendous amounts when a building is burning down. If you think it’s okay to breathe just a little bit of it in, you’re wrong. The smoke will be so dense and so thick that it could have dire consequences within minutes.

Here are some ways to prevent smoke inhalation:

• Move around on your hands and knees (smoke rises, so staying low helps you to avoid it)
• Cover your nose and mouth
• Breathe as sparingly as you can
• Actively avoid smoke-filled rooms

Smoke can render you unconscious, and you can imagine how good your odds are after that. If not unconscious, you can become majorly disoriented, which isn’t exactly good when you’re surrounded by flames. Even if you make it out just fine, the amount of smoke you inhaled can still pose significant risks, such as unexpected cardiac arrest after the fact.

Forget About Your Valuables

Let us repeat again that a building fire is a life or death scenario. You live, or you die. That’s it. Therefore, you should adopt the mentality that nothing in the building is more important than the survival of you and your loved ones.

Statistics show that an average of seven people a day die from fires in the US, and unfortunately, many fire-related deaths are caused by people who linger too long in the building trying to save valuable possessions. Those who are lucky enough to survive are often met with permanent, life-altering injuries, and the bottom line is that it’s just not worth going out of the way to save anything from the fire.

When it comes down to it, you just need to use your judgment. If you’re running out the door and your wallet is sitting on a shelf two feet away, then of course you could quickly snatch it without breaking your pace. But you should never, ever, collect any item or possession if it will cause you even the slightest amount of delay in your escape strategy.

If you really care about your possessions, you’re much better off investing in insurance that could help you to restore your stuff after a fire.

Exit Through Doors Before You Exit Through Windows

Your first priority should be escaping the “normal” way because climbing out of a window is a dangerous enough endeavor unto itself if you’re not on the first floor. If you’re lucky, the fire will not have spread enough to impede the main route of exit from the building.

But, be sure to check the doors before you open them. Here’s what you’ll want to look for:

Make sure there is no smoke under the door — this means that there is a lot on the other side and it could likely flood the room you’re in.
Put the back of your hand against the door to make sure it’s not too hot, and make sure the handle won’t burn you.
Close any doors that you can’t escape out of, and only open them if and when you’re passing through.

Alert Everyone You Can

By everyone, we mean everyone. Every single person in the building should immediately be made aware of the fire. If you’re the first one to spot it, yell out loud so everyone else knows. Escape is your priority, but if you find yourself trapped in a room with a window, open it up and draw attention to yourself. Somebody who sees you could potentially be a source of help.

If you have your phone on you, calling 911 immediately can also be a life-saving measure. However, you need to make sure you keep yourself on the move. Don’t sit around making phone calls if there’s a clear route you could take to escape.

Stop, Drop, and Roll

You know the words, you’ve done the drill. This is something we were all taught in grade school, and this might be the one time in your life you’ll ever need to put it into action, so don’t forget to stop, drop, and roll if your clothes ignite with flame. As important as escaping is, it doesn’t do you much good if you end up burning to a crisp by the time you make it out. Avoid all flames, and if your clothes catch fire, there is nothing that is more important in the entire world than immediately extinguishing it, or ditching the piece of burning clothing if you’re unable to extinguish it.

Escape From a Window if It’s an Option

If you’re on the second floor or above, the best option is to escape via doors, but if that option has been exhausted, you might need to exit through a window. If there is no fire escape, this could very well be impossible if you’re too high up. That’s why we say to do it if it’s an option.

And if you’re on the second story, it is quite often very possible for a window escape. It may hurt a little bit, but I’m sure you’d agree that it’s better than dying in a fire. There are so many factors at play that it’s impossible for us to say whether it would be a viable option in your home, but you’ll probably know the answer when you see it.

After the Fire

After you’re out of the burning building, there are a lot of things to do. However, that’s a blog post for another day. But, no matter what happens, there is one thing that every homeowner or commercial building should do — call a team of professionals for fire and smoke damage restoration.

If you live in San Diego, Riverside, Chula Vista, or any other of the surrounding areas, we are that team. We’ve handled so many fire restoration jobs that we’ve lost count, and we are confident in our ability to transform a smoky, burnt building into a space that feels like it’s brand new. Our work speaks for itself — in three days, we transformed the 750,000 square foot, seven-story Mission Valley sanctuary from a burnt husk to a glistening, clean environment. We can do the same for your home or commercial building.

Suffering from fire and smoke damage? Call ServiceMaster Absolute today!