What Does Mitigation Mean for Oyster Bay Homeowners Looking for Help with Water Losses?

9/26/2020 (Permalink)

Guided by research-based best practices, SERVPRO assesses, plans, and implements efficient and effective mitigation in your water damaged home.

Communication Is an Essential Element of Water Damage Mitigation in Oyster Bay --  SERVPRO Keeps Homeowners Informed of the Purposes of Our Efforts

When you cope with a plumbing rupture or an appliance malfunction, the water can spread rapidly. The first thing upon which water damage recovery professionals focus is mitigation. Simply put, we need to mitigate, or halt, the incursion of water into building materials and the contents inside your Oyster Bay home. The reason is straightforward -- if items remain dry or moisture is removed quickly, it is unlikely that they will sustain damage.

What Are Examples of Professional Mitigation Interventions?
The strategies we use for water damage mitigation in your Oyster Bay home vary depending on the affected materials. Here are some common scenarios we might see and the approaches we select from among to respond:

Wet padding and carpeting
SERVPRO crews consider padding removal as it is relatively inexpensive to replace, and taking it out reduces the wicking of water into carpet fibers. Wanded extractors moving from the dry areas to wet mitigates the migration of water. Final weighted extraction, often with technicians standing on the equipment, pulls the bulk of the water out in preparation for the drying phase.

Water percolating through hardwood to subfloors
Finished hardwood surfaces resist water penetration well, but the joints between planks or strips permit water to drain to the unfinished plywood substrate. The damp subfloor transfers moisture to the hardwood's unfinished back and sides, causing cupping, a type of warping. Technicians use adhesive floor mats to pull water from all layers using negative air pressure delivered through attached hoses, mitigating progressive damage to floors.

Water collected in building cavities
Fluids caught between walls, over ceilings, and in other recesses require extraction. SERVPRO project managers evaluate how to most efficiently remove the trapped water as failure to mitigate results in the continual breakdown of porous materials and the creation of an environment conducive to mold growth. The choices for mitigation include:
    •    Sawn or drilled release holes in walls
    •    Flood cuts, where wallboard is removed from stud to stud from the floor up to several inches above the waterline
    •    Weep holes, punched through ceiling tiles to drain water

Guided by research-based best practices, SERVPRO of Oyster Bay assesses, plans, and implements efficient and effective mitigation in your water damaged home. Call us at (516) 464-3300 to learn about your options.