TIPS on avoiding chaos from SERVPRO employees

6/8/2020 (Permalink)

SERVPRO technicians working a residential water loss

Unless you have worked for SERVPRO for any amount of time or dealt with catastrophic events such as a house fire or flood, you have probably thought little about the precautions that can be taken to avoid having them happen to you. The following are a few tips from SERVPRO employees that have seen a few things and tend to watch for in our own homes:

Unless you are actively using it, it should not be close to heat.

                Putting your bacon on a plate with paper towels on it? Make sure it is far away from the hot surface. The paper towel WILL catch fire and cost you a great deal of money. Hot ironing your hair on the bathroom countertop? Move away all hair care bottles, brushes, towels, washcloths, hair ties, or anything else that you could accidentally set it down on, bump into, or knock into the heat.

DON’T leave running water unattended.

                Even if it is in the garage. Even if the sink/drain has no prior issue of backing up. When you are busy enough to leave running water, you are busy enough to forget about running water. It will make its way to your attention before you are ready for it to.

Dishwasher Fires

                It is most common for dishwashers to cause water damage and that still remains true. However, our employees never start their dishwasher before they leave the house unless they turn off the heated drying feature. It is SO common for the heating element at the bottom to get in contact with something that has fallen off the racks and start a fire that will do just as much damage as any other kitchen fire.

Grease Fires

                Splattering grease is unavoidable sometimes when cooking in the kitchen. One of our employees has said that she never starts heavy cooking in the kitchen without having a bag of cornmeal or a box of baking soda on hand. Try to have something close by that can smother the fire that isn’t water.