Recent Posts

Remediating Fire Damage in a Frederick Home

2/28/2024 (Permalink)

Soot damage to ceiling and walls in a garage If you have fire damage in your Frederick home, call SERVPRO. We'll make it “Like it never even happened.”

Fire Cleanup Pros Clean Kitchen Smoke Damage Residues

Kitchen fires are, by and large, the most common type of residential fire in the United States. According to the National Fire Protection Association, these incidents account for a whopping 44% of home fires in the US each year. Kitchen fires often spread to other rooms, making effective cleanup and repairs challenging without professional intervention.

Frederick area SERVPRO® fire damage crews are trained to remediate several kinds of fire damage. If fire suppression is required to extinguish the flames, SERVPRO can clean up the water damage and dry the property.

Breaking Down Three Types of Smoke Damage

The three primary types of smoke damage homeowners need to look for include the following:

  • Dry smoke, which generally comes from burnt paper, wood, and similarly dry materials.
  • Wet smoke, which originates from burnt rubbers, plastics, and other petroleum-based products. These residues are sticky and oily and tend to smear with conventional manual cleaning methods.
  • Protein residues, which are greasy, odorous, and nearly invisible, stem primarily from cooking fires that utilize animal fats or proteins. These proteins spread on surfaces with ease and require specialized solutions for removal.

Soot needs specialized care because it cannot simply be wiped away. Moisture from cleaning or water damage makes smoke particles acidic, which can corrode metals and impact structural materials.

SERVPRO Mitigates and Rebuilds After Home Fire Damage

SERVPRO’s comprehensive fire mitigation process can include total renovation where needed to restore the property. Services include:

  • Wet and dry cleaning solutions for surface-level residues.
  • Vacuuming up dry soot particles.
  • Enzyme digesters to break down proteins into water-soluble byproducts.
  • Odor control with thermal foggers.
  • HVAC cleaning with augers, brushes, whips, and specialized cleaners.

If water damage is present due to fire suppression, SERVPRO techs can extract moisture and dry the impacted areas. We strategically place air movers and dehumidifiers if they do not require demolition.

Property owners can contact (301) 662-1747 for assistance from SERVPRO of Frederick County, a firm that is Here to Help®.

Fire Damage Threats Create Harsh Odors in Frederick Shops

12/22/2023 (Permalink)

servpro poster for tackling soot Soot and fire debris can leave your fire damaged business in Frederick closed. Contact SERVPRO to keep your business in business. Here to Help®

We Overcome Smoke Damage Following Structure Fires

Several steps are involved in restoring your business after a fire, all of which must be completed before customers can safely return. Some crucial mitigation measures that address persistent damages, such as smoke odors, include:

  • Air quality filtering
  • Water removal
  • Content cleaning
  • Controlled demolition

How Fires Make Harsh Smells

The process of combustion can cause different levels of fire damage to Frederick shops and boutiques. The burning of materials can significantly affect the entire property. The more diverse the combusted elements involved, such as plastics and aerosols, the more unpleasant and dangerous the odor damage can become.

Other Conditions Can Amplify Odor Damage

It's crucial to understand that fire damage restoration involves more than just repairing the visible damage caused by the fire. Factors like malodors are also closely linked to the severity of the fire's impact. The combustion process produces fire debris and ash that can exacerbate the effects of odors, making the cleanup process all the more critical.

Lessening the Strength of Malodors

It is crucial to take all necessary actions to reduce the strength and spread of malodors if you want to ensure that subsequent deodorization processes are efficient and effective. Our supply includes powerful counteractant products, such as absorbent beads that can be strategically placed throughout the affected areas of the shop to weaken smoke damage effectively.

The Tools of Smoke Damage Cleanup

Our deodorization equipment effectively removes even the harshest malodors. Our tool stock has various neutralizing options, but we often utilize a combination of fogging and hydroxyl machines for commercial applications.

Lingering fire damage odors can significantly hinder comfortable working and shopping conditions for store owners and customers. SERVPRO Frederick County experts employ effective strategies to dramatically reduce odor severity and eliminate it through direct and assertive actions. Call us today at (301) 691-4683. Here to Help®

Drying Combats Water Damage in Frederick Properties

10/24/2023 (Permalink)

Man and woman standing on a wet floor with phone to their ear. Call SERVPRO if you have water damage in your Frederick home. We're Faster to any size disaster™.

Water Restoration Steps SERVPRO® Takes to Dry Frederick Properties

You may have chosen Frederick as your residence for many reasons, including its high quality of life. Amenities in the area range from parks and restaurants to recreational centers. Some notable parks include Baker Park, Carroll Creek Park, and Riverwalk Park. Recreational centers, on the other hand, include Bernard W. Brown Community Center and Talley Center. Water damage can instantaneously ruin the quality of life at your home, leaving surfaces and materials wet and triggering deterioration in structural areas and contents.

Resolving the water damage at your Frederick home addresses many problems simultaneously. Drying stops materials like wood from swelling or rotting, cloth items from bleeding dyes, and metal items from rusting. Several steps are necessary for efficient drying. SERVPRO helps facilitate restorations, ensuring all the steps progress accordingly. 

Essential Water Restoration Steps

  • Enhancing structural safety 
  • Water removal
  • Cleaning 
  • Drying wet materials

Water creates many hazards in a residence, whether you have a historical property like the Barbara Fritchie House, John C. Motter House, James K.P. Wolfe House, or a modern-day home. Slippery surfaces, falling objects, and electrical are likely in a water-rich setting. SERVPRO technicians inspect your premises, determining critical actions to manage hazards. Disconnecting power, setting up warning signs, and drying wet floors are simple yet highly effective ways to safeguard people in a water-damaged property. 

Sufficient water extraction helps complete the drying process fast. Water extraction equipment, such as wet vacuums and drying mats, fast-track the process compared to mopping the wet areas. With vacuum extractors, SERVPRO technicians can remove water trapped in porous materials like carpets and upholstery, thus ensuring the drying process goes as expected.  

After addressing the water left on surfaces, drying the moisture absorbed by materials is essential to finalize the process. This step requires sustained evaporation and humidity control. SERVPRO has a variety of equipment to facilitate drying.

Drying Equipment

  • Air movers - facilitate evaporation
  • Dehumidifiers - extract moisture trapped in the air
  • Cavity-drying equipment - facilitates drying in hidden structural compartments 

SERVPRO of Frederick County is a reliable service provider when you need solutions for your property after water damage. Call us at (301) 662-1747.

Mold Damage Repair in Frederick Calls for SERVPRO’s Help

8/27/2023 (Permalink)

mold growing on the wall next to an electrical outlet Mold damage is hard to deal with on your own. Contact SERVPRO 24/7 for certified professionals and equipment to help you.

Trust Experts for Mold Damage Repair in Your Frederick Home

Outdoors, molds play a role in nature as they break down dead, organic matter like dead trees and fallen leaves. However, indoor mold growth is something to avoid. These microorganisms reproduce by broadcasting minute spores and circulate through indoor and outdoor air.

Mold can grow indoors when the spores land on wet or damp surfaces. Mold damage repair in Frederick homes involves controlling mold growth. SERVPRO® can help you to clean up the mold and repair the water problem.

Mold ruins the structures and contents it grows on. It causes more damage the longer it grows. When remediating mold, our SERVPRO team can construct containment that serves the following safety purposes:

  • Preventing contaminants from getting into uncontaminated areas.
  • Managing airflow from clean to contaminated surfaces. 
  • Protecting building workers and occupants from fungi exposure

We can use different methods to keep contaminants from spreading. The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) defines the three degrees of isolation:

  • Full-scale containment.
  • Mini or local containment.
  • Source containment.

For minimal contamination, our SERVPRO team can use source containment. We use mini or local containment for moderate contamination and full-scale containment for severe contamination.

Before performing remediation, we remove the non-contaminated and contaminated contents from affected areas. We can thoroughly clean contaminated contents using suitable methods to prevent mold spore reservoirs from returning to the remediated space. We consider the types of materials present in the affected area to remediate the mold effectively. For instance, if mold is present on porous materials like wallpaper, ceiling tiles, carpets, and drywall, our SERVPRO technicians can remove and discard them since we cannot clean them effectively.

If the surface of porous materials is contaminated with mold spores or dust but does not have mold growth, we can decontaminate it with HEPA vacuuming if dry. If such materials are damp, we can clean them professionally. If the materials have been wet for extended periods, we can discard them to keep mold from spreading further. 

SERVPRO of Frederick County is ready to handle the mold damage in your home. Contact us anytime at (301) 691-4683.

Frederick Mold Damage Remediators Provide High-Quality Service

5/22/2023 (Permalink)

mold growing on corner of wall Our team is trained and equipped to remediate mold damage!

SERVPRO Expertly Repairs Frederick Mold Damage

Frederick’s Mid-Atlantic climate makes it prone to thunderstorms, heavy rains, and hot and humid weather in the warmer months. Not surprisingly, these weather patterns also facilitate mold development and growth, which makes it especially difficult to combat this residential fungal threat. Fortunately, an area service is highly experienced in dealing with this household problem.

SERVPRO’s Frederick mold damage experts are skilled at all aspects of the mitigation and restoration process. For many years, we have provided our community with top-notch mold inspection, basement mold remediation, bathroom mold removal, and attic mold cleanup services. Company mold specialists have also performed countless black mold damage repairs for neighbors. SERVPRO’s extensive knowledge in mold damage recovery comes from its on-the-job experience and Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) training in:

  • Rapid interior and content drying techniques utilizing wet vacs, extractors, air movers, dehumidifiers, and Injectidry systems
  • Proper methods of treating moisture-rich and mold-fouled surfaces, including those of structural elements and furnishings, with the appropriate antifungals using foggers and injection devices
  • Neutralizing troublesome foul odors using foggers and injectors loaded with industrial-grade deodorants
  • Demolishing irreparably impacted parts of homes, reconstructing destroyed rooms and sections of residences, repairing all types of mold-related damage, and replacing whatever needs to be replaced

This advanced education in abatement and restoration procedures enables us to remediate your residential fungal issues faster than most other local services. Ultimately, this saves you time, money, and unnecessary headaches.

With this in mind, know that your friends at SERVPRO of Frederick County are always eager to help you clean up and restore any mold damage. Regardless of the time of day or night you call, our skilled technicians can often arrive at your residence in less than four hours. So, whenever you need us, do not hesitate to dial (301) 662-1747.

Fast Fire Damage Restoration in Germantown Homes

5/22/2023 (Permalink)

heavy smoke and soot damage on wall Each fire is different. We have the ability to evaluate and clean all types of smoke and soot.

Smoke and Fire Damage Cleanup Services 

Being the third-largest municipality in Maryland, Germantown is home to more than 91,000. This number might still be higher when you factor in establishments like Montgomery College. However, this large population leaves a lot of opportunities for disasters, such as fire losses. Locations like the Canterbury Apartments and the Hamptons at Town Center represent a popular type of residence in the region and a challenge for fire recovery when multiple units get impacted simultaneously.

Similarly, businesses pose a threat to fire damage restoration in Germantown as well. With the growing community within the Greater Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area, shopping and cultural education complexes are plentiful. Those visiting the area can find several shopping locations and retail stores at The Shops at Seneca Meadows, the Fox Chapel Shopping Center, and the Neelsville Village Center. Fire damage in these locations requires fast and deliberate mitigation strategies to keep multiple businesses from suffering smoke and soot damage.

Cleaning Up Soot and Smoke Damage 

When cleaning up soot and smoke damage to structures, we must evaluate the condition of the affected building. We are Large Loss specialists for post-fire cleanup in area businesses, including massive facilities like the Holy Cross Germantown Hospital and venues like the Germantown Community Center and the Mehfil Banquet and Conference Center. Our experience as leading FSRT-Certified technicians allows us to manage soiled materials and contents in a structure rapidly with:

  • Surface cleaning
  • Soft goods cleaning
  • On-site content cleaning
  • Soot removal 

While fires can be stressful, take a relaxing stroll around Gunners Lake or through Leaman Park and give our experienced SERVPRO of Gaithersburg / Germantown team a chance to mitigate loss in your residence. The prompt arrival of our restoration team protects your property and ensures that the proper steps get taken immediately to overcome structural damage, soot, and smoke odors. Call today at (301) 963-8474.

Scoping and Water Mitigation for Frederick Homes

4/25/2023 (Permalink)

Water On Floor SERVPRO understands how important your property is. Let us help you out.

Detailed Water Mitigation with SERVPRO Gets Results

You may get away with a minor water spill in your home with a few towels or a mop and bucket. But how can you be sure that no moisture ends up under your flooring and cabinets or behind baseboards? SERVPRO wants Frederick property owners to know that there is always a risk of water migrating into tight spaces, which can lead to material degradation or mold growth issues. However, by calling us and having our water restoration technicians (WRT) begin water mitigation, we can halt migration in its tracks and get a jump on the restoration efforts. 

Part of the mitigation process in Frederick involves scoping out your property to determine the best equipment and methods to use. We aim to ensure all customers feel at ease, so we always explain each step and how we work on drying contents and building materials. Some common mitigation efforts used with our water removal services include:

  • Acknowledging all potential safety hazards
  • Installing containment barriers to keep water from moving into unaffected areas
  • Determining the level of contamination of the water, i.e., what category
  • Begin pulling up water with powerful extractors and pumps
  • Carefully placing dehumidifiers and drying equipment to reduce relative humidity (RH)
  • Utilizing moisture detectors, sensors, and meters to ensure no moisture gets left behind

Why Do I Need Water Mitigation Services?

Before restoration, proper mitigation must get done to harness the damage. Mitigation focuses on extraction and containment to keep the problem from worsening. Our technicians also address leftover moisture that leaves the chance of mold growth or costly material damage. We are your one-stop for inspection, mitigation, water removal, drying, and restoration. Each project gets tailored to match the needs of your property so we can achieve the best results. 

Call SERVPRO of Frederick County at (301) 662-1747, and we can send our Green Fleet to begin water mitigation. We will provide prompt, reliable service so your home or business returns to normal fast.

The First Step When Dealing with Water Damage in Frederick

3/31/2023 (Permalink)

SERVPRO fans and dehumidifiers lined up in a warehouse SERVPRO of Frederick County is prepared to respond swiftly to water damage.

Extraction is the First Stage of Frederick Water Restoration

Many things can cause water damage in Frederick homes, including a burst pipe, a leaking faucet or bathtub, or moisture seeping in from the exterior. When water damage strikes, the most important thing is to extract excess water quickly from your home.

SERVPRO has access to industry-standard tools for swift water damage remediation in Frederick. As a homeowner, your best first step when you need help is to call SERVPRO. We are here for you 24 hours a day, including holidays. We’re Faster To Any Size Disaster, so give us a call no matter the size of the spill.

Every Remediation Project Starts with Extraction

Before drying your home, we need to remove as much excess water from the floors as possible. The longer damp materials sit in your home, the greater the risk of damage spreading or getting worse. Extraction equipment is highly efficient, quite literally hundreds of times more effective than dehumidification. We use a range of equipment to perform the extraction.

  • Carpet wands
  • Portable extractors
  • Truck-mounted extractors

Carpet wands are ideal for a first pass and to stop liquid migrating further across the floor. Wands are also suitable for glue-down carpet, where more aggressive extraction could cause delamination (when the secondary backing on the carpet separates from the primary backing.) Because they are small, wands are good for getting into tight corners.

Portable extractors help us get into more hard-to-reach places and make extracting moisture from multiple floors easier. We measure pump strength in both tank size and water lift. Portable extractors have tanks of up to twelve gallons and provide 140 inches of water lift.

Trunk-mounted extractors are powerful machines with up to 100 gallons or more tanks and provide 198.8 inches of water lift. Because truck-mounted units have their own power supply, they are the best solution when there is no power in your home or large volumes of water require extraction.

What Happens After Water Extraction?

Our teams adhere to Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) standards when dealing with water issues. We follow a series of steps designed for maximum efficiency.

  • We set up air movers and axial fans to increase moisture evaporation from damp surfaces.
  • We use dehumidifiers to reduce humidity levels in the air.
  • We use moisture meters, moisture probes, and thermo-hygrometers to monitor moisture levels throughout the drying process.
  • We tackle leftover damp smells using tools such as wet fogging and odor-fighting beads.

Our technicians select the best equipment for the job. For example, axial fans are more powerful than standard air movers and can move more significant volumes of air. Such fans are the best choice when we need to evaporate a lot of liquid quickly. Axial fans are also helpful for deodorizing, which is an integral part of remediation.

Careful calculation of the placement of drying equipment is key to a job well done. SERVPRO does not leave anything to chance. We calculate and monitor at every step for the best results.

Your satisfaction is our aim. You can rely on our technicians to finish the job professionally. We always carry out a walk-through and check everything is in order at the end of the project, and we take a final set of moisture readings to ensure everything is dry. We will also walk you through your home and answer any questions or concerns.

We are here for you if you need help drying out your home. Call SERVPRO of Frederick County today at (301) 662-1747 for fast and efficient service.

Homeowners and Fire Damaged Items in Frederick

3/31/2023 (Permalink)

Two SERVPRO technicians moving boxes from a fire damaged house into a truck Homeowners with fire damage can rely on SERVPRO for cleanup and restoration. We're Faster To Any Size Disaster.

Professional Help is a Better Choice for Fire Restoration in Frederick

A house fire can burn and damage almost any item in your home. A blaze can burn some things entirely, while other items may be warped or smoke-damaged. We understand the need to get your stuff clean as quickly as possible. However, it is much better to call for professional help.

DIY attempts to clean up after fire damage in Frederick can worsen the problem. You might end up with streaky walls or soot smeared across surfaces. It is safer and more effective to let SERVPRO take care of the fire cleanup for you.

SERVPRO is available around the clock, every day. The sooner you call us, the sooner we can reach you and begin the fire restoration process.

Which Items are Salvageable After a House Fire?

When you see smoke-blackened furniture or soft furnishings, you might think that all your belongings are lost. However, with professional cleaning and restoration from SERVPRO, it is possible to restore many household items to their preloss condition.

Our technicians assess the severity and extent of smoke and fire damage in your home. We let you know which items we can salvage and cannot. We have the equipment to clean a wide range of household items, including:

  • Wooden and metal furniture
  • Floors, rugs, and drapes
  • Ornaments and children’s toys
  • Documents, artwork, and photographs

Please note it is advisable to dispose of all food items within the vicinity of the fire. We always give you a realistic estimate of what we can do and the results you can expect to see.

What Cleaning Method is Best for Fire Damaged Items?

Efficient cleaning is more cost-effective than refinishing or replacing items. Cleaning also means you get to keep the article, which is good news. We train our technicians in a range of cleaning methods, including:

  • Dry cleaning
  • Wet cleaning
  • Spray and wipe
  • Foam cleaning
  • Abrasive cleaning

We match the method to the type of fire damage. For example, dry cleaning is suitable for light to medium soiling when the soot is not greasy. Dry cleaning includes using feather dusters and sponges to wipe away dry residue. We can also use powerful HEPA vacuum cleaners to remove debris.

Wet cleaning means saturating the items using either water or approved cleaning agents and is often used for heavier soiling. Sometimes we need to dry clean first to lessen the amount of soot before wet cleaning.

How Does SERVPRO Take Care of More Delicate Items?

What happens when neither wet nor dry cleaning is an option? We can use gentler methods. Spray and wipe cleaning means using a spray bottle to apply a cleaning agent, which gives our technicians more control over how wet the material gets. Spray and wipe means we can target smaller areas, too. Foam cleaning is ideal for fire-damaged upholstery that might be at risk of shrinking or dye running if saturated. Our technicians agitate shampoo to whip up a good head of foam, then apply carefully to the affected upholstery using an upholstery brush.

The key to effective fire restoration cleaning is a thorough understanding of each cleaning technique. We train all our technicians to Institute of Inspection, Cleaning, and Restoration Certification (IICRC) standards. 

IICRC certification covers the whole fire damage process, not just the cleaning part. You can rest assured that our technicians practice industry standards in every aspect, from assessing your home, cleaning items, and deodorizing to documenting the process.

If you need help with fire damage cleaning, call SERVPRO of Frederick County at (301) 662-1747. We are proud to say we always aim to leave your home “Like it never even happened.”

Call SERVPRO for Mold Damage Help in Frederick

3/31/2023 (Permalink)

Two SERVPRO vans in front of a hotel SERVPRO uses the latest technology and equipment for every size mold remediation job. Call now for fast and immediate service.

Call for Mold Remediation Help in Frederick at the First Signs of Fungus

Mold often does not seem too bad at first. You might notice a small patch of black, gray, or green fungus. A slight odor might be your first clue that there is a potential problem. The best time to call in professional help is as soon as you notice these signs.

If you are concerned about mold damage in Frederick, SERVPRO is Here to Help. Microscopic mold particles are present everywhere. However, under certain conditions, these particles form colonies. The tiny hyphae can eat organic materials such as paper, cotton, linen, or wood. If you do not tackle fungus quickly, it can easily spread throughout your home and cause further damage.

Can You Fix Mold Damage Yourself?

We do not recommend tackling fungal growth on your own. Many commercially advertised cleaners create more moisture and can worsen the damage. Our teams know which techniques and tools to use for your specific situation.

Mold easily spreads through the air or on clothes and shoes. The spores can also cling to pet fur. One of the critical parts of remediation is setting up containment to prevent further spreading.

  • Thick polypropylene sheets create a physical barrier around the affected area.
  • Negative air machines draw in particles and safely exhaust them.
  • Sealing doors, windows, and HVAC ducts make spores harder to escape.

We also use containment principles to set up clean rooms where technicians can change and remove personal protective equipment (PPE) before re-entering your home. We store equipment and clothing in cleanrooms to prevent spores from spreading.

Dealing with Visible Contamination

We train our technicians to tackle infestations using a variety of methods.

  • Scraping is often effective when removing mold from hard surfaces.
  • HEPA vacuums draw in loose particles.
  • Damp wiping with disinfectant when there is heavier soiling.
  • Soda blasting helps clean larger wood or stone surfaces.

Non-porous surfaces like metal, glass, plastic, and varnished wood, are easier to clean. We usually need to discard more porous materials such as drywall or carpet. 

We may need to carry out controlled demolition on fungus-infected materials in some cases. Rest assured that we will oversee reconstruction and repainting where required to leave your home “Like it never even happened.”

What Can be Done About the Smell?

A moldy smell is often one of the first clues of a fungus problem. And those odors can linger, leaving your home smelling less than fresh. Deodorization is a vital part of any remediation project. We have several deodorizing tools we can use.

Wet fogging (also known as Ultra Low Volume fogging) is effective against mold smells. Our technicians use the fogging machine nozzle to distribute antimicrobial products into the atmosphere. The products kill off spores and restore freshness.

We might also use a portable ozone machine. These machines generate ozone, which then causes a chemical reaction with odor-causing molecules. The ozone reverts into normal oxygen molecules when the process is complete, leaving no traces or residues behind. However, all people, pets, and plants must be removed from the premises before using an ozone machine. We will tell you when it is safe to come back inside.

Mold-retardant paint can also suppress odors. We clean and prepare all surfaces for repainting when necessary to ensure a professional finish.

If you notice the signs or smells of mold in your home, do not try to tackle it yourself. Instead, call SERVPRO of Frederick County at (301) 662-1747 straight away so we can help you.