Hurricane Season is Upon Us

11/22/2024 (Permalink)

Rain or shine, we are ready to assist you when you are in need! Call us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!

I’m sure everyone has already noticed, but it's Hurricane season, and that can mean hazardous weather conditions in your area. Even if you are not living on the coast, you can still be affected by Hurricane season, as we have all seen recently with the devastating effects of several hurricanes this fall. Hurricanes can produce strong winds, storm surge flooding, and heavy rainfall that can lead to inland flooding and tornadoes. Another serious risk is falling trees from winds and rain. All of these things can cause serious damage to your property. At SERVPRO, we are ready for any size disaster, and we are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Call us at 404-378-9998 if you are impacted by severe weather, and we will be ready to assist you!

Specialty Cleaning Services

11/22/2024 (Permalink)

We have a large # of vehicles, stocked with the supplies needed for any specialty cleaning service required.

Did you know here at SERVPRO®, we are willing and able to provide much more than just water, fire, and construction services. Although we do specialize in the services mentioned, we also provide specialty cleaning services for your home, office, or commercial building. We are able to help you out with any of the below in order to make areas presentable and safe for your family and friends. Taking advantage of regular cleaning services can keep your home or office safer as well. Call us anytime at 404-378-9998, and we will be more than happy to assist you with any of the services listed below.

• Air duct and HVAC cleaning

• Biohazard and crime scene cleanup

• Virus and Pathogen cleaning

• Document Restoration

• Odor Removal

• Graffiti and vandalism cleaning

Thanksgiving Safety Practices

11/22/2024 (Permalink)

From our SERVPRO Family to yours, we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Thanksgiving is the peak day for home cooking fires with more than three times the daily average. Cooking unattended is the largest factor in cooking fires and fire deaths, so make sure to pay special attention during this Holiday Season. Cooking causes over half of all reported home fires and close to 40% of home fire injuries, and it happens to be the leading case of home fire deaths. Here are some safety tips to keep in mind as you prepare your delicious feast this year.

1. Make sure to stay in the kitchen when you are cooking on the stove top.

2. Stay in the home when cooking your turkey, and make sure to check on it frequently.

3. Try to keep any children away from the stove.

4. Be sure any electric cords are not dangling off the counter.

5. Never leave lit candles alone- yes, they smell great, but they can easily cause a fire.

6. Make sure all smoke alarms are working. Test them by pushing the test button.

Enjoy your time with family and friends, but make sure to follow these tips to stay safe. If anything unforeseen happens, give us a call at 404-378-9998.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Proper Storage of Your Valuables is Important

10/11/2023 (Permalink)

As your local SERVPRO®, our professionals are ready and available 24/7/365 to assist you when you need us most, as it relates to water damages to your home or place of business. While it is extremely important to our organization to be that helping hand to you, it is just as important that we play a part in helping you prepare for the unknown.

Unfortunately, no one knows when disaster will strike, but there are some things you can do each year to be prepared, especially as storm season comes and goes. 

In our business, we have seen far too many valuables become ruined because they were not properly stored in your home. Google offers great options for storage containers and taking a few minutes to online-purchase several of these is well-worth your time. Once you receive your containers, we recommend going through your home and placing photo albums, books, family heirlooms, and other precious valuables in the containers-- dry, of course. 

Even though this may seem obvious, schedule an semi-recurring calendar reminder on your phone to remind yourself when it's time to clean. More often than not, those seasonal, decorative items that get tucked in that unseen corner of that room on the other end of the house. In the event of a water damage, you will likely not have time to clear these areas that collect items throughout the year. 

SERVPRO® technicians are trained to deal with any water damage disaster.

Water damage? Call us today at 404-378-9998.

Emergency Kits are Essential!

10/11/2023 (Permalink)

The Southeastern US is quite a hot spot for severe storms, especially those areas near the coastal areas. Having an emergency kit to survive a bad storm containing power outages for days as emergency personnel make their way to fallen trees on powerlines is always a good measure to follow. And as with any item you rarely use, it is important that you store it in a location that is easily accessible in the time of an emergency.

Please do not wait for an event to happen—instead, get out ahead of it.

Items to consider for your family’s emergency kit:

• Storage: Purchase a heavy-duty plastic storage tub with latching lids. Store smaller items inside the tub in air-tight plastic storage bags. Make sure this storage container is easy to access on a moment’s notice.
• Water: Store unopened water bottles in a cool, dark environment next to your emergency kit. You want to figure enough water for 1 gallon per day for each family member. It is also a good idea to plug a bathtub and fill it with water to use for basic hygiene and sanitation procedures.
• Food: Store a three-to-four-day supply of nonperishable food in your emergency kit. Keep an eye on expiration dates. Food items with longer shelf lives include but not limited to canned veggies, soups, energy bars, and unsalted nuts. Remember this is an emergency, storm-survival kit—not trying to win a cooking show here.
• First Aid: Essential to any survival kit is having first aid handy and ready to use, if needed. You will want the necessities to a First Aid Kit, so of course Motrin/Tylenol, and any store supplies to treat injuries like cuts, wounds, pain and burns.
• Toiletries: All the type of items you tend to forget about in a normal day having plenty of supply. You will want to include the basics in your kit: toilet paper, tissue, soap, toothpaste, diapers and hand sanitizer.
• Radio: We live in a day where an AM/FM radio is nearly foreign to children today, so this is a perfect time to run to Walmart (with your child for educational purposes) and purchase a battery-powered or hand crank radio so you can tune in to important storm warnings and other emergency information that would normally be available at your fingertips. To avoid corrosion, store your batteries for the radio, uninstalled, in a plastic baggy labeled “Radio.”
• Flashlight / Lantern: Being in the fire restoration business, it is encouraged to steer clear of using burning candles for light, especially with pets and children present in the home. Instead, make sure and pick up a flashlight or lantern along with an extra set of batteries!
• Heat: An indoor propane heater or a camp-like stove can act as much needed comfort when the power is out for an extended period. But whatever you do, please make sure the heater (or stove) is safe for indoor use.
• Cash-on-Hand: Even when the storm is over, ATMs and credit/debit card machines could still be down. Make sure to keep a backup supply of cash for emergency supplies needed when stores are unable to accept plastic.

Business Owners- Do you have an Emergency Ready Profile?

10/11/2023 (Permalink)

If you are a business owner, the absolute, most important step you can take to ensuring your business is prepared for the unfortunate (and most often, unpredictable) event of fire, water, mold, and biohazard events from occurring is scheduling a time for your local SERVPRO® to come out and offer our free, at-no-cost assessment of your facility.

During this visit, we are not there to show you every flaw of your building. Your time is valuable, and let's be honest, who wants to hear about everything structurally vulnerable to your building. Instead, we simply gather all of the pertinent information regarding your building, such as the locations of all of your main water shut-off valves, for instance. We also take the time to take photos of these valves with descriptions of where they are located in your building, as well as establish a proper chain-of-command of who your SERVPRO® professionals should be communicating with when having work authorizations signed, and more. 

Your property manager and team will receive a physical copy of this Emergency Ready Profile (ERP) as well as a free app for those approved in your building to access at any given time to ensure the proper response to any unfortunate event that has taken place at your building. A whopping 50% of businesses may never reopen after suffering a disaster, such as a water or fire damage. Alternatively, the businesses who took us up on establishing an ERP for their building are able to reopen quickly because of this preparation. We do the work for you in creating your ERP as a token of our appreciation for being your dependable, local team of disaster restoration professionals. 

Give SERVPRO® of Decatur a call today to schedule your ERP! You will never regret it! 

404-378-9998

Meet the SERVPRO Reconstruction Team

10/4/2023 (Permalink)

group of SERVPRO employees that are part of the reconstruction team

We would love for you to meet our Reconstruction Team here at SERVPRO®.

Our Reconstruction Division is responsible for repairing and re-building what our Mitigation Department has torn down, following a fire or water loss. 

We know your home is one of your biggest and most valued investments. You can trust us with all the details of your home construction or renovation project. From floor to ceiling to roof, you can count on our professional construction services.

Our technicians will contact and manage the multiple crews needed and oversee your construction project from start to finish. We will also work with your insurance company to help navigate the claims process and coordinate the necessary paperwork for an easier experience. With 2180 locations in the United States and Canada, there’s a SERVPRO available to take your call around the clock.

Whether you’re looking for an upgrade or have suffered damage to your home, the professionals at SERVPRO® are ready to help. We provide a full range of residential and professional construction services to complete your project.

Our highly trained professionals will oversee your project from start to finish. We offer all services needed to rebuild and repair after a water or fire loss. This includes inspection and estimating, mitigation, restoration and reconstruction.

We are competent and experienced and believe in delivering quality workmanship, so your house will feel like home. We’ll work with your insurance company to restore your home to help make it “Like it never even happened.”

Why Inspecting Your Roof Prior to a Storm Event Is Important

11/2/2022 (Permalink)

Loose shingles may never be seen to the naked eye. It may be time for an inspection.

As we saw with Hurricane Ian recently, and other lesser storms, these events come on in a hurry with very little warning. While it is an impossible ask to expect homeowners to efficiently prepare on spot when a storm is headed your way, there are several preventative measures you can take to minimize the damage to your home, which ultimately saves you from situations of being above your policy limits. 

Three basic ways to ensure you are taking the proper steps before a storm hits your hometown:

• Remove Any Dead Wood: If you have an extendable, electric/gas saw, you will want to begin by trimming any limbs away from the structure of your home. Hire a professional to take care of the larger limbs and trees. This of course reduces the risk of trees and heavy limbs from damaging your home from the heavy winds of a storm.
• Secure All Outdoor Items: it is always a good measure to remove all free-standing, moveable objects from your home, such as chairs, picnic tables, umbrellas, and other related items and secure these items away from the conditions of the storm. Taking this step helps reduce the risk of objects being blown into the windows of your homes causing water damage from the heavy rain and winds.
• Inspect Your Roof Periodically: A brand new roof should be able to withstand the threats of most weather events; however, in the likely event that you do not have a brand-new roof, it is important to know that a roof with a minimum age of 5+ years needs to be inspected every so often. Your trusted professionals will check for loose shingles, nails, and of course the sheathing of your roof. It is better to go ahead and address these types of items before the storm blows through to ensure the structure, and specifically your roof, is in its strongest state. 

An Emergency Ready Profile: Don't wait!

10/5/2022 (Permalink)

Call SERVPRO of Decatur today to schedule a short consultation to have your Emergency Ready Plan on its way to you!

Owning a business comes with a bevy of responsibilities, one of which being the most obvious— keeping the doors open. Did you know that as many as 50% of businesses close following a disaster? The best way to reduce business interruption following a disaster is to plan for it now!

Emergency Readiness Plan. Having a plan in place for your commercial property serves as an “insurance policy” for your peace of mind, at worst, which allows the opportunity to develop trust with your clients. At best, this plan will save you from an even greater problem that can occur if the situation is not met with urgency.

Emergency Response. Recently, a commercial property experienced a water loss from the supply line to a refrigerator overnight in its building. To his surprise, one of the building’s maintenance workers reported to work to discover what had taken place throughout the night. Once he notified the property manager, she referred to her Emergency Readiness Plan that was already in place, thankfully. Within a few minutes, she was able to make a phone call, and our team at SERVPRO of Decatur was there, with boots on the ground, in less than 45 minutes from the call.

Implementing the Plan. As you can see—having a plan in place is a crucial part to the process. It is the difference between confusion and chaos vs. clarity and peace of mind. Equally as important as having an Emergency Readiness Plan in place is having a company who is reliable and ready to respond 24/7. Once SERVPRO of Decatur’s Dispatcher notified our Priority Response Manager of the situation, he was able to immediately contact the property manager while in route to the location to ensure the water had been turned off at the proper shut-off valve. Thankfully, the plan was already in place and this property manager was able to proactively prevent a much larger situation from happening, such as multiple floors experiencing water intrusion from the loss’s origin.

Relying on Your Partner with the Plan. Getting your business back up and running is crucial, and as your Emergency Response partner at SERVPRO of Decatur, it is of utmost importance to us that your “returning to business as usual” happens as quickly and efficiently as possible. Because of the readiness plan in place coupled with SERVPRO’s unmatched response time, the entire floor that was affected from the water loss in this example was able to be fully dried in 3 days. Call SERVPRO of Decatur today to schedule a cost-free visit to put a plan in place, specific to your place of business, so that you can confidently deal with these type of unexpected events— (404) 378-9998.

Here to Help Regardless of the Nature of the Fire Damage

10/5/2022 (Permalink)

When a fire disaster strikes, call SERVPRO of Decatur!

There is nothing easy about operating a business, even on an uneventful day. It can often feel as though there is not enough time in the day to proactively stay on top of the various items on your list that continue to mount as the days go on. This is a familiar feeling, right? Now, imagine for a minute that on top of attempting to meet the daily demands competing for your time and attention, your business is interrupted by a sudden water or fire damage from a natural disaster. SERVPRO is here to help, 24/7.

SERVPRO is the industry leader in commercial disaster cleaning, recovery, and restoration. As a business operator, it is paramount to have a trusted partner in the disaster restoration business in whom you can rely on to get you back on your feet. Our goal is to “steady the ship” by responding with our unmatched “Faster to Any Disaster” response time, to the situation so that you can continue to do what is necessary to keep the day-to-day to your business going forward.

No matter the cause of the damage, we can handle it. While it is important to determine the cause of loss in order to sufficiently mitigate the issue, it is just as important to have a clean-up and restoration company in whom you can depend on for responding to emergencies. Recently, a commercial property had a rented box truck full of company contents parked near the building that experienced fire damage from an adjacently parked vehicle that caught on fire. At the time the loss occurred, the business owner did not have all the answers, but his insurance agent knew he needed the Pros in Green at SERVPRO of Decatur to step in and help. While the building itself experienced little to no damage, the rented box truck had to be cleared of the debris left from the fire damage inside the truck so that it could be returned. Within a day and a half, the truck was professionally cleaned and able to be returned while the business itself was able to continue operating at its normal pace.

Regardless of the nature of the disaster. SERVPRO is here to help you continue to function operationally as a business without you having to sacrifice more of your valuable time by providing timely, actionable solutions to your emergency needs. Whether disaster strikes within the confines of your property or is limited to a company vehicle parked nearby, we are here to help you get back to business as quickly as possible.