Water Damage Toronto Mold Removal by GTA Restoration

How to Prevent Burst Pipes from Freezing WinterToronto winter has now settled and temperatures are below freezing extreme cold weather and that's here to stay for the next few months now. During these cold months of winter, our emergency plumbers deal with an increased number of calls regarding freezing and burst pipes due to extreme cold weather.When the water freezes in your pipes they expand and the pressure inside the pipes increases, this will lead to burst pipes and in consequences of water damage to your home or property. There are certain steps you should take to safeguard your plumbing system to prevent pipes from freezing and causing water damage.How to prevent freezing pipes?i. First, you should disconnect all outside hoses and turn the water off on all exterior valves.ii. Wrap the exposed pipes that are in the crawl space or attic and exterior pipes with pipe insulation or heating tape.iii. Keep your property doors closed at all times during winter, check the car garage if there's are water supply line in the garage and wrap it with pipe insulation.iv. Keep your house temperature at lease more than 16 Celsius degrees even if you are going away for some time.v. During this extremely cold weather, you can turn your hot and cold water faucets and allow a trickle of water flow; the water flow will prevent the pipes from getting frozen.vi. Finally, in the basement find the main valve from the supply water line or water heater valve so you are prepared is a case of a flood emergency happens.What to do when freezing pipes burst?i. First, you need to shut off the valve from the main water supply line to your pipes and heat the property to minimize any water damage.ii. Call an emergency plumber and water damage restoration emergency response!iii. Contact your insurance broker to inform them about the situation to get help with your claim.How to deal with water damage after flooding?It is such an inconvenience if your property gets hit by a flood and water damage. Whether the flooding is caused by a plumbing leak, rain, and storms, or backup drain, you certainly have a problem on your hands. Even if the flooding and water damage in your property isn't that deep, you still have to realize that it's more than enough to cause considerable water damage. In fact, even a half an inch of water in your property where it's not supposed to be can already cost you tens of thousands of dollars in damage. So if you had the misfortune of getting hit by flooding, what would you do? The smartest answer would be to call for an emergency plumber then call immediately the experts re restoration services right away. However, if you want to go about it in DIY fashion, then you might want to do something right away because the longer certain parts of your home remain soaked in water, the worse the water damage becomes.Time is of the essence of water damage emergencyWhen you find a section of your property inundated by water damage, you will likely see the walls, floors, cabinets, appliances, furniture, and carpets soaked in moisture. You will need to act fast because of every minute that you wait not removing things that can be taken away damages they further. Take it upon yourself to pull the furniture, appliances, carpets, rugs, and other things out of the affected area. If you do this almost immediately, you might be able to save your belongings. However, before you do any of the things above, always assume that the water flooding your property is dirty. In other words, you must wear safety gear like waterproof boots and gloves first before wading into the flooded area and pulling out your belongings. If you find any foodstuff floating on the standing water, you pick it up and put it in the garbage right away.Remove the water after floodingAside from taking out removable stuff, you also need to start removing the standing water asap. The sooner you remove all the water, the lesser the water damage would be.Use a Shop-Vac or a water pump that sucks up water and remove whatever amount of water you can. You can also do it the old-fashioned way using containers and towels if you don't have the proper equipment. It's going to be tedious and will take a lot of time, but it needs to work.Dry out property after water damageWhen the affected areas are clear of water, you can start the drying process. Open all your windows to let the accumulated moisture to escape. If you have portable fans, then put them to good use to help dry the whole place quicker.The problem with water damageYou may have been quick removing the water and drying the affected area, but the fact remains that there will still be water damage, though less severe than if you hadn't done anything about the standing water. Aside from water damage to your walls, floors, and cabinets, they may contain trapped water inside and moisture levels inside your property, making it a perfect breeding ground for bacterial growth and spores of mold growth, which can induce illnesses. Some types of mold, like black mold, can even be deadly.While you can choose to deal with the water damage and possible mold growth formation yourself, it is best to leave such issues in the more capable hands of professionals.Water damage specialists have the right training and equipment to restore your property to the way it was before the flood and they make sure mold growth doesn't materialize. This way you prevent in a farther additional cost of hiring a mold removal company which can be lead you way more expensive rather than getting it done the first time!