It seems that whatever the disaster, restoration services are available to rebuild. It is quite humanitarian work on one side, but we are on the frontlines of battling destruction caused by nature and working to help homeowners restore their homes to the normal before the destruction. Our team is prepared for anything, the only thing we know is complete restoration! So, naturally we rebuild from water damage, from fire damage, and we can fully remediate mold problems and then fully restore a home after mold damages. That’s complete home restoration!
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There are many potential disasters facing San Diego County homeowners, with the local Zoos and Safari parks we even have lions, tigers and bears. All jokes aside, real threats exist beyond our control such as the recent flash flooding, the recent Hurricane Hilary visit, and San Diego is constantly on fire watch. The beautiful climate and coastal proximity have a cost and it is found in the many risks that are beyond our control.
We do not know the next threat to San Diego residents but here are some common local disaster threats paired with the preventive steps to mitigate each one’s impact.
Wildfire Preparedness and Recovery
With Fall just out of our scope, the dry nature of the plants and trees as they give up their leaves causes wildfire risks to be increased. Especially with the fluctuations in our weather from cool 60s and up the next day into the 80s, we could easily see wildfire risks increase for San Diegans. Here are some wildfire prevention tips and other relevant helpful maintenance tips.
Wildfire Threat Prevention
During this time of the season, it is important to create a defensible space surrounding the home. This means marking off a distance away from the home that you would like to ensure reduced risks of fire. Then, clearing dead leaves, dead brush, or anything that contributes fuel to a fire away from the edges of the home helps to reduce fire risks. Be sure to consider having your home assessed after a nearby fire, even having smoke near your home, can impact your home’s air quality and can damage exterior or interior surfaces.
Side Tips for Water Damage Prevention
As you clear away these fire threats, also look at the other benefits of your time. While leaves, branches, and other debris fall from the trees, you may find other damages such as a branch pushing on your raingutter. A compromised raingutter can easily contribute to water damages or flooding! After raking up leaves, you can also inspect French drain systems and make sure they did not get clogged from Fall’s seasonal droppings. A French drain clogging can contribute to a flooded landscape, but also basement flooding or other areas of home experiencing water damages.
So, when working to prevent wildfire threats, keep an open mind to other seasonal threats, water damage prevention is just one of many other home maintenance prevention necessities.
Wildfire Prevention Through Landscaping
Long-term planning of your landscaping can be an effective investment to protect your property from wildfire threats. If you can plan your home’s landscaping, work to think about avoiding plants that have high risk of fire or are evergreen. Often, still trees will lose their leaves and this means maintenance is required.
A lot of the maintenance you will be doing for fire prevention will also impact the threat of water damages.
While the homes’ safety is one aspect, your families safety and the plans for evacuation are different for fire than flood damages.
Evacuation Plan for Wildfire Emergency
If your home is in a remote area or just on the edges of San Diego County, you may need to plan a wildfire evacuation plan entirely different from many San Diegans. Whatever the plan, make sure to discuss it, think of threats that might compromise the meetup location and any alternative options that would be better. Consider if the fire comes from the west or the east having different plans for evacuation if these change the evacuation route’s safety.
Our Fire & Smoke Damage Repair Services:
- Fire and Smoke Damage Repair: Orange Restoration team can repair fire-damaged structures and remove smoke residue to restore air quality. We are happy to help answer any questions you may have related to smoke damage or fire damages..
- Home Deodorization: Often, indoor air quality is neglected when people are thinking about fire damages, but a home can be permanently damaged from being near a fire, and the air quality can also be impacted. Our team has an expertise in eliminating lingering smoke and fire odors, making homes safe to re-enter.
- Reconstruction and Remodeling: We completely rebuild and restore fire-damaged areas to their original condition. So, you can count on us for all the services needed in a full fire restoration project.
Flood Preparedness and Recovery
Excess water happens, but having a plan for when it does is key to protecting your home from sudden flooding. Similar to fire prevention tips, it is important to address landscaping with a plan, but also maintenance. French drains, gutters, and other water steering systems will help keep your home dry even when there is substantial flooding nearby.
Proper Drainage Systems
Each home has its own flood threats. To combat the threats, we suggest working with landscaping professionals to discuss any exterior needs for proper drainage systems. Your home may need a French draining system then the home is lower than the surrounding landscape, this will help detour water from the edges of structures.
Preparing Raingutter Systems
Also, often planning needs to be done for where your raingutter systems drop the excess water. Sometimes you will need to re-enforce gutters where heavier rainwater might flow from the roof. In times of heavy rain, your gutter system needs to hold the weight of a lot of water and direct this away from the home with the dropspout going to somewhere that the water can drain rapidly. Trees can be a threat to raingutters, so while it is raining or after a downfall, make sure to inspect areas for fallen tree branches or debris, especially with the season’s first rain.
Water Proofing and Weather Stripping
If you have a basement or have a home near slopes or any water damage threats, you might want to consider water proofing in times of heavy rain expectations. San Diego residents have doubted the rain potential impacts this last year, but many homes could have done more to prevent excess damages. Water proofing areas of your home that are at high risk is essential. Take time to inspect the surfaces of these areas, look for cracks and use waterproofing sealants. On windows and doors, install weather stripping on all cracks, this should help to prevent water coming in when there is flooding.
In Heavy Flooding Scenarios
Installing door dams or flood barriers at entry points can help reinforce and reduce risks of excessive flooding reaching your home’s interior. Look at elevating your HVAC system, this can reduce damages and avoid electrical outage. If you know flooding is coming, consider installing a sump pump at lowest areas of the home where there is the most threat, these are commonly found in basements and crawlspaces.
Our Flood Emergency Services:
- Flood Cleanup: We are staffed with 24/7 availability, with a rapid response team to prevent further damage, and advanced equipment for water extraction. We develop our own in-house technologies for advanced water extraction to help save your water damaged home.
- Water Damage Repair: We handle all repairs for water damage in-house by employing a team of skilled professionals. We have a master plumber, electricians, team for mold remediation, a team for water damage remediation, and a team for reconstruction. We do complete home restoration, so water damage is our most common service for the San Diego area.
- Sewage Cleanup: We have expertise in safely managing sewage floods, particularly relevant in areas with aging infrastructure like La Jolla, Coronado, Little Italy San Diego, and Point Loma. If you have a sewage spill, sewage leak, or any sewage waste management issues, we are the best team for the job.
Earthquake Resilience and Aftermath Restoration
For Earthquake damage prevention, not much can be done, but for smaller quakes, here are some tips. Our team suggests securing furniture that might fall in the case of an earthquake. This can be the best safety measure for protecting your family, along with keeping an Earthquake preparedness kit and plan for evacuation.
Restoration for After an Earthquake
Our team can rebuild from any damages! We are experts in inspecting for damages, and will report them, and create plans to fix all areas that require structural repairs. Earthquakes can create some unique damages, so while many other general contractors might be able to build, our expertise is rebuilding after damages.
We know what to look for that another general contractor would miss because they do not have restoration experience. Missing structural damages can mean more disasters, so be sure to work with an expert in restoration after Earthquake damages.
Mold Prevention and Health-Safe Remediation
Preventing mold is a science, it is not just about maintenance it is about searching for problems in places you wouldn’t expect it. Often mold can be found in the usual spaces like kitchens and bathrooms, but beyond that, some mold growths come as a surprise to homeowners.
Crawlspaces, attics, closets, laundry rooms, and behind furniture against walls–mold grows anywhere high humidity and moisture are left unchecked. So, naturally, inspecting your home for mold is about looking for it, and doing so regularly.
Mold Odor in Air, But the Source Unknown?
If you suspect mold, and cannot find any evidence of it, for example the mold odor is present, first check the areas listed above. If you cannot locate the source of the mold smell, it is possible that mold is in your HVAC, your HVAC filter, or is within the walls of your home.
Microbial and Mold Testing
In the case you cannot locate the source of mold, consider getting a professional mold testing company to test the indoor air quality for mold. Using self-test mold kits is not recommended because they are unreliable and are limited in their comprehensive ability for testing.
Ask an Indoor Environmental Professional (IEP) to help you with an Environmental Relative Moldiness Index (ERMI) test. The ERMI test will help you determine what types of mold and also, an IEP will likely ask many questions and work to detect the source of the mold. Ultimately, if you can detect mold smell in your home, it is growing, it is impacting your indoor air quality, and this can impact health.
Beyond health, mold can damage your home and degrade the value as it spreads and will cause more negative impact to more areas of the home. Contact a professional for proper mold remediation as soon as you know about the problem and have properly tested with a professional.
Our Mold Remediation Services
- Mold Remediation & Full Restoration Services: We offer both mold remediation services to get your home out of the grips of a mold outbreak. Also we do full restoration services, so when you want things rebuilt as they were, we do that too!
- Medically Sound Mold Remediation: We are CIRSx certified for medically sound mold remediation. Our team is known for first time post remediation verification (PRV) test passes, most San Diego IEPs recommend Orange Restoration for medically urgent mold remediation cases.
- Mold Testing: We do not do mold testing in-house, but we do know the best mold testing companies in San Diego, so if you need a referral, call us today!
Seasonal Preparations and Regular Property Maintenance
This blog is meant to help San Diego residents with thinking about prevention, but also be relevant to the SoCal season change. So we began with preventative maintenance to avoid wildfires and discussed the advantages of landscaping to prevent fire and flooding.
Additional tips for general seasonal preparation would be to regularly inspect the whole property, gutter cleaning and inspect French drains, and consider HVAC maintenance to prevent damage during rain and wind events.
Orange Restoration Wrap-Up
San Diego is no stranger to natural disasters, but preparation and the right support can make all the difference in protecting your home and family.
At Orange Restoration, we’re proud to bring decades of expertise to every situation, whether it’s flood cleanup, fire damage repair, mold remediation, or complete reconstruction. Our team is here to guide you through every step of the recovery process, ensuring your property is restored with care and precision.
Don’t wait until disaster strikes—reach out to Orange Restoration today to learn more about how we can help you prepare and recover. Your safety and peace of mind are our top priorities.