If you’re going on vacation, there will be certain tasks you will want to accomplish before you leave, including stopping the mail, arranging for someone to care for your pets, and more. Aside from these important tasks, you should also take action to secure your home before your trip. Doing so can help prevent disasters from occurring while you’re away.

Purchasing a home for the first time can be an exhilarating experience, but potential homebuyers must be aware that the home they could be buying might have hidden water damage. To the untrained eye, water damage and recurrent water issues can go unnoticed. In fact, according to the Institute for Business and Home Safety, homes more than 30 years old are three times more likely to have a major plumbing or drainage issue. That’s why it’s important to know what to look for in your potential future home.

Mold is naturally present in the world; however, it has no place within a healthy home or facility. Typically, mold emerges when a water leak or flooding issue hasn’t been resolved quickly. Mold doesn’t need to have a lot of water to grow and spread; in fact, countless homes often have mold growing in the bathroom and in other wet locations.

If you’ve ever had a flare-up happen in the kitchen, you know how startling the experience can be. Grease fires, however, are more dangerous and even more difficult to put out than regular fires. They can spark within seconds and can cause a great amount of damage within a short period of time. That’s why it’s always a good idea to be prepared and know when to call the professionals should a grease fire ever erupt in your kitchen.

We’ve all experienced that uncomfortable moment when a toilet just wouldn’t flush properly and the water level rose. Maybe you accidentally panicked and flushed another time or two, only to watch helplessly as the water rose higher and overflowed. When you have a clogged, overflowing toilet on your hands, does that mean you should call for professional help?

Springtime in St. Louis brings beautiful weather, blossoming trees, and, of course, plenty of rain showers. Sometimes these showers can become severe and cause flooding within residential and commercial buildings. We often receive calls from facility owners and building managers who experience sewer backup and sump pump failure because of the heavy rain. Homeowners may also experience these issues in addition to wet basements due to damaged and cracked foundations.

We are about to close out the month of January, almost a month after the historic flooding took place in the Greater St. Louis region, and several property owners are still picking up the pieces and cleaning up their homes after the flood caused so much damage. Sadly, many of these homeowners weren’t just affected by floodwater damage. They had also experienced sewer backups, sump pump overflows, and river flooding with several experiencing these issues at the same time. Some homes were flooded first by sewer water and then by river flooding, making the situation trickier to handle.

September has been observed as National Preparedness Month since 2004 as part of a government effort to increase the nation’s readiness in the case of emergencies. Sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), this year’s theme is “Don't Wait. Communicate. Make Your Emergency Plan Today.” The purpose behind this awareness event is to remind everyone to renew their commitment to readiness for the good of the entire community.

Q. If I own a commercial or residential property and discover a water problem or water damage in my home, what should I do?

For owners of commercial and residential property concerned about water damage cleanup, helpful information below can help you with your home.

Imagine having the ability to see through walls, up into ceilings, beneath wall-to-wall carpeting and all the way to the base floor for water damage. While nobody has yet developed a superhero's X-ray vision, a thermal imaging camera can provide you with a glimpse inside the walls of your home, where unsuspected and expensive water leaks may be developing.

If your home has damage to your floor from water, it's crucial to take immediate action in order to avoid the dangers associated with microbial growth. When water enters into a home, often due to flooding, the damages that occur can extend much further than appearances alone. Moisture provides microbial growth with the perfect environment in which to thrive which can lead to a host of health problems for those living within the household.

During last spring's heavy rains, people who had never had to deal with basement flooding before suddenly found themselves dealing with floor water damage including wet carpet, soaked walls and damaged belongings in their basements. For the vast majority of homeowners we worked with, this damage wasn't covered by insurance and they had to pay for the repairs out-of-pocket.

Sump pump outages and failures are a common cause of water damage to floors in a home or building. Outages and failures typically occur during periods of heavy rain or snow melt when areas with high water tables are prone to flooding. These failures can be the result of an aging pump, but owners of newer sump pumps should also take some steps to ensure their sump pump doesn't stop or malfunction.

Q1. Is my home’s water damage covered by my insurance?

A. While we cannot make that determination for you without knowing the exact particulars of your insurance coverage, or the extent of the water damage to the floor or walls. we do have a professional insurance specialist on staff who has 7 years experience at one of the nation’s major insurance companies. The insurance world is part of our business and we understand all essential aspects of it, which greatly benefits you!