Where Do I Start When There Is Flood Damage In My Buffalo Grove Daycare?

5/23/2020 (Permalink)

SERVPRO can help you reopen your daycare fast after a flooding incident allowing you to continue your service to the community.

Action from SERVPRO Helps Create Order and Quickens the Restoration of Flood-Damaged Facilities in Buffalo Grove

A flooding incident in Buffalo Grove can shatter the routines you have established at your daycare facility within minutes. Even worse, the incident can disorganize the lives of many working families that rely on the facility to take care of their kids as they conduct their daily routines. Therefore, you must have an action plan for the sake of your clients, staff, and even the kids already used to your services.

What should I do first after flooding?

Although you can expect considerable flood damage after your Buffalo Grove daycare facility is affected, it is hard to tell in advance what to expect since all incidents have some level of uniqueness. Thoroughly evaluating the damage is, therefore, crucial immediately after learning of a flooding situation. Enlisting the assistance of a professional team such as SERVPRO when performing such evaluation helps in many ways, including:

    •    Ensuring the correct evaluation procedures
    •    Identifying potential hazards
    •    Preempting secondary damage

Even though you are the first one on-site, evaluating the loss on your own is a tall order since it requires more than casual observations. For instance, you cannot tell the level of wetness on all materials by merely looking at them. Some forms of damage, such as contamination, might also be challenging to point out. Calling us immediately helps in dealing with these obstacles since we have the skills and equipment to handle the task. For instance, a simple tool such as a luminometer can help us identify whether surfaces are contaminated even when there is no physical soiling.

How do I manage the chaotic site after flooding?

Chaos in a daycare facility may not be a foreign concept. However, the mayhem from a flooding incident outweighs the overturned chairs or spilled food that you deal with daily. Some of the guidelines our technicians follow when performing the restoration tasks help create order.

    •    Setting up a staging area for restoration equipment
    •    Grouping contents as salvageable, unsalvageable and questionable
    •    Using large waste receptacles

We position the staging area close to a bathroom or laundry area where there is access to clean water, and the floor or wall materials favor activities such as mixing cleaning products for cleaning. Having all the equipment in one readily accessible location helps improve turnaround time. Classifying contents and construction materials are salvageable or unsalvageable, and grouping them, helps create order. Moving the unsalvageable ones outside the structure creates more space to perform other restoration processes. We use different waste receptacles, including large trashcans and plastic bags, to hold the waste materials outside the structure to ensure they do not spread.

Are contents safe for kids after exposure to floodwater?

The flooding incident that hits your daycare facility can affect a wide range of contents, including playthings, cots, furniture, utensils, and floor coverings. Since floodwaters are heavily laden with contaminants, you have a reason to worry about the safety of the kids who use the items.

The safety of items after exposure to floodwaters depends on several factors, including their component materials. The advantage is that most of the contents in your facility are easy to decontaminate. Those brightly colored plastic chairs, nap cots, and toys that kids enjoy using have an added advantage in case of flooding since they are non-porous. A thorough wash with professional cleaning agents and disinfectants should remove all traces of contamination, “Like it never even happened.”

Our SERVPRO technicians remove porous materials such as carpets and rugs for disposal since they retain traces of contaminants even after a thorough cleaning. For surfaces such as wood or concrete floors, we treat them twice with biocides to deal with the contamination. We apply the product the first time after arrival at the loss site. We apply the second treatment after finishing regular cleaning procedures.

Apart from contamination, some items can also pose other risks to the kids. Any electronic item within the flooded areas can malfunction if plugged in after the incident. Even items that are not exposed to the floodwater can be damaged through condensation or other forms of moisture accumulation. We ensure that an expert inspects such items and confirms they are safe for use. We can also take steps such as ensuring the items do not cool to the dew point to limit the damage before the specialist checks them.

SERVPRO of Buffalo Grove / Lake Zurich can help you reopen your daycare fast after a flooding incident allowing you to continue your service to the community. Call us any time at (847) 279-1940.