When Winter Weather Strikes Be Prepared to Strike Back

1/2/2019 (Permalink)

Ice Dam diagram

Here's how to prepare your Ravenswood home:

• Keep cabinet doors open during cold spells. This allows warm air to circulate around pipes.
• Keep a slow trickle of water flowing through faucets, especially if the pipes for faucets run through unheated or uninsulated areas of your home.
• Consider shutting off outdoor faucets. Find the shut-off valve in the basement or crawl space and turn it off.
• If you follow the previous step, then open the outdoor faucet to help ensure it drains completely and the inner valve is shut off.
• Ensure gutters are clean and secure. Leaves and debris accumulate, causing a damming effect on gutters, which could lead to roof problems and water damage.
• Proper maintenance of your furnace can help reduce the risk of puffbacks.

Here's how to prepare your Ravenswood business:

• Check your business property for downed tree limbs and branches. Weather, such as wind, heavy rain, ice and snow can cause branches to fall, which could cause damage to the property and potentially cause personal injuries.
• Inspect walkways, and parking lots, for proper drainage to alleviate flood hazard potentials.
• Inspect all handrails, stairwells and entryways to address and correct potential slippery or hazardous areas.
• Install mats or non-slip surfaces and post caution signs where water could be present.

Ask SERVPRO of Ravenswood about starting a Disaster Recovery Plan for your business.  Call us at 773-878-5200 today!

Ice dams can be a major problem during the winter season. They form when heated air melts roof snow downward into water that is dammed behind still-frozen ice. When the trapped water cannot safely flow or run into the gutter system, it can backflow under the roof's shingles and into the structure's interior area, causing leaks and damage. We can help mitigate Ravenswood water damage caused by these ice dams and help you get your structure back to preloss condition.

Puffback is a messy furnace malfunction that occurs when an oil burner backfires, sending soot throughout your home or business. It can happen all at once, covering an interior in grimy soot, or a puffback can leak soot particles more gradually. Equipped with the training, tools and experience to quickly and efficiently clean and restore your Ravenswood home or business, we will help make your puffback seem "Like it never even happened."