Water Damage

I mentioned this in past posts/threads. If you plan on doing water damage, GET CERTIFIED! There are a lot of risks when dealing with water damage. First, what kind of water was it? Sewage? Clean water? These both play a huge factor. How long has the water sat (i.e. has it been long enough that mold is growing)? Any carpet/pad that has come in contact with sewage should be automatically replaced, same if mold is growing. You will probably want to buy dehumidifiers, more fans and moisture meters (and our urine probe doesn’t qualify). Does the drywall, baseboards, tack strips, etc. need to be replaced and if so are you doing it or someone else? Some companies have the people to do the job from start to finish. We only do very small water jobs (see only part of a room, no more). Before you go gungho and commit to water damage, I would try a couple small ones first. GREAT money to be made, but at what price (see additional equipment expenses, training/certifications, insurance, 24 hr response time usually required…..like the 3am call???). If you are a 1 man show, I would be hesitant to do water damage if you are already busy with your current clientele unless you hire another body.

Just my 2 cents….

Justin, I agree and hate passing up work/$$, but as the saying goes sometimes the juice aint worth the squeeze. The few times my business partner (my bro) and I ever got angry at each other on jobs was on a couple large flood calls that we took on early in our career. If you don’t know what you are doing, they are not fun (and even when you do know what you are doing they are not fun). Like I said, a lot of money to be made in floods, but be prepared to make a large investment of both time and money to do them properly. Dave Dilts is right that there are always exceptions and if you can find one like he did, jump on it. Gary, unless there is a new pad out there I haven’t seen, I’m guessing your customer’s water resistant pad was actually just a pad with an upper membrane barrier. This makes the pad act like the protectant kleenex we all have where moisture (like dog pee) doesn’t penetrate the pad. To continue with the kleenex example however, place 5 more untreated kleenex under the protected one. Then set them all on a table and pour a large glass of water on top of them all. Water (if the flood is large enough) will eventually get to the other tissues from around the edges or maybe through a seem where the pads connect, and once it’s there, it is a pain to get out because you pretty much can’t extract it through the membrane and it also won’t easily evaporate through that membrane. Hauling and disposing of 300 sq ft of heavy wet (stinky?) carpet pad is not fun.

I am sure some operators have the equipment do to floods and can better tell you the approach you need to take if you want to tackle them. In our current situation we stay away. I can tell you from experience that relaying carpet from a flood without the proper tools (we just have a small knee kicker, not a power stretcher) will make words come out of your mouth that would make a sailor blush.