Ten things you can do to prevent Fort Myers water damage in your home

Sometimes Fort Myers water damage is inevitable but 95% of the time you can take steps to prevent Fort Myers water damage from occurring in your home or condo.

A very small number of Fort Myers water damages happen because of weather and wind. The majority of water damage losses happen because of plumbing leaks and Air Conditioning condensation problems.

First and foremost; know where the main water shut off is for the whole house. If there is a plumbing leak in a place where you cannot use an under sink or toilet shut off to stop the flow, shut the whole house off.

Second; when you leave the house for even a weekend shut off the Fort Myers water to the house. Be sure to shut off the power to you electric Fort Myers water heater also. If the water is off no plumbing Fort Myers Water Damage can occur. Check the supply lines for your washing machine. Be sure the drain line for the washer is clear.

Third; check under the sinks and behind the toilets to be sure Fort Myers water is not condensation or dripping. If there is condensation, wrap the pipes in an insulating blanket. If there is a drip call a plumber.

Fourth: If your home has copper piping for the Fort Myers water supply behind the walls and above the ceilings and your home is 15 years old think about a re- pipe. Plumbers will run new plastic lines above your ceilings to every fixture and leave the old pipes in place.

Fifth: Check the hose bibs, outside water spigots, to see if they are leaking. This kind of Fort Myers water leak can travel through the block structure and wet the drywall inside.

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Dew point and air leaks can cause Fort Myers mold

How the dew point and air leaks can cause Fort Myers mold growth in your home

We have all seen dew on the grass in the morning or condensation on the outside of your windows in the morning. This condensation is caused when moist warm air comes in contact with a cool surface or cool dry air. This causes the Fort Myers moisture in the warm air to condense on the cool surface.
When this occurs, the air reaches it’s “DEW POINT”. The dew point is the temperature to which a given parcel of air must be cooled, at constant barometric pressure, for Fort Myers water vapor to condense into water. All this is fine in nature but when it happens inside our home or in our attic it can be a problem.

In your hot attic, a Fort Myers leak in the air conditioning ducting or a pealed back strip of duct tape will cause Fort Myers water to condense and drip through your insulation onto the top side of your csiling drywall. Over time this Fort Myers water will support Fort Myers mold growth. If there are cracks around your windows or wall penetrations the same Fort Myers condensation will occur and may support Fort Myers mold growth on wood trim or drywall. Stucco cracks will also let warm moist air into your walls and if that air contacts cool dry air in the wall cavity water will condense and mold may begin to grow within your walls. All of these situations are happening in thousands of homes in our towns each and every hot and humid day. The worst times of year are days with hot humid days and much cooler nights.
We have all heard the horror story about the part time resident who has an air conditioning failure while they are out of town, or their Humidistat fails or it’s batteries fail. The result is warm humid air inside their home in the day time and cooler nights that cause the humidity to condense on the walls, furniture and everything else. This causes a condition called a “Fort Myers humidity bloom. To prevent this, by pass the humidistat and have a qualified home watch check your home at least trwice a month while you are away.

Other simple fixes are:

- Caulk all windows and fill all wall penetrations with foam to prevent air penetration.

- Check your air conditioning ducting at the beginning of the summer season for tape peels and air leaks.

- Have your air conditioning unit serviced twice a year. Be sure the drain line and drain pan are clean and clear.

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Top Ten Fort Myers Hurricane Tips

The first time you prepare for a Fort Myers hurricane or Fort Myers tropical storm may be a hassle but after that it’s a snap.

Most things are usually on hand but should be stocked up and easily accessible. If it turns out the Fort Myers hurricane has changed its path, at least you will have known you were ready.

If Fort Myers is in imminent danger of a Fort Myers hurricane, most likely evacuation announcements have been made, and should be taken seriously. Here is a checklist to consider before you leave:

1. First, get important papers and special photos in order and secured in plastic. Identification is difficult and time-consuming to replace: so be sure to include social security cards, birth certificates, high school diplomas or GED certificates, titles or deeds to property. Photos of special occasions or loved ones cannot be replaced, so including these is important as well.

2. Think ahead and take video or photos of your Fort Myers property before you leave. This will help later on with any insurance checklist claims for Fort Myers damage that may need to be filed.

3. Gas up your car early. If you cannot stay with relatives book a room out of the projected path Make sure to get directions and put them in the car ahead of time. It is easy to forget that piece of paper in the rush out the door. A cheaper route might be to find temporary Fort Myers hurricane shelters. Usually nearby towns not in the direct path of the Fort Myers hurricane will provide these for people in need.

4. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that your pet will have a place in a motel or hotel. Keep this in mind and try to find alternate housing for your loved one until it is safe to return. Crate your pet.

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Fort Myers floods or leaks in your home it require immediate attention

Anytime Fort Myers water floods or leaks into your home it requires immediate attention to minimize further loss and damage. You may be surprised to hear that people who call Southwest

Florida water damage restoration companies about a plumbing leak do not know how to shut off the water in their own home. Everyone, including renters, should know where the main shut off is for the

Central Florida water in your home. So the first step on a Fort Myers plumbing leak is to shut off the water. When the source of a Fort Myers plumbing leak is behind a wall or in the

ceiling call a plumber to fix the problem. Call a reputable local Fort Myers water damage extraction and drying company to remove the water and dry all building materials and personal

possessions that may have been wet by the Fort Myers leak. While you are waiting for the drying company to arrive move what you are able to into an unaffected room and protect valuables,

delicate items and important documents. Pick what ever you can up off the wet floors. Call your insurance company and report the loss. Take lots of pictures for your insurance adjuster.

Most important is that standing Fort Myers water must be extracted and wet materials must be dried out completely and as quickly as possible. Wet carpeting, wood and drywall are a breeding

ground for viruses, bacteria and Fort Myers mold. Fort Myers Mold can begin to grow on wet building materials and personal possessions in as little as 24 to 48 hours. The Southwest

Florida water damage extraction and drying company will remove most of the water by extraction and then complete the drying process with air movement and dehumidification. Once the humidity in a

wet home is stabilized at 55% or less, Fort Myers mold will not grow.

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The function of air flow in the Fort Myers drying process

Whether drying a large scale commercial job or drying the walls between a home garage and the living space; air movement and reduced relative humidity are required.

Base trim should be removed to accomplish fast and complete drying of walls in homes. Newer homes also have drywall hung ¾ inch off the floor to provide an air space so that:

- In a small Fort Myers flood the drywall will not wet unless the water wicks through the base trim. When that trim is plastic the drywall is protected from indirect wicking. When the base trim is wood it takes time to wick up to the drywall.

- When drying wet drywall the ¾ inch air space allows fans to circulate dehumidified air to the back side of the drywall for drying.

When there is no opening to get air movement to the back of the drywall or the Fort Myers wet materials are overhead; an access hole should be cut in the drywall to allow air movement to the back of Fort Myers wet materials. In situations where the walls cannot be cut, such as tiled walls of faux painting, small holes can be drilled in the wall where they will be covered by the base trim when it is reinstalled. Specialty equipment called “Inject a Dry” uses a manifold fed by air movers and connects to many flexible tubes to push dry air to the back of the Fort Myers wet material surface.

The movement of air across a Fort Myers wet surface creates a “static” pressure at the material surface. This process speeds up the evaporation process and literally pulls the Fort Myers moisture out of wet material. The fan or air mover should be placed at a 15 to 45 degree angle from the wall. The faster the air movement across the surface and the dryer the air the faster the evaporation.

Whether drying a single Fort Myers room or a larger space, a drying envelope must be set up. This is a separation of the Fort Myers wet areas from dry non affected or outside areas to stabilize and control the temperature and humidity for improved drying conditions. A drying envelope can be as simple as 6 mil poly sealing a door way but it should be a small as possible. The dehumidifier will need to process all the air in the envelope to reduce the humidity. Once the Fort Myers moisture is pulled out of the wet materials through evaporation into the air the saturated air in the drying envelope is cycled through an LGR (Low Grain Refrigerant) dehumidifier to keep the relative humidity in the drying envelop as low as possible. This LGR dehumidifier can remove up to 62 pints of Fort Myers water from the air in 24 hours.

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Books and papers that have gotten wet by Fort Myers fire, flood, and broken pipe can be recovered. It is time-intensive and best left to the professionals, but if you’ve got one or two wet books that if not dried perfectly you would not fret about, and the time to spare, you can attempt to recover the books yourself.

The most important thing, upon which everything else hinges, is get the book frozen fast. Once the book dries out, the wrinkles and warping are set, and there’s nothing anybody can do about it. But

freeze it, and all damage stops. And the book can stay frozen until you’re ready to handle it.

Wrap the book in a U of wax or freezer paper, or in a plastic bag. It’s best to freeze it at -15F or lower, so if you can get access to a commercial freezer space, it would be a good idea. If

that’s not available, a home freezer will do in a pinch, but the results won’t be quite as good. If possible, freeze the book spine down, and supported so it won’t lean or fall over. If you have

to lay it on its side, make sure that the book is fully and flatly supported. If you have anything under it smaller than the book, the book can and will mold itself to that object. All you will

need is your freezer, a hair dryer and lots of time.

The recovery process is fairly simple:

1. Start with the cover. Open the cover (gently pry loose the inside page, if it’s sticking). Run the air stream from the hair dryer (I’d recommend top settings on both heat and fan) over the

cover, back and forth, top to bottom, and inside and out. When it feels dry and warm to the touch (not hot!) go on to the inside page. Same procedure. Smooth the page with your hand as you work.

Work page to page this way.

2. When the next page starts to feel wet to your fingers, that are not frozen, stop. Stick in a piece of paper as a bookmark, and put the book back in the freezer. Take out the next book (if

there’s more than one) and start on it. Leave the first book in the freezer for at least a day.

3. Covers may soak up more moisture than the pages, so you may have to do the cover several times. Just keep the book frozen, and work only so long as it’s frozen, quitting when it starts to thaw.

4. There are a few circumstances which are a little more problematic than the general procedure I outlined above. You may run into these:
- Art Books.
- Coffee table books.
- Books with a lot of pictures.
- This type of book relies on a particular type of clay-impregnated paper to print the sharp, clean colors of the pictures. The problem comes when this paper gets wet. The clay leeches to the

surface of the paper, and if the book even begins to dry, the clay will bond to itself and form a solid, irrecoverable block out of the book. Therefore, it becomes even more imperative than usual

that the book be frozen before it has a chance to dry. Once it’s frozen, you can proceed as usual, although you will probably have to exercise some caution in turning the pages as you dry them.

Have a sharp knife handy to open any edges that may have bonded.

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A tale of two Fort Myers water losses.

Scenario #1

A condominium owner in your town has a unit that he rents out during the “season” to help pay his mortgage and insurance expenses. Last month his renter called him to say that the cold water supply hose on the washing machine burst during the night. Before he could wake up, find the main water shut off and stop the flooding there was 1 inch of Fort Myers water in the hallway to the front door, the kitchen and guest bathroom were Fort Myers flooded and Fort Myers water was beginning to soak the living room and guest bedroom carpets.

The owner had the condominium maintenance man pull out as much Fort Myers water as he could with a wet/dry vacuum, open the windows and run the ceiling fans to encourage the unit to dry out. This time of year the humidity is low and there was a nice breeze with temps in the mid 70’s during the day. At the end of the next day the carpets felt almost dry and all the tiled flooring looked as if nothing had ever happened. The renter went home the following Sunday.

The condo sat empty for two weeks before the next renter was scheduled to arrive and when he did arrive the owner got this call. “The condo smells really musty and the walls are black just above the baseboard”. The renter checked into a local motel and the condo owner called a Professional Fort Myers Water Damage Restoration Company.

The Fort Myers Restoration Company removed all the Fort Myers mold affected materials in a containment, made sure the structure was completely dry, cleaned and treated the structural components behind the walls and rebuilt the areas where building materials were removed. The Fort Myers Restoration Company then arranged for a Certified Indoor Environmentalist (CIE) to perform an air (clearance) test to document that the condo had no Fort Myers mold growing inside.

What Happened here?

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Half an inch of standing water in our Fort Myers living room

A home owner writes; We had driven to Orlando for the long weekend with the kids. The house looked fine when we pulled into the driveway after our trip but when I opened the front door it hit me like a punch. There was half an inch of standing water in our Fort Myers living room, dining room and kitchen. We all walked in and stood in the puddle that was our home. As I walked to the bedrooms each one was soaked, the carpet squishing beneath my feet. I had no idea what to do.

Thank goodness my wife was still thinking and said where is the water coming from? I ran out the back door and shut off the main water supply to the house and felt momentary relief. Now what!

This is a much too common experience for Fort Myers Florida homeowners. Some think it is just bad luck but I say it is lack of preparation and planning. In this particular case the problem was a water supply line failure in the kitchen but there are many potential water lines and hose that can flood your entire home in a weekend.

First and foremost, do you know where the main water shut off is for your house? If a plumbing line failed, even when you are at home, it could cause substantial Fort Myers Florida Water damage before you could figure it out and shut the water off. Find your main water shut off and show everyone in your family where it is and how to operate the valve.

If you have a Fort Myers Florida flood in your home, be sure to call a restoration company that will dry your home properly. Drying a structure requires technical training and specialized equipment. Ask if your Fort Myers Florida Water Damage restoration company has technicians trained and certified by IICRC, The Institute of Cleaning and Restoration Certification. Restoration experts can often save cherished possessions and will speed your recovery time. Proper drying of your Fort Myers Florida home structure is the key to preventing mold growth.

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Do you live in an area that is likely to be affected by Fort Myers flooding?

Do you live in an area that is likely to be affected by Fort Myers flooding? If yes, then you need to purchase flood insurance. This is a requirement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

It is true that people who live in a relatively dry climate are still victims of flooding. It is important to but Fort Myers flood insurance to cover damages that may result from storms, melting snow, inadequate or overloaded drains or hurricane non-wind damages.

The regular home owners insurance does not cover your home and property against Fort Myers water damages. Statistics show that about twenty five percent of Fort Myers flood claims are filed by people that have low to moderate risk of flooding. You cannot add flood coverage to your home owner’s insurance policy as a rider. You must buy this Fort Myers Flood coverage from an insurer associated with the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

This coverage can be purchased at any time unless the threat of flooding is imminent. There is a thirty day waiting period before Fort Myers flood insurance becomes active.

Fort Myers Flooding is defined by the National Flood Insurance Program as a general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of two or more acres of normally dry land area or two or more properties (at least one of which is your property from: Overflow of inland waters, unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from ANY SOURCE, and mudflows.

This can be brought on by landslides, a hurricane, earthquakes, or other natural disasters that influence Fort Myers flooding, but while a homeowner may, for example, have earthquake coverage, that coverage may not cover Fort Myers floods as a result of earthquakes.

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Finding the source of a water leak in your Fort Myers home

Finding the source of a water leak in your Fort Myers home can be a monumental challenge.

Here in Fort Myers Florida we have a sub tropical weather pattern. That means every year we have several months of torrential rains driven by high winds. During this rainy season we experience daily thunder storms. These wind driven rain storms create extreme conditions that may cause water intrusions into your Fort Myers home that are unique to this area.

There are several problem areas that are common to a typical concrete block construction home with a hip roof here in Fort Myers Florida.

The Fort Myers Roof: Asphalt shingle roofing is held in place with roofing nails and adheres to the neighboring shingle with asphalt sealant. This sealant degrades over time with the intense sun and heat of Fort Myers Florida. Hip roofs, though designed to resist lift in a hurricane situation, create more outside corners on the roof. These outside corners must be capped with cut shingles. This is a weak spot for water penetration. The high winds of a storm can lift a shingle and driving rain penetrates under the shingle to the roof sheathing below. Once water has penetrated to the plywood roof deck it may drip straight down or travel along a roof truss until an obstacle stops the flow and a drip occurs there. The drip penetrates the insulation in your Fort Myers attic space and shows up a spot on your drywall ceiling. If the paper on the drywall or the paper backing on your insulation stays wet more than a few days mold growth can begin. The same process can occur with tile roofing but tiled roofs are more water penetration resistant.

Fort Myers Roof Soffits and flashing: Extreme horizontal winds can drive rain through the roof soffits and into the attic space. Once into the Fort Myers attic space water will wet insulation and the drywall that is your interior ceiling. Similarly lifting of the bottom course of shingles past the flashing will expose the roof sheathing to wetting.

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