A Complete Guide to Disaster Restoration
It’s no secret that the world has experienced many natural disasters in the last few years. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported 2021 as being in second place for experiencing the most natural disasters within a calendar year.
Last year, the US saw two major floods, three tornado outbreaks, one widespread drought and heatwave event, four tropical cyclones, one winter storm event across the South and Texas, and one widespread wildfire event combined from Arizona to Washington.
We don’t know about you, but we prefer to be armed with information, just in case. This is your complete guide to disaster restoration after an unexpected weather event. We’ll go over what counts as a natural disaster, common types of home damage, and what to expect in disaster restoration services.
What Is Disaster Restoration?
Disaster restoration is the process of restoring a property back to its original condition after damage caused by a natural disaster.
Natural disaster restoration can be a dangerous process. The damage caused to structures can create more hazards that are best handled by a team of experts who can professionally guide you through the process.
What Counts As A Disaster?
Simply put, any catastrophic weather event can be considered a natural disaster. To be certain, here is the list of weather events that qualify, according to FEMA.
- Winter Storm
- Flood
- Tornado
- Hurricane
- Earthquake
- Wildfire
- Avalanche
- Hail
- Drought
- Coastal Flooding
- Ice Storm
- Landslide
- Lightning
- Tsunami
- Volcanic Activity
- Extreme Heat/Cold
Here in California, the most common types of natural disasters are floods, fires, and earthquakes.
Common Types Of Home Damage From Natural Disasters
Since the most common natural disasters in California are floods, fires, and earthquakes, we’ll focus on those here.
Flood Damage
Flooding can be caused by weather events, yes, but that isn’t the only cause. Urbanization strains existing sewer lines. When a natural disaster, like coastal flooding happens, the effects can cause flooding inland from sewer system issues.
Damage to homes from flooding can include structural damage to drywall, insulation, electrical wires, or damage to a foundation.
Earthquake Damage
The most common home damage from an earthquake is structural. Columns, foundations, beams, walls, roofs, and ceilings can shift dramatically and quickly. In severe cases, this type of damage can cause collapse.
As the structures can be damaged through a small magnitude earthquake too, damage to your home will still most likely be structural. Damaged columns, foundations, or beams can disrupt duct work, water, gas, and electrical lines.
Fire Damage
Fires can cause catastrophic damage to the structural integrity of a home, but burning can spread across property to other structures too.
Fire damage often leaves behind water damage either from burning of pipes or damage to a hot water heater. This simultaneous water damage can also come from the first responder efforts to put out the fire.
Further, fires destroy furniture, carpets, and personal belongings. If not from the flames then from left over soot or smoke damage.
What To Do In The Aftermath Of A Natural Disaster
As you try to grapple with the reality of the damage, many emotions may take over. Shock, panic, grief, overwhelm, anger, or sadness. Don’t worry, we’re here to help guide you through the whole process.
The first step is to wait for emergency responders to clear the property for safety. In widespread natural disaster events, this can take a while as the number of calls is high. Try not to give in to the temptation to enter the property to assess the damage for yourself until the structure has been cleared. Without the clearance, it may be illegal to enter the property for any reason.
Once it’s cleared, be sure to call the insurance company.
What To Expect For Disaster Restoration
After the property is cleared for safety and the insurance company has been notified, it’s time to contact a restoration service. A reputable service will be licensed, insured, IICRC-certified, knowledgeable and friendly.
Give Affordable Home Works a call. Our team of IICRC professionals are available 24/7 for all your emergency needs. Upon arrival, we’ll start the assessment process.
Some factors considered in the assessment are the size of the property and structure, type of natural disaster damage, water lines and pipes, potential mold damage, smoke and soot clean up, and electrical damage.
Once the assessment is complete, the AFW team will provide an estimate of the cost of disaster restoration.
Then, we’ll begin boarding up the outside damage or using tarps to temporarily cover any structure damage to exterior walls. This step is to mitigate any further damage.
The next steps are dependent on the assessment, damage, and the type of natural disaster. Most often, large debris is removed at this step and remaining personal belongings like furniture may be removed.
Finally, our team of expert reconstructionists will make a plan to repair, rebuild, and restore your property to its original condition down to the structural core.
While most home owners insurance covers fire damage, not all cover flood or earthquake damage. It’s best to check with your insurance company throughout the process. This ensures that everyone involved is informed on pricing, the disaster restoration progress, and estimated timelines.
Affordable Home Works Is Your Comprehensive Disaster Restoration Service
At AFW, we’re committed to providing expert customer service 24/7. Our team of dedicated professionals are certified through the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning, and Restoration Certificate (IICRC). We service both commercial and residential properties.
Affordable Home Works is proud to offer 30 years of expertise. And, as we like to say, turning turmoil into organized recovery through the disaster restoration process.
Our goal is to help you return home as quickly as possible by providing guaranteed quality services.
In addition to restoration services, we are specialized in mold remediation, basement and sewer flooding clean-up, attic and crawl space mold remediation, board up services, and water and fire damage restoration.
We’re available at all times at 951-261-8075 or contact us online for a free estimate or to get started on your disaster restoration service today.