Water Wisdom: Expert Tips on Preventing Damage and Maintaining Your Home with Chad Mallonee

Can you imagine the heartache and financial strain from unexpected water damage? Discover how to prevent such scenarios with expert advice from Chad Mallonee, owner of Hazard Clean Restoration. In this episode, Chad and co-host Garfield Bowen share invaluable tips on safeguarding your home or business against water damage. Learn about the vulnerabilities of aging copper pipes, particularly in high-humidity areas like Florida, and the benefits of considering a comprehensive re-piping for older homes. Chad also explains the critical role of regular HVAC maintenance in preventing leaks and controlling humidity levels.

Ever wondered why your bathroom exhaust fan is so essential? Chad breaks down how this often-overlooked fixture can prevent mold growth and maintain a healthy living environment. From understanding the complexities of HVAC systems to practical steps for maintaining your plumbing, this episode is packed with actionable insights and real-world examples. Whether you're a homeowner or a business owner, tune in to learn how to stay ahead of potential water damage and keep your property in top shape.

To learn more about Hazard Clean Restoration go to:
https://hazardclean.net/

Hazard Clean Restoration
(772) 259-5018

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

Welcome to the Restoration Revolution podcast, where we help restore hope and put your family on the road to recovery, one episode at a time. Here's your host and owner of Hazard Clean Restoration, Chad Melody.

Speaker 2: 0:27

Get ready to dive into the world of water damage remediation. Welcome back everyone. This is Garfield Bowen, co-host, slash producer, back in the studio with Matt Chad. Maloney Chad, how are you doing today? I'm doing great Garfield.

Speaker 3: 0:44

How are you doing?

Speaker 2: 0:45

I am well, I'm well, I can't complain. So, chad, when it comes to water damage remediation, what steps do you take to prevent future occurrences?

Speaker 3: 0:56

You know, preventing water damage occurrence. It's really a crucial aspect of water damage restoration and, while we really focus on addressing the immediate damage, typically when we go into a water damage restoration project, taking proactive measures to mitigate the risk can really help save homeowners and businesses significant financial and emotional stress in the future. When I think about a couple key areas to prevent water damage from occurring in your home in the future and how you can be proactive with it, copper pipes come right to the front of that Typically. Typically when we get called out to uh, you know a pipe that is leaking or there's a leak in the walls and everything else it's it's a lot of times it's a, it's a copper pipe and, uh, the, the high humidity in florida combined with um, the chlorine that's you going that's used in in the water to really is it and everything else it really commonly leads to increased corrosion and increase these pinhole leaks in these copper pipes and those leaks can really turn into costly repairs. And while most copper pipes really can last, you know, 20 plus years, if a home is getting up there in age you know's 40 years, 30 years, 40 years, 50 years, anything like that or if that homeowner's already had to repair a pinhole leak, then it really may be time to reconsider re-piping the home. The home, you know, it's interesting, even the there's even cities that know it's such a it's it's caused so many issues that there's cities in Florida that even offer loans to the, to their homeowners to help them replace the entire plumbing system, really get the, the, the whole house redone. And with these, the, these copper pipes, you pipes, if you just replace and just fix one little pinhole because that corrosion has been happening throughout that pipe. Basically, once you fix that, the pressure goes up in that pipe and typically you end up having more pinhole leaks. And so that's something you want to make sure that you, if you've had that or you're suspecting you may, you know, have a licensed plumber come out and look at everything for you.

Speaker 3: 3:34

The next would be with HVAC systems. You know air conditioning, so you know a lot of times you know your air conditioning unit can start to leak. You can have a backup in your drain line and and or third point, if your system is not functioning properly, they can lead to high humidity in your, in your home or business, and you know you really want a licensed HVAC contractor to come out there to inspect it, really do some some preventive maintenance, inspect it, really do some preventive maintenance. And I can't. You know the drain line is such a simple thing to make sure that you know that is getting checked on a pretty frequent basis because it really can cause, if you get a backup on your drain line, it can cause significant damage in a short amount of time, and so it's really important to take, you know, take steps to make sure that's functioning properly as well.

Speaker 3: 4:32

The third thing that really comes to mind is bathroom exhaust fans, and so we get called out a lot of times.

Speaker 3: 4:40

If there's mold in a home, in a bathroom area or whichever, a lot of times it's because the homeowner either doesn't have an exhaust fan or they're not using it, the family's not using it, and so, when you think about when you take in a hot shower, it really releases a significant amount of moisture and water vapor into that air, which can then condense on the surfaces and lead to mold growth if it's not properly ventilated.

Speaker 3: 5:10

And it's recommended, you know, when you go in and take a shower, that you turn that exhaust fan on immediately and then continually, once you're done with the shower, let that run for about 20 minutes, because it'll actually allow the excess moisture to be removed and return the humidity. Allow the excess moisture to be removed and return the humidity back to a normal level by taking just if I just think of those three key areas right there you really can take, really look at you know, preventing, you know those are three common areas that really you can save yourself some financial and emotional stress in the future by addressing those when it comes to water damage, and just prevention is the key. So a little effort now, putting a little effort in those three areas, really can go a long way to safeguard your property for the long run so um chad, yes, how do you ensure that all affected area is thoroughly dried and is treated to prevent?

Speaker 3: 6:14

mold growth? That's a good question. It depends on the scenario. So you know we have a lot of tools that we utilize, a lot of different techniques and everything else. But you know, on a basic level, you know we're using things like moisture meters. On a basic level, we're using things like moisture meters. We're also using things like infrared cameras and everything else that allow us to be able to determine if we're at the right dryness level that we're looking for, especially if we're drying out a property.

Speaker 3: 6:51

There's a lot that goes into that. We do moisture mapping, all kinds of techniques that really ensure that. You know you can touch a surface and feel it and be like, oh no, it's dry. You know, just took it up with a shop vac and it's, it's dry. When really there's there's a lot of bound moisture, uh, that's in in that material, that it's not dry and you know we need to get that out of there and remove it or else that you're going to end up with mold growth as that material slowly releases that moisture over time and also damages the material, damages the structure. So you know that's kind of as we're going into, dry out or when there is water damage. You know there's a lot that goes, that lot that's involved in that, and making sure that we're hitting that dry standard that we're looking for for whatever given material. That is.

Speaker 2: 7:35

Good stuff, Chad. So you got the pipe, the AC and the bathroom fan. Ok, I think we all got everything all covered. Good stuff, Chad. We'll see you in the next episode.

Speaker 1: 7:48

See you then, Garfield bye everyone thanks for listening to the Restoration Revolution podcast, where recovery starts here. Let us help put your family on the road to recovery. Go to hazardcleannet or call 772-259-5018. That's 772-259-5018. That's 772-259-5018.