News Blog
PHC has you covered with news and helpful tips.
Case Study: Emergency Cleaning Services
We received a call from a construction company after hours on Tuesday, April 3 requesting emergency cleaning services. One of their crews grinded concrete earlier in the day and did not realize a neighboring apartment door was open. As a result, concrete dust littered...
How much flood damage can broken water pipes do to my house?
We've had another busy week responding to water losses in our area. Crawlspaces, bedrooms, bathrooms and hallways have sustained flood damage from broken water and supply lines. Thousands of dollars of flooring material, insulation and sheet rock have been removed...
How can I clean mold in my home?
Have you looked up at the ceiling above your shower and seen brown or black spots? Have you remodeled your kitchen and found mold growth behind the backsplash? Have you removed flooring in your home and noticed dark spots that look like old water stains, only to...
Can My Grill Cause a Fire?
Warmer temperatures usually means that our indoor spring cleaning is behind us and we can turn our attention to the outdoors. It's time to finish planting our spring/summer flowers, crank up the lawn mower, dust off our yard furniture, and pull out the grill in...
High Humidity Can Lead to Mold Growth in Your Home
Spring is definitely in the air and here in the South, it comes with warmer temperatures and increasing high humidity levels as we head into the summer months. While the warmer weather gives us a chance to enjoy outdoor activities, it also brings excessive moisture...
Why is my basement flooding?
Excessive, constant and heavy rains often cause puddling in yards, driveways and localized street flooding in some neighborhoods. It can also cause unexpected water damage to your basement resulting in damage to walls, flooring, furniture and might lead to MOLD...
How you can avoid common water loss claims
Plumbing and appliance failure are the common culprits of most water damage that occurs in the home. While these can start as small undetected drips or as sudden pipe bursts, the resulting water damage can easily result in thousands of dollars in damage and at least...
What to Expect During a Fire Restoration Project
Whether your home has suffered a small grease fire in the kitchen or a large loss house fire, the restoration process is basically the same. Since some of us have never experienced a fire restoration project personally, here is a basic understanding of what to...
Library Fire Case Study
Library Fire Shortly after 11:00am on Wednesday, July 26, 2017, a small fire was reported inside the Mary Livermore Library on the University of North Carolina-Pembroke’s campus. The fire was contained to an unoccupied study room on the second floor of the library...
Water Damage Tips
As we've seen a lot over the last few weeks, plumbing emergencies such a frozen water pipes can cause significant damage to homes and wreck havoc on the homeowners. Since time is of the essence if your home experiences a ruptured water heater, broken water pipe or...
What you need to do after water damages your home
After the Disaster...The First 24 Hours (Informational brochure provided by the RIA, for more information visit www.restorationindustry.org/(800) 272-7012) Insurance companies play an important role in protecting individuals from a total loss when a catastrophe...
Health Department
Harnett County Health Department Located in the Government Complex in Lillington, NC approximately 30 miles from Raleigh, the Health Department houses Adult and Child Health; Women’s Health; Home Health; Environmental Health; Department on Aging; and Women Infants...
What should you do if your water pipes freeze?
Based on the current weather forecast, it appears that Jack Frost will be doing more than just nipping out our noses as we ring in the new year; he’ll be biting them with high temperatures below freezing. When we experience temperatures in the teens (as forecasted),...
Flooded Dorm
What happens when you combine college kids tossing a football with a sprinkler system located in their dorm? Four flooded floors, hundreds of students displaced from their dorm rooms, and a late night Emergency Services Call to PHC Restoration. Technical Director...
ESUMC
A 5-alarm fire broke out around 10:00 pm at the 400 block of West Jones Street in downtown Raleigh on March 16, 2017. The fire consumed an under construction, 241-unit, five story, wood-framed apartment building which was approximately 40% complete. Over 130...
Custom Molding
North Carolina is not typically known for experiencing extremely frigid winters, so when temperatures drop below freezing homes and water pipes are often caught off guard. This was the case for a homeowner in Lillington, NC who returned home from a vacation in early...
Mold Removal
Hotels strategically take guest rooms out of inventory during hotel renovations in order to minimize the impact on guest traffic while keeping the hotel open to guests. On October 10, 2017, PHC Restoration received a call from a contractor performing such a...
What to do if you have a kitchen fire in your home
WRAL reported on a townhouse fire that broke out around 3am displacing over a dozen people this weekend in Durham. The fire engulfed one townhome while adjacent units sustained smoke and water damage. The suspected cause of the fire...unattended cooking. Common...
How can you spot signs of a main sewer line clog?
When's the last time you gave any thought to the sewer lines in your home? You are probably like most homeowners, sewer lines do not cross your mind unless you or someone you knows experiences a raw sewage back up in your home. This unpleasant mess can lead to...
Do I need to have my HVAC serviced before turning on the heat this fall?
Fall is definitely in the air. Highs in the mid 70s and lows dipping down in the upper 30s to low 40s means it is time to bring out the light jackets and blue jeans and it's time to contact your heating and air conditioning technician to have your HVAC serviced. A...
Can my wet hardwood floors be saved?
Our home is usually the largest investment we make in our lifetime. Whether we custom build or buy a house, we spend time selecting furnishings, floor coverings and finishes that make the home ours. Many of us will spend a little extra to upgrade our flooring from...
Fire Escape Plan
Did you know that more than 2 out of every 5 reported home fires start in the kitchen -or- that you could have less than 2 minutes to escape a home once the smoke alarm sounds -or- that 84% of the home fire deaths reported from 2010-2014 occurred in 1 or 2...
How to Prevent Mold Growth?
Mold is a 4-letter word that we hope we never have to deal with in our homes. If left untreated, mold can cause some health concerns and can spread and weaken the structure of your home. Moisture is the number one ingredient needed for mold to form and grow. Though...
Odor Control
Where's the Chicken? That was the common theme and reoccurring question posed in yesterday's Odor Control in Restoration CE class hosted by PHC Restoration in Raleigh yesterday. We often associate odor with bad smells that often go away (smelly feet, cooking...
New Desiccant Dehumidifier
Time is of the essence when it comes to responding to emergency service calls especially when water is involved. In addition to always having a team on-call ready to respond to these situations, PHC also has emergency response trailers stocked with extraction and...
Your Homeowners Insurance May Not Cover
We all know disasters can strike our homes or businesses at any time whether it be a busted water pipe, a grease fire or tornado damage. We all do what we can to prevent damage to our homes but sometimes accidents, weather and part failures are out of our control; so...
Control Humidity and Preventing Mold Growth
A lot of us look for was to conserve energy and save a few dollars on our electric bills during the summer months. This can be easily accomplished by unplugging appliances that aren't used every day and by turning the thermostat up a few degrees while you are at work...
Prevent Water Damage While on Vacation
This weekend marks the unofficial start to summer which means it's time to look forward to weekend trips to the beach and family vacations. These trips are a great way to have fun with friends and family or just get away for a little peace and quiet; however, as one...
Insurance Coverage Concerns for Pack Rats and Hoarders
Do you keep things around your house just in case you need it again in the future? Do you have clothes that no longer fit, but you keep because you plan to lose those few pounds and wear it again? Do you have a hard time just throwing things away? If you can answer...
ELECTRICAL FIRES
Have you ever seen sparks when you plugged something into one of your electrical outlets? This past weekend, my 7-year old nephew saw sparks when I plugged in his electrical cord for his Ipad, and got a little worried thinking the house was going to catch on fire. ...
House Fires in Modern vs Older Homes
Almost everyone who lives in and around Raleigh heard about the massive 5-alarm fire that completely demolished a 6-story apartment complex under construction in downtown Raleigh last month. It was reported that the fire spread so quickly because of the stage of...
Protect your home from hidden dangers of water damage
Happy First Day of Spring! With Spring in the air, we find our flowers blooming, birds chirping, and our spring cleaning and "honey do" lists growing. As you prepare your spring cleaning checklist, don't forget about the outside of your home. Here are a few places...
Leaky Roof
A leaky roof can range in severity and inconvenience to the homeowners. While the cause of some leaks is obvious (missing shingles, storm damage or fallen debris), it is not always easy to find the exact location of the problem. Here are a few ways to find the...
Severe Weather Preparedness Week
Did you know... North Carolina averages 26 tornadoes, 3 tornado fatalities and 39 tornado injuries each year Tornadoes most frequently occur in the late afternoon and early evening hours Damage from straight line thunderstorm winds can look like and be just as bad as...
Emergency Supply Kit
We’ve all heard the line…”disaster can strike at any time” and in the restoration industry, PHC sees disasters firsthand all the time. Disasters can hit a homeowner in the form of fire damage, water damage or storm damage and since most can strike without notice, we would like to pass along some tips for putting together an Emergency Supply Kit for your family which can help in any situation. Here is a list of items that would be good to have on hand:
Plumbing Related Water Damage
As we have mentioned in previous blogs, water damage can be costly and a big inconvenience. There are many different things that can lead to water damage in your home, but today, we are going to focus on Plumbing as the cause. In David Letterman fashion, here are the top 10 reasons for water damage resulting from plumbing:
Mold Inspection
Mold is a topic that causes great concern to homeowners. When we see or suspect mold growing in our home, we worry about if it will make us sick and then try to either "clean" the mold ourselves or expect the worst and want to find out what kind of mold it is and how...
Frozen Water Pipes
Winter storm Helena didn't bring as much snow as most of us expected over the weekend, but it did leave behind some very cold temperatures. Whenever we see temperatures fall into the teens or below, we run risk of having water pipes freeze in our homes. If you are...
Our Year in Review
As we enter the last week of 2016, it is a good time to share our year in review. Weather played a memorable part of 2016. We started the year with an ice storm which brought down tree limbs and power lines. Many of us were without power which caused some frozen...
Contents Restoration-Furniture
One morning last week, I found Josh conducting a furniture restoration demonstration with the contents team in the warehouse. We had several clients' tables and chairs that sustained water damage after the flooding from Hurricane Matthew. As you can see from the...
