News Blog
PHC has you covered with news and helpful tips.
Contents Restoration
PHC works with many homeowners each year who have suffered severe fire, water or storm damage to their homes. These homeowners and their families are often displaced for months and often lose most of their personal property as a result of the damage. Our goal is to work closely with the homeowner and the insurance company to get families back in their homes as quickly as possible while taking great pride in making sure each home looks just as good if not better than it did before the loss occurred. This philosophy holds true not only for the structure of the home but also its contents.
Dangers after Flooding
Mold is one of the leading dangers after flooding to your home and other structures. Mold needs moisture and food to grow and spreads easily. If your home was flooded from Hurricane Matthew, you are at risk for mold damage if you don't act fast. FEMA.gov released...
Dangers mold can cause
Mold. A word no one likes to hear and an object we definitely do not want to find in our home. Unfortunately, we received a call recently from a homeowner who found just that, mold growing in her attic. We've posted several different blogs on Mold and ways to...
Battery Fires
How many of us have a junk drawer that we toss our extra batteries in? How many of us leave our laptops or chargers for our camera batteries plugged in all day when it is fully charged? Chances are most of us do throw extra batteries in a drawer, toss old batteries...
Water Damage to Hardwood Floors
One of the last claims I adjusted as an insurance adjuster was a newly constructed home that sustained water damage to hardwood floors when the dishwasher was incorrectly installed. That was over 15 years ago and I still remember it vividly. The dishwasher was...
Master Water Restorer
Join us in congratulating Jeremy Jones on receiving his Master Water Restorer designation from the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning & Restoration (IICRC). Jeremy started with PHC Restoration in 2012 and has steadily been earning his technician certifications. ...
Prepare your home for Vacation
A lot of time and energy goes into planning the perfect vacation. We often get overwhelmed with the details (where do we want to go, where are we going to stay, what activities are available for the kids to do), the organizing (packing the luggage, snacks for the...
After the Disaster | Hurricane Preparedness
With the start of Hurricane Season just a couple of weeks away, we thought it would be a good time to list some important things homeowners should do After the Disaster hits. The Restoration Industry Association (RIA) has compiled this list of 12 questions frequently...
Where's your water heater located?
When you bought your home, did you pay much attention to where your hot water heater was located or better yet, have you ever questioned why your water heater is located where it is? Water heaters tend to be tucked away in the garage, basement, crawlspace or attic...
Clean Green
Do you ever worry about the cleaners and disinfectants that you use in your home? Sure, they are good at killing germs, but are they safe to inhale, use around food surfaces or safe to use around children or pets? While there are a lot of household disinfectants...
Prevent dryer fire in your home
Farmers Insurance does a good job in this video bringing humor to a very serious threat to everyone who uses a clothes dryer in their home. There are over 15,000 reported clothes dryer fires reported every year. While this doesn't appear to be a large number, most...
Spring Maintenance Tips for Homeowners
Spring is in the air! Flowers are blooming, birds are chirping, and spring cleaning to do and honey do lists are being organized. As you prepare your spring cleaning checklist, don't forget about the outside of your home. Here are a few places to check and spring...
How long will it take to dry my home?
One of the most common questions homeowners ask after they've experienced water damage is how long will it take to dry my home? We wish this were a simple question to answer not only to help with the inconvenience factor for the homeowner, but a standard answer would...
Common Causes of Water Damage
Did you know that water can be 10 times more likely to damage your home than fire? According to the Insurance Industry Institute, water is responsible for about 25% of all property insurance claims and results in billions of dollars in losses each year and can be...
What to expect when frozen water pipes burst
Arctic attack #2 is on its way bringing highs this weekend hovering at the freezing mark and sending overnight lows down to the teens on Saturday night. When outdoor temperatures drop to 20°F, water pipes especially in the South, become more vulnerable to freezing...
Arctic air could cause frozen water pipes
A few snow flurries hit our area yesterday. While the flurries brought no accumulation, they did bring a blast of artic air that has settled in and should be with us all week. Whenever we see temperatures fall into the teens and below, as is expected tonight, we run...
Kitchen Fires
Do you know what the number one cause of kitchen fires is? Distractions! We're all guilty of turning our heads to hot grease, boiling water or even toast in the toaster to chop vegetables, put up groceries, fix a cup of coffee or throw a load of clothes into the...
Wind Damage in Sanford
We've seen an influx in calls over the last few weeks as a result of the recent storms in our area. All the rain brought numerous leaky roofs and basement flooding claims, but we also received a call for wind damage when a tree fell onto a home in Sanford. Luckily...
Mold Growth
Raleigh's rainfall amount over the last 30 days has been 4.5 inches above normal most of which fell in a 10 day span. When we see heavy amounts of rain falling in a short amount of time, PHC often sees an increase in the amount of water damage related calls resulting...
Fire Prevention Quiz–Hear the BEEP where you SLEEP
If you followed PHC Restoration on Twitter or Facebook this week, you should be familiar with the slogan--Hear the BEEP where you SLEEP. This is the National Fire Protection Association's (NFPA) 2015 slogan for Fire Prevention Week which runs October 4-10, 2015. ...
Prevent Dryer Fires
October 4-10, 2015 marks Fire Prevention Week. While we can't prevent all fires from occurring, we all need to take precautions and be aware of fire threats in and around our home and workplace. Today's blog details the dangers of Clothes Dryer fires and ways we can...
Summer Storm Damage
Summers in North Carolina are notorious for high temperatures, humidity and the threat of afternoon and evening thunderstorms. This summer has been no different. We’ve already seen record breaking highs topping 100° and numerous severe thunderstorms producing strong...
DO YOU HAVE APPROPRIATE INSURANCE COVERAGE?
Do I have coverage for the trees in my yard that were hit by lightning? If I had a fire in my home, will I have full coverage to cover all repairs? If water damage forced me to leave my home while repairs are being made, will my insurance policy cover the costs? Do I...
Home Fire Safety
Did your kids come home from school last week talking about Stop, Drop and Roll or Stay low and go? The schools do a great job of teaching our kids what to do during fire safety week, but how prepared are you at home?
Winter Weather Watch
The chance of snow is back in the forecast this week. I must admit that I am a true kid at heart when it comes to snow, I’ve learned that I need to see the white stuff falling and then sticking to the ground before getting too excited. Especially in North Carolina where the chance of wintery mix always seems higher than seeing a blanket of snow.
Preventing Frozen Pipes
Arctic Chill and Polar Vortex. These are the words that forecasters are using to describe the weather over the next 48 hours for much of the United States including North Carolina. With temperatures dropping throughout the day today and expected lows tonight of 9° and a possible windchill of -5°, it is important for us all to make sure our family, pets, and loved ones are prepared for the cold. If you have to get out in the cold tomorrow, make sure you are bundled up with heavy coats, hats, and gloves. If you are out and about tomorrow, go by or call and check on you
Charity Donation
The PHC Family proudly made their annual donation to the To Make a Child Smile Foundation last week. Employees collected over $1050 for the charity which seeks out and assists needy children in Harnett County and helps put smiles on their faces at Christmas time. This year’s shopping trip is set for December 15th.
If you would like to make a donation or learn more about the foundation, please visit their website at
Black Water Damage
PHC Restoration received an emergency service call from a homeowner recently who had experienced a toilet backflow but didn’t see any sewage, so they weren’t sure if they needed to contact a restoration company or attempt to clean up the water themselves. After a quick call to their insurance agent and told of the health concerns of black water, they were convinced to give us a call.
4th of July
Thursday is the 4th of July which means family cookouts, homemade ice cream, fresh watermelon and fireworks! Here is a brief list of some of the firework celebrations scheduled for our area:
Storm Damage
It looks like we could have another stormy afternoon and evening in store for us tonight. We shouldn’t see as much rain as we saw last week as the first Tropical Storm of the season passed through the state, but strong winds and hail could be likely.
Although we can’t prevent storm damage to our homes caused directly by mother nature, there are a few simple steps we can all do to try to protect our homes from indirect damage.
Puff Backs
PHC Restoration received a call last week from a homeowner who had experienced what the homeowner referred to as a fireplace fire. After speaking with the homeowner for a few minutes, we learned that there hadn’t been any structural fire damage, instead there was a lot of soot covering the rooms and contents. The homeowner wasn’t able to clean the soot himself, so he wanted to know what he needed to do.
PHC Restoration
It is amazing how a fresh coat of paint, some new light fixtures and new floor coverings can transform an old beauty shop into PHC Restoration’s new Raleigh office space. As we near completion on this new location and gear up for another great year, we want to share with you some of the accomplishments we achieved last year.
Training and Education
Professional Home Care realizes that in order to stay competitive and ahead of the competition, we need to stay current on the latest trends, products and technology available in the fire and water restoration industries. Education and networking are keys to obtaining this and is why last week Josh attended the WLS class in Nashville, TN and I attended the MSPCA regional meeting in Asheville, NC.
Fire Restoration–After Fire Checklist
Over the last couple of weeks, we have started several fire restoration projects in and around Raleigh. The size and the causes of the fires ranged in scale but we approach each fire loss with the same goal in mind…to work with the homeowner to make sure their property looks just as good, if not better, than it did before the damage was done. We also know that suffering a fire to your home is devastating and overwhelming, so we work to get homeowners back in their homes as quickly as possible while making sure the repairs are done correctly.
Interesting Hurricane Facts
Australians call hurricanes willy-willies, we along the Atlantic Coast refer to hurricanes as trouble. Hurricanes that make landfall or brush up to the coast bring strong winds, heavy rains, flooding, possible tornadoes and can cause major wind and water damage to homes and other structures as well as erosion along the coastline. Even if you haven’t lived through a hurricane first hand, we all saw what the destruction Hurricane Katrina caused in New Orleans, so today’s blog will give interesting facts* on hurricanes instead of the destruction they cause.
Leaky Roof
Scattered afternoon showers and thunderstorms…we see and hear these words quite frequently during the summer months from our local weather here in the South. While the rain is certainly welcomed to provide relief on hot days and to our dry yards and crops, sometimes the rain causes havoc to our homes and roofs causing water damage to the interior of our homes.
Cleaning—The Ultrasonic Cleaning Way
Last November, PHC started using Ultrasonic equipment to clean contents from both fire and water damage restoration projects. Ultrasonic cleaning uses high frequency sound waves through water to remove smoke residue, mold, heat scale, oxides and even microscopic dust and soot from tiny crevices that are unreachable by hand. The use of this equipment now makes it possible for us to clean items that were once considered unable to be cleaned and that would have been thrown away.
Fire Safety: Fire Extinguishers–Part 2
Fire extinguishers can help reduce the amount of fire damage to your home if the fire is detected early and if you know how to properly use a fire extinguisher.
The acronym PASS is frequently used by firefighters and extinguisher manufacturers to teach the proper method for using fire extinguishers. PASS stands for:
Mold Health Problems and Cleanup
While the EPA states that the research on mold and health effects is ongoing, there is a potential for molds to cause health problems. Molds produce allergens and inhaling or touching mold or mold spores may cause allergic reactions in sensitive individuals. Allergic reactions to mold are common and include the following: sneezing, red eyes, skin rash, asthma attacks in people with asthma who are allergic, and can irritate the throat or lungs.
Harnett County Health Department Waterline Break
On Saturday, April 28, 2012 the Harnett County Health Department had a major waterline break, which resulted in approximately 80% of the first floor being flooded. Currently cleanup efforts are underway. Plans are to provide a temporary mobile unit later this week which will provide access to health services. However, for today Monday, April 30, 2012 the Harnett County Health Department is closed.
On Tuesday, May 01, 2012 the Health Department’s Environmental Health, Home Health and Division on Aging will be operational.
