NBC news recently released a story for the “Today” show with the headline, “New test allows people to swab for COVID-19 on surfaces in public places.” The news story continues with, “The makers of a new test say that you can use a simple swab to find out in 48 hours...
In a past issue of Contents Solutions, we told of “robots” that were being used in some hospitals to decontaminate rooms using ultraviolet light bursts. But they weren’t the first use of ultraviolet light for disinfection. It turns out that scientists discovered its...
You already know that moving companies pay about 60 cents a pound for things they damage. Thus a $1000 television, weighing 30 pounds, will only get the owner about $18. On the other hand, no matter if the TV was damaged by fire, flood or in transport, the Contents...
In this topsy-turvy world where an infectious disease is ravaging a major part of the country, some well-meaning homeowners have been known to make mistakes in their house cleaning regimen. You already know about things like not mixing bleach with ammonia (even though...
There are certain items and substances which the pack out team have to disallow from their lists of things they will pack, transport and store. Gasoline, paint, nail polish remover, and other flammables come to mind, as do guns, ammunition, insecticides and other...
Okay, picture this – there was a “Big Box” department store that had a small fire in the men’s department. Strong smoke odors were contained to that one part of the store, but the general manager did not want to close the store (it normally stayed open 24 hours) and...
There are startling new inventory methods available in modern contents restoration companies. And most of them have a foundation that is over a decade old. Because it was so good, most companies use it as a foundation for their new technologies. It is as simple as...
In 2015 a major insurance company found itself on the cover of Fortune Magazine for being one of the first such companies to employ a new technology that enabled a homeowner to communicate directly with adjusters and agents when they had a claim. It is all done by...
So there was a contents company that was performing a “Deep Cleaning” for a suburban home in which a grandpa had contracted the COVID-19 virus and had gone to the hospital. But when the Contents Manager arrived, dressed in full hazmat PPE (including mask), the two...
You may recall the article in an earlier issue of Contents Solutions, in which a contents specialist was faced with nearly 30 computers that had been saturated with water from fire hoses. When water and soot mix together they form an acid that can actually...
Contents professionals do the extraordinary on virtually every job, and building managers, corporate heads, hospital administrators, county supervisors and others know it. If a building manager calls a restoration company owner and asks, “How do you remove mold that...
Have you ever wondered who cleans out a “hoarding house” when a restoration company is called for such an assignment? Well we have heard of structural workers literally taking snow shovels, wheel barrows and wagons to empty out a house right down to the drywall. But...
After a severe flood, it was all hands on deck for a large, water- logged home. Contents valet and structural workers worked side by side. The homeowners had moved several items out onto the front lawn, the frontline workers got the rest. All non-salvageable items...
For years we have pointed out that ozone can remove odors from homes and offices and it is a cost effective way to do so, but we have also pointed out that it can be hard on oil paintings, plastics, leather and even some metals. But now it has made a resurgence as a...
Barb Jackson CR, has trained thousands of contents restoration professionals and she strongly recommends to their employers that the frontline workers be permitted to participate in the hour to hour performance of any job. The contents valet rely on their supervisors...
If you have read our past issues of Contents Solutions, you already know that the contents professionals have saved huge sums for their clients – like the fire damaged electronics from a university fire that took many days to clean and restore, but university...
You may have seen the headline, “Mortuary gives wrong ashes to family — who then scatter them.” and, “Family receives wrong ashes for cremated mother.” That one was from a family whose mother had asked that her ashes be spread on the ocean. WMC Channel 5 reported,...
Experienced adjusters can often tell at-a-glance whether a team used too many boxes or not enough to justify their invoice. And experienced Contents Supervisors most often have the same instincts on any given job. But what does a contents team do when faced with odd...
Famed motivational speaker, Anthony Robbins, once said, “Nothing in life has any meaning except the meaning we give it.” This sometimes becomes of paramount importance when a contents manager has to decide whether a given item should be “total-lossed” or restored. A...
Contents restoration professionals serve private businesses, homeowners, municipalities, hospitals, schools, county buildings, restaurants, theaters and many more public and private establishments. Over the years they have been sought out by insurance firms to help...
During the big fires in Southern California a restoration company (with a fully equipped contents division) was asked to clean, deodorize and decontaminate a small group of schools in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Each school had about 30 or so classrooms,...
When Hurricane Ike slammed into Galveston Texas, it tore through a two- story book store like a locomotive – leaving the first floor with a foot of mud, debris, and thousands of rare and vintage books scattered, damaged and some floating in severely contaminated...
There is a website (and download) from the American Chemistry Council that lists products that have been pre-approved by the EPA. It says in part, “The American Chemistry Council’s (ACC) Center for Biocide Chemistries (CBC) has compiled a list of products that have...
Some contents restoration companies have elected to perform in-house laundering of virally infected or smoke-impregnated soft contents. In fact various restoration companies have banded together to support others with similar machines. One such consortium claims,...
The contents valet have known for a long time that a 70% alcohol gel or solution is better than 90% alcohol for killing encapsulated viruses. 70% has a little water in it and can denature and break the encapsulation, thus destroying the virus within. A higher...
In an exclusive interview with industry spokesperson Barb Jackson CR, Contents Solutions has found that an internationally known contents (and structural) restoration company has just been approved to clean and sanitize the Diamond Princess (the “coronavirus ship).”...
So how do we know that the solutions used by the contents pros to deactivate COVID-19 actually work – even though the testing process is not yet officially complete? FactCheck.Org, a highly awarded “watchdog” and fact checker for news worldwide points out, “…the EPA...
Viruses are not technically alive, so they can’t be “killed” per se. But they can be “deactivated” with disinfectants. The contents valet have compounds that have deactivated coronaviruses before – SARS coronavirus, MERS coronavirus, as well as a host of other...
Some of the articles in this issue may give the false impression that we are cavalier in our attitudes toward this very serious virus. We aren’t – we are confident. When we say that experts tell us it has a less than 2% fatality rate – we know that it took someone’s...
Time Magazine recently ran an article with the headline, “Airlines Are Using Disinfectant That Kills Herpes and MRSA to Clean Planes in Wake of Coronavirus Outbreak.” The first sentence read, “Airlines are turning to some of the world’s hardest-hitting disinfectants,...
When there is a Category 3 (think “raw sewage”) water damage job. Some contents restoration companies find that they spend much of their time separating total loss items and creating accurate lists. However, there are cases in which Exclusively Contents Inc....
When there is contamination inside and outside of an office or home, from mold growth, airborne contaminants, sewage back up, or flood. There is sometimes a disagreement between the homeowner or office manager, and the adjuster, or the contents professionals. ...
You already know about bacterial contamination – the flu, H1N1. (the one that devastates some cruise ships), MRSA (flesh-eating), and even the common cold. And you have heard of the horrors of black mold that quietly grows and multiplies in quiet, dark, unseen...
It has often been said that the “Sing Sing” prison is not a pleasant place to live. But when a prison sewage pipe broke inside the facility, things went to a whole new level! The product selected by Exclusively Contents, Inc. to clean and sanitize the...
They called it “coronavirus (Covid-19),” because, under high magnification. It has little spikes with protuberances at the ends (sort of like a crown). Even so, researchers tacked on another word, “Novel,” so the new one was officially called, “Novel Coronavirus,”...
So a contents crew finds a bunch of dusty, old vinyl records in the same room where a slow, oily fire occurred. A few were actually warped by the heat, but some look okay, except they are covered in soot. The adjuster takes a quick look and realizes that it would cost...
The contents valet don’t just use obvious resources such as Ebay to help them decide an item’s worth (as was indicated in the first article in this issue, the figures found there can be wildly inflated and inaccurate). In point of fact there are far too many avenues...
Let’s take a look at some practical examples of a contents manager making things easier for an adjuster. It isn’t always monetary when an argument arises between an insurance representative and the insured. A year or two ago, we reported a case in which an elderly...
The CDC has a website where they research many types of disinfectants and sanitizers. They pointed out that alcohol, as an example, does pretty well with some bacteria, but, “… lack sporicidal action and they cannot penetrate protein-rich materials.” Bleach looks...
Do you recall the article about the contents pros who hired a cosplay batman to return some memorabilia to a little boy? Well, sometimes you don’t need a cape to be a hero. The structural restoration team had arrived before the contents pros were assigned the job. The...
Upholstered furniture and bed mattresses are very difficult to restore after they have become saturated with water. There are some techniques that can be used to decontaminate couch cushions, but the rest of the couch would have to be disassembled all the way down to...
When water from the runoff held back by an ice dam, trickles down into a home and across the carpet or flooring, particle board or “pressed wood” furniture is especially vulnerable. Those types of wood pull water up into themselves, then swell, crack and even expand...
Many adjusters across North America are selecting restoration companies based on whether they can restore the insureds’ valued contents, not just the damaged structure of their home or office. An agent, who wants a policy renewal from an important client, may...
Winter water intrusions are often traced to two sources, ice dams and frozen pipes that expand, burst, and flood rooms or even entire homes. Ice dams form at the edge of a roof and keep melting snow from running off. The resultant liquid is held in place until it...
From the moment the contents restoration professionals arrive at a client’s front door, they are on the job. They restore the home or office – not contribute to its further damage. That’s why, in the middle of winter, you will see them lay down as many as 18 feet of...
Article Written by Michelle Blevins Tens of thousands of documents. Months of work. Hundreds of workers displaced. Dozens of techs put to work. And working daily with local government. It was a restoration job that covers every angle of the industry: water and fire...
Article written by Lisa Zierfuss When it comes to getting ready for restoration, renovation, abatement, and remodeling jobs, proper preparation is key. That includes making sure you have the right tools on hand. And, saving space in your toolbox for tape....
Article written by Annissa Coy As I prepare to write this article about handling contents during a CAT loss flood situation, I am watching the State of California experience some of the worst floodings in its history. Entire neighborhoods have been evacuated...
Article written by A big component of scaling your business up to respond to a disaster situation includes having the equipment to do the work. It’s pretty unlikely you currently have the number of air movers, dehus, and other tools on hand to cover you during CAT...
Article written by Adam Webster Restoration professionals are in a 24 hour, seven days a week, 365 days a year service. On top of that, they are expected to be on site within minutes of receiving a phone call. Many professionals find themselves in a fog of...
Sometimes you chase, and sometimes the storm comes to you. Article written by When the Storm Comes to You Katie Smith/PHC Restoration – Raleigh, NC Katie Smith, and her husband Josh, own and operate PHC Restoration in Raleigh, NC. They are...
Article written by Alan James As storms, hurricanes and floods become more frequent, the need to restore properties to a pre-loss condition faster and more efficiently will become more and more critical. As average temperatures across the globe have increased,...
Article written by Stephen Leung Ask 10 people what “green” or “eco-friendly” means and you’ll probably get 10 different answers. “Organic”, “Botanical”, “Family-friendly” and other terms are used by companies to evoke good feelings and to engender favor as...
Article written by Cole Stanton Coatings are an integral component of fire restoration, most crucially to prevent the recurrence of the smoke odor. Coatings implemented post-fire is not finishing paints, yet do/can serve as primers: blocking stains and adhering...
Article written by Timothy E. Hull CR Shortly after graduating from college, I spent the better part of four years living on a horse farm in rural Southwestern Pennsylvania. In addition to working as a national account manager for the 84 Lumber Company....
Restoration desiccants dehumidify the air by exposing the humid air to a desiccant material that adsorbs moisture Article written by Larry Carlson and Mike Steffes Desiccant dehumidifiers have become an important tool for many restoration contractors....
Article written by Mark House We have attempted to learn all we can about the bedbug in this office. It is a creature that has evolved over recent years into a frightening species that has spread to epidemic proportions. Most people will hedge when we ask about the...
