Water Damage Photo Gallery

SERVPRO fleet vehicles in front of a home at night

Late Night Water Damage Cleanup in Stoneham

When a pipe break affected multiple floors with water damage in this Stoneham home, SERVPRO technicians arrived quickly to start the restoration process. The techs bring every piece of equipment they need to extract the water and dry the house as fast as possible. 

Flash Flood Myths

SERVPRO of Lynn/Lynnfield was called in to assist with water intrusion from flash flooding last night in this apartment building lobby.

Myth: SUVs, pickups and other large vehicle are safe to drive through floodwaters.

Fact: Just two feet of water can float most vehicles and, if the water is moving quickly, vehicles can be swept away. If you come to a flooded road, turn around and go another way.

Myth: Flash floods only occur near streams and rivers.

Fact: Flash floods also occur in areas where no streams are present, even urban areas.

Myth: You can walk through floodwaters as long as the water is not too deep.

Fact: Always avoid floodwaters. Just six inches of swiftly moving water can sweep you off your feet. If you come upon a flowing stream where water is above your ankles, stop, turn around and go another way. 

Why Pipes Burst

Surprisingly, ice forming in a pipe does not typically cause a break where the ice blockage occurs. It’s not the radial expansion of ice against the wall of the pipe that causes the break. Rather, following a complete ice blockage in a pipe, continued freezing and expansion inside the pipe causes water pressure to increase downstream -- between the ice blockage and a closed faucet at the end. It’s this increase in water pressure that leads to pipe failure. Usually the pipe bursts where little or no ice has formed.

Powerful Air Movers Help Drying Process

Air Movers are used during water damage restoration to help speed the drying and dehumidification process. Placed properly, they can drastically speed up the time it takes to bring a property back to preloss condition

Low Grain Refrigerant Dehumidifiers

LGR Dehumidifiers are an essential tool in the drying and restoration process. SERVPRO has the largest supply of dehumidifiers nationwide, and we can have as many needed on a jobsite within 12 hours.

Moisture Meter

When you call us for a water damage, our production manager may use a moisture meter to test whether there is any water hiding underneath the floors or inside the walls. This is the same moisture meter we will use throughout the job to record the moisture readings and document our success.

In every water restoration job, our goal is to return the building to its preloss condition. In some buildings, this will require we take readings in unaffected rooms to determine the target for preloss condition.

What Is Thermal Imaging?

In the most basic of terms, thermal imaging allows you too see an object’s heat radiating off itself (see this cat who was trapped in a wall..and rescued!!). Thermal cameras more or less record the temperature of various objects in the frame, and then assign each temperature a shade of a color, which lets you see how much heat its radiating compared to objects around it.

Colder temperatures are often given a shade of blue, purple, or green, while warmer temperatures can be assigned a shade of red, orange, or yellow.

The use of thermal imaging cameras can be a beneficial tool at SERVPRO when trying to find hidden moisture within wall cavities and building content. Our project managers are specialized in reading temperature differentials, which can help track the migration of water through brick walls, hidden insulation, and more.