The Loss Reduction Specialists™
July 26, 2010
There are a lot of people with flooded basements that have no insurance coverage. You can still provide them with some help by passing along these tips:
All of these tips are considered to be opinions from RESTORx Northern Illinois and are the property of RESTORx Northern Illinois. The Insurance Industry has our permission to pass this information along to their Insured as long as it is passed on in its entirety. Sharing of this info to others is prohibited.
Professional Restoration Companies are swamped and will not get to everybody in a timely manner. That means you need to be proactive to minimize property damage.
Do not enter a wet basement if the power is still turned on. Even a very small amount of stray voltage can immediately kill. Damaged property is not worth dying for. Turn off the power main or pull the meter base. If you have rubber insulated boots, wear them.
Consider all water in the basement as toxic. This water could be mixed with sewage, chemicals that were stored and tipped over into the water, chemicals from the ground, and all kinds of other nasty things. Do not put anything into your mouth that you touched with an unsanitized hand. If your eyes or nose starts to water, get out. If your respiratory system feels tight or congested, get out.
Hand sanitizers only work if you follow the label directions. Most labels tell you to rub it for 30 seconds. What they are not telling you, is that if you rub it on for less time, it probably isn’t doing anything except giving you false security.
Turn off the power to the furnace, water heater, freezers, and any other electrical device that is in the water. Many of these items will make it through the flood, however some of the problems will not appear for a few months.
Get personal items out of the water and dry them as much as possible. Irreplaceable things like photos are first. Then go after expensive items such as furniture and clothes. Particle board furniture is probably now junk, so go after solid wood furniture first.
Extract as much water as possible. That means using a wet vac if you have one. Towels work also. Any wet materials you can remove, such as carpeting, will minimize the amount of water that is inside the basement. Put these items in the garage as many of them will be salvageable.
After you have removed as much of the water as possible, run fans to evaporate the water into the air, and then use dehumidifiers to pull the moisture out of the air. If you see condensation on any of the basement surfaces, slow down on the fans and increase the dehumidifier use. Failure to do this could do serious damage to otherwise unaffected areas of the house.
When running your dehumidifier, set the humidistat around 45% to 50% relative humidity. If you do not have a digital readout, set the humidistat around 2/3 or a max. of ¾. Never turn the humidistat 100% open or it will not be effective.
If you smell musty odors, you have mold growth. If you smell dirty sock odors, you have bacterial problems. Either way, malodors are not good. While using disinfectants is never a substitute for remediation, this is a time to use them as it will minimize health problems and buy you time before it gets real ugly. Here are some potentials:
Bleach is not a disinfectant. However, if the surface is clean it works well. Wash the surface first, and then use a mixture of about 1 cup of bleach per gallon of water. Be careful not to get it into your eyes. This would be bad, so wear goggles. Also, bleach can ruin textiles as it can damage colors. Therefore, only use it on items that are not damaged by bleach.
Iodine is similar to bleach in most respects. The differences are: It does not smell bad and actually smells good. It takes only a couple ounces per gallon of water, is very good on bacteria, and the potential damage to textiles is less. The main problem is that you can get an orange color if you over apply the product. See the note in the next paragraph on how to obtain.
Use of a disinfectant is the best thing to do, but the most expensive. Also, many of the good ones are not obtainable by the general public. Anybody can buy Lysol disinfectant or Pine-Sol disinfectant, but remember that it has to be applied heavy enough so that the material stays wet for at least 15 minutes. If you go this route, look for products that actually say “disinfectant” on the label. The disinfectant we use cannot be sold by us for use by a consumer. However, we could make larger quantities available to Agencies to provide samples for their Insured. Due to the high volume of phone calls and traffic at our office from this flood, if you would like more info on this or on iodine call our Marketing Director, Lorrie Gitz, at 815.541.0317.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Self Defense Tip for the House or the Road
Subject: Wasp Spray
I know some of you own GUNS but this is something to think about...---
If you don't have a gun, here's a more humane way to wreck someone's evil plans for you. Did you know this? I didn't. I never really thought of it before. I guess I can get rid of the baseball bat.
Wasp Spray - A friend who is a receptionist in a church in a high risk area was concerned about someone coming into the office on Monday to rob them when they were counting the collection. She asked the local police department about using pepper spray and they recommended to her that she get a can of wasp spray instead.
The wasp spray, they told her, can shoot up to twenty feet away and is a lot more accurate, while with the pepper spray, they have to get too close to you and could overpower you. The wasp spray temporarily blinds an attacker until they get to the hospital for an antidote. She keeps a can on her desk in the office and it doesn't attract attention from people like a can of pepper spray would. She also keeps one nearby at home for home protection. Thought this was interesting and might be of use.
On the heels of a break in and beating that left an elderly woman in Toledo dead, self defense experts have a tip that could save your life.
Val Glinka teaches self-defense to students at Sylvania Southview High School . For decades, he's suggested putting a can of wasp and hornet spray near your door or bed.
Glinka says, "This is better than anything I can teach them."
Glinka considers it inexpensive, easy to find, and more effective than mace or pepper spray. The cans typically shoot 20 to 30 feet; so if someone tries to break into your home, Glinka says "spray the culprit in the eyes". It's a tip he's given to students for decades.
It's also one he wants everyone to hear. If you're looking for protection, Glinka says look to the spray. "That's going to give you a chance to call the police; maybe get out." Maybe even save a life.
Please share this with all the people who are precious to your life
Did you also know that wasp spray will kill a snake? And a mouse! It will! Good to know, huh? It will also kill a wasp.!!!!
I know some of you own GUNS but this is something to think about...---
If you don't have a gun, here's a more humane way to wreck someone's evil plans for you. Did you know this? I didn't. I never really thought of it before. I guess I can get rid of the baseball bat.
Wasp Spray - A friend who is a receptionist in a church in a high risk area was concerned about someone coming into the office on Monday to rob them when they were counting the collection. She asked the local police department about using pepper spray and they recommended to her that she get a can of wasp spray instead.
The wasp spray, they told her, can shoot up to twenty feet away and is a lot more accurate, while with the pepper spray, they have to get too close to you and could overpower you. The wasp spray temporarily blinds an attacker until they get to the hospital for an antidote. She keeps a can on her desk in the office and it doesn't attract attention from people like a can of pepper spray would. She also keeps one nearby at home for home protection. Thought this was interesting and might be of use.
On the heels of a break in and beating that left an elderly woman in Toledo dead, self defense experts have a tip that could save your life.
Val Glinka teaches self-defense to students at Sylvania Southview High School . For decades, he's suggested putting a can of wasp and hornet spray near your door or bed.
Glinka says, "This is better than anything I can teach them."
Glinka considers it inexpensive, easy to find, and more effective than mace or pepper spray. The cans typically shoot 20 to 30 feet; so if someone tries to break into your home, Glinka says "spray the culprit in the eyes". It's a tip he's given to students for decades.
It's also one he wants everyone to hear. If you're looking for protection, Glinka says look to the spray. "That's going to give you a chance to call the police; maybe get out." Maybe even save a life.
Please share this with all the people who are precious to your life
Did you also know that wasp spray will kill a snake? And a mouse! It will! Good to know, huh? It will also kill a wasp.!!!!
Senate Passes National Flood Insurance Program Extension
WASHINGTON, D.C., June 30, 2010 —The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (the Big “I”) today commented on the Senate’s passage of a short term extension, until Sept. 30,2010, of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
“It is alarming that the NFIP was allowed to remain expired for so long, causing so much confusion and potentially leaving desperate homeowners and small businesses unprotected for almost a month,” says Robert Rusbuldt, Big “I” president and CEO. “While the Big ‘I’ is appreciative of Congress extending the program on a temporary basis, we are also greatly concerned that these short expiration periods and patchwork of temporary extensions will negatively impact the market.”
Once President Obama signs the bill into law (expected soon), the NFIP should now return to normal operations and, since the extension is also retroactive any new policy applications or renewals that were signed and submitted during the hiatus will be effective from the date of application (or in the case of waiting periods, the waiting period will start from the date of application).
“This series of temporary extensions and service lapses during such a delicate period in our economy is of great concern to our agents, homeowners, and small businesses,” says Charles Symington, Big “I” senior vice president of government affairs. “Though we are grateful that Congress extended the program again, we are increasingly frustrated by this legislative process. The National Flood Insurance Program is meant to provide some level of stability and protection for homeowners and businesses against dangerously unpredictable and costly flooding events, not to be an unpredictable ‘here one minute-gone the next’ program subject to the vicissitudes of political gamesmanship. The Big ‘I’ strongly urges Congress to pass a long term extension of this critical program.” The Big “I” asks Congress to act on a long term extension of this important program. The program has worked for more than 40 years to help protect consumers from flood risks, and Congress has traditionally extended the program for five year periods in order to provide stability and security for the marketplace. Unfortunately, Congress has recently only extended the program for short periods, from 30 days to six months. This was the third such lapse this year alone.
Founded in 1896, the Big “I” is the nation’s oldest and largest national association of independent insurance agents and brokers, representing a network of more than 300,000 agents, brokers and their employees nationally. Its members are businesses that offer customers a choice of policies from a variety of insurance companies. Independent agents and brokers offer all lines of insurance—property, casualty, life, health, employee benefit plans and retirement products. Web address: www.independentagent.com.
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