Personal Water Damage Experience: Crisis Mode (part 1 of 4)
Ever see that movie where a doctor becomes a patient in his own hospital and is able to experience first-hand what it’s like to basically be under his own care?
Six months ago, one of our favorite employees (psst… we didn’t say that) experienced severe water damage at her home and had to deal with calling a professional cleanup crew to handle the damage and the mess. Even though Jenna was confident in our abilities given her time with us, this harrowing experience gave her an immense amount of insight into not only the process of restoration, but the stress of even the little things that we sometimes don’t think about and the amount of “life interruption” that can happen.
We’ve decided to document her experience in this four-part blog series. There will be no tips (or almost none, once we get to the cause of the damage) in this series for the following weeks – just a first-hand account of what it was like for Jenna to rely on the very services that she helps other people organize on a regular basis. We’re guessing that our readers will learn a thing or two – because we certainly did.
Worst Possible Time
To say that experiencing water damage at this point and time in Jenna’s life was bad timing is a gross understatement. There is no good time for water damage to occur, of course, but the timing here was especially hairy because she was getting married in less than six weeks. She was already scrambling trying to figure out last-minute details on the upcoming nuptials when she was forced to turn around while on her way to work and head back home so that she could deal with the unfolding situation. So, for the next several weeks, she had to deal with a wedding and water damage restoration. Not fun.
Acting Quickly
When she arrived back home, Jenna discovered a huge amount of water in her kitchen. Jenna’s wife had been quick to call her when she noticed the water leaking from somewhere behind the main appliances and the problem had quickly escalated. The landlord (they were renting the townhouse) had been called, but he hadn’t shown up yet. Even though it was a tense situation, Jenna stayed (mostly) calm and called the restoration experts that she had worked with for years, with the permission of her landlord. Experts were then dispatched to her home to assess the damage and begin the restoration process.
She Couldn’t Do It on Her Own
Whenever this kind of situation occurs, a typical homeowner or renter will almost always ask themselves, “Can I take care of this myself?” After all, it’s only water – something just a few towels will clean up, right? Wrong! Water damage, especially severe like in Jenna’s case, can cause loads of damage to the floors, walls, and anything else within reach. It also sets up a breeding ground for mold, which can negatively impact your household’s health if not treated properly. Jenna had the good fortune of being very aware of all this – let’s call it an occupational hazard – so she knew very well that experts would be needed.
Don’t forget – this is only part one of Jenna’s personal experience with water damage restoration. We haven’t even touched on the “good” stuff yet. Keep your eye out for the rest of our installments, which will be coming over the next few weeks. If you need assistance with restoration before we’re done, though, feel free to reach out to the experts at Abbotts Fire & Flood. We’ll send our crew out right away to check out the damage and get started!