Avoid water damage in your home ahead of winter storm
FLINT, Mich. (WJRT) – With that wintery dangerous mix coming, home preparation can be one of the first things that slips homeowners minds.
“Everybody who is in our industry is overbooked,” general manager of ServPro, Eric Chesser said. “Right now with the huge temperature swings, we're working anywhere from 14 to 17-hour days.”
It’s non-stop for plumbers and contractors like ServPro who are working to help homeowners before another winter storm hits Mid-Michigan.
“A lot of people don't ever check their sump pumps to make sure that they do in fact work but you should always have a spare on hand because when things like this happen, they go fast,” Chesser said. “Then next thing you know, there's a shortage of those.”
The storm and its icy cold conditions come at an odd time where just 24 hours prior the area is seeing warm temps, melting snow and that water only having one place to go.
“You have a sump pump where the ground is frozen, you get this rain, there's nowhere for the water to go except for in,” Chesser said.
He says a flooded basement isn’t the only worry.
“Where you have the huge temperature swings, especially with possible rain, and ice coming is ice dams, which are generally on the edge of the roofs, they can actually back up underneath the shingles and cause melting inside the house and cause water damages inside,” he said.
For homeowners, preparations before a storm could slip their minds, but ServPro says you don’t want to be left unprepared.
“Pay attention, look at the edge of the roof, go out and get the calcium chloride; Go in your basement, check your sump pump,” Chesser said.
