Blackmon Mooring Blog

Ice dams?  What are those?  Ice dams are just that: they are dams of ice that have built up on eaves, valleys and gutters.  These dams prevent melting snow and ice from running down.  As snow and ice melt, the water backs up and seeps under tiles or shingles.  Most people think that leaks in roofs are the causes of leakage and damage to exterior walls and ceilings.  While this may be true, it is also important to follow these tips to minimize ice dam formation on your roof:

• Keep gutters and downspouts clear of leaves and natural debris
• Identify areas of heat loss in your attic and then properly insulate those areas
• Insulate heating ductwork in order to reduce heat loss through the attic
• Use a snow rake or soft broom to clear fresh snowfall from gutters
• Avoid using sharp tools or ice picks on gutter or downspouts
• To avoid getting hurt by falling icicles or snow, don't climb on your roof or work on a ladder beneath a roof that has large amounts of snow on it.

 

Next week...The Frozen Pipe Conundrum

Maybe it is just wishful thinking. Lately it seems as if we skipped right over winter and went straight into spring. However, we all know how crazy weather can be, so we should go ahead and make sure our homes are freeze ready just to be on the safe side. Besides, these tips are good to follow in general. You never know what tomorrow may bring.

·       Make sure walls and the attic space are adequately insulated.

·       Caulk and weather strip doors and windows to reduce wind drafts.  This is also good for maintaining an energy efficient home.

·       When expecting a freeze, detach all gardening hoses and shut off the water supply to outdoor faucets.

·       Install faucet covers to all outdoor faucets.

·       Tag the location of your main water valve and make sure you can easily turn it on and off.

·       Follow ice dam prevention tips to minimize ice dam formation on your roof.  We will go into these tips in next week’s blog.

·       Follow precautionary steps to safeguard your water pipes from freezing.

·       Keep garage doors closed to help eliminate drafts into the attached house.

·       During power failures, disconnect your electrical appliances to avoid damage from power surges.

·       Follow general weather safety tips to protect yourself and others from low temperatures.

 

Next week…The Ice Dam Predicament

 

Sources:

Ready.gov. 2012. FEMA. Retrieved January 5, 2012. www.ready.gov

During the severe weather that struck the Houston area on January 9th, the Beth Yeshurun Day School experienced massive flooding in areas around the facility. Due to excellent forethought on the part of the school administration, an emergency preparedness plan was in place and immediately enacted in order to ensure the safety of the students and staff.

Flash flooding in the playground area caused the drainage system to back up. This caused water to enter the school and leave around an inch of standing water in two-thirds of the newly renovated preschool wing and 80 percent of the new administration wing.

BYDS took action when local authorities issued a tornado watch for the area. As part of its emergency preparedness plan, school officials followed evacuation procedures. Around 130 students were moved into the unaffected synagogue where everyone was kept dry and safe.

Blackmon Mooring began the cleaning and restoration process the same day as the flooding. We installed pumps and dehumidifiers to dry out affected areas as quickly and safely as possible.

BYDS continues to hold classes as scheduled throughout the clean up process.

http://jhvonline.com/school-keeps-kids-safe-dry-during-building-flood-p12333-96.htm

It is important to always be prepared when it comes to hazardous weather.  You never know when something may happen.  Especially considering one day it’s 72 degrees and the next it is 48 degrees.  Having a plan in place ensures that you and your family or business is prepared.  In many of the blogs that we will be posting in the coming weeks and months, we will talk about having an emergency kit.  For the most part these emergency kits will have much of the same things: batteries, radio, non-perishable food, etc.  There are a couple of things that you should have in your winter weather emergency kit that part from the normal items.

·        Make sure you have rock salt or other such product to melt the ice on walkways.  Rock salt does not have an expiration date so it can be purchased and stored months before an event takes place.

·        Make sure you have sufficient heating fuel should your home or business lose power.  Texas and Oklahoma are particularly prone to ice storms rather than snow.  Ice is more dangerous because its weight tends to cause more tree limbs to fall on power lines.  In case of a power outage, store a good supply of dry, seasoned wood for your fireplace or wood-burning stove.

·        Make sure you have adequate clothing and blankets to keep you warm.  Again, in case of a power outage, it is important to take every precaution to make sure that everyone is warm and toasty.

·        Make a family communication plan.  While in most cases, the Southern half of the country is particularly watchful of uncommon winter weather, there is the possibility that your family may not be together in the same place when a storm hits.  Therefore, have a plan in place to determine how each member will contact one another.

·        Listen to local news channels to keep yourself and your family or business up to date on weather conditions.

·        Minimize travel.  As stated previously, ice storms tend to be more dangerous than snow storms when it comes to roadway travel.  Use good judgment and stay indoors if at all possible.

·        Bring animals and plants to sheltered areas.  It’s cold out there.  Bring your pets and plants inside.  Move other animals or livestock to a barn type area with non-frozen drinking water.

 

Next Week…The Abode-Flurry Expectation

 

Sources:

Ready.gov. 2012. FEMA. Retrieved January 5, 2012. www.ready.gov

 

December 21^st may be the shortest day of the year, but that just means that colder weather is on its way. Because of the tilt of the Earth’s axis in the winter months, the Northern Hemisphere is not subjected to as much direct sunlight. The atmosphere is not able to trap as much heat during the shorter days. Heat from the Earth’s surface is lost without the heat from the atmosphere to keep the ground warm, thus making the months following the winter solstice the coldest of the year in most locations.

Just because all of Blackmon Mooring’s locations are in the southern half of the United States, it does not mean that these markets do not experience winter weather events. In fact, because of many factors ranging from the location of pipes within a structure to the lack of consistent cold temperatures, homes and other buildings are more susceptible to damage as a result of freezing weather. We are simply not as accustomed or prepared as people and structures are in the northern states.

Over the next few weeks, we will be exploring facts about cold weather and what you can do to protect your home of business from the effects of a freeze.

Winter Weather Vocabulary

Winter Weather Advisory – issued by the National Weather Service when forecasters expect winter conditions to present an inconvenience to a certain level depending on geographic area.

Winter Storm Watch – issued by the National Weather Service when there is a possibility of snow, sleet or freezing rain in your area.

Winter Storm Warning – issued by the National Weather Service when hazardous snow, sleet or freezing rain is impending or occurring in your area.

Blizzard Warning – issued by the National Weather Service when large amounts of snow fall with winds sustained or gusting at a minimum of 35 mile per hour for more than 3 hours.

Wind Chill Advisory – issued by the National Weather Service when wind chill temperatures pose a possible risk to life if subjected to prolonged exposure.

Wind Chill Warning – issued by the National Weather Service when wind chill temperatures pose a significant risk to life is subjected to more than a few minutes of exposure.

Freezing Rain – when rain hits the ground and then freezes causing ice to form on surfaces of trees, roads and power lines.

Sleet – when rain freezes into ice pellets before reaching the round. Typically will not stick to surfaces, but accumulation can pose hazards.

Snow Flurries – light snow for small durations with no to little accumulation expected.

Snow Showers – snow that falls for brief amounts of time at varying intensities with some possible accumulation.

Next week…The Pre-Squall Discussion

Sources:

Ready.gov. 2012. FEMA. Retrieved January 5, 2012. www.ready.gov

NOAA. 2012. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. Retrieved January 9, 2012. www.noaa.gov

We love hearing from our customers!  Great Job, Houston Team!!!

 

Dear Blackmon Mooring,

On August 4, my wife and I returned from a trip celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary to discover our hot water heater had burst and flooded our home. Our insurance agent suggested we call Blackmon Mooring. We were amazed that in less than two hours a Blackmon Mooring crew, along with Brad Murff, had arrived at our rural Texas home, and was taking immediate action. I was impressed with the professionalism of everyone on the team, from supervisory personnel to employees. In fact, I was so positively impacted with the water mitigation personnel that I decided to go with Blackmon Mooring for reconstruction. Soon Chris Harashe and Brandon Holland were at our home, working with the insurance adjuster, and giving me a bid. I teach customer service, and am therefore very observant about customer styles and follow-through. Chris and Brandon took over, and my wife and I felt the job would be done and done right because of the confidence they radiated. I am also a pastor, and understand what it means to comfort people. They could see we were in mild shock at the devastation of our home, and sought to reassure and encourage us. Then, throughout the two-month reconstruction process, they were in constant touch, and accessible whenever we needed them. They went to extra effort to get our home ready for family coming from overseas. I was also impressed with the construction contractor, David Martinez, who went out of his way to make sure our desires were met. Brad's team of packers and movers looked and acted professionally, under direct supervision of a man named Rudy, who led them in doing the job well. We are now back in our home, and grateful for Blackmon Mooring's staff and their dedicated, committed work. Even though Texas wildfires brought a heavy workload to the teams, we never felt they neglected us or gave our project lesser priority. Blackmon Mooring was a Godsend, and helped make a traumatic situation less stressful. With people like this, I can understand why you have been in business many years.

 

Thank you,

Wallace H.

On September 1st, a fire in the Oak Forrest Shopping Center at West 43rd and Ella in Houston damaged many of the businesses in a small section of the shopping center. The blaze began in a vacant H&R Block store and spread through many of the businesses around it. Blackmon Mooring has helped clean and restore some of these businesses to help them open their doors again to public as soon as possible. Click here to see the full story.

 

EMERGENCY RESPONSE

800.433.2940

 

In anticipation of a Texas landfall for Tropical Storm Don, Blackmon Mooring tropical storm recovery teams stand ready and prepared to immediately deploy to impacted regions to aid in recovery efforts!  If you would like to put Blackmon Mooring on standby, please call your account manager or 877.730.1948.

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Blackmon Mooring recovery efforts follow standard recovery effort protocol in so much as our initial recovery efforts are to aid and assist in the recovery of local, city, and state infrastructure.  This includes initial focus on government and institutional entities followed by commercial businesses and properties and then individual residential properties. 

During times of widespread disaster, recovery resources are quickly stretched thin.  That’s why we are currently compiling our response priority list for those commercial and institutional customers choosing to be listed on our standby/priority list.  Should you wish to be added to our list at this time, please contact us immediately at the emergency response number listed below.  This will help ensure priority response to your facility or business by one of our emergency response teams.

With over 60 years in business, Blackmon Mooring has the experience necessary to promptly get your facility back on track! 

Take the necessary steps TODAY--Call now to get your facility listed on our response priority list and feel confident knowing that your disaster recovery partner will respond quickly to help facilitate recovery efforts!

 

EMERGENCY RESPONSE

877.730.1948

We love happy customers! Here's an email we recently received from a fire and water damage restoration customer.

 

Blackmon Mooring Team,

I wanted to take a minute to thank you for restoring my home after our fire and water damage. You never expect something like this to happen, but none the less, it does.  I greatly appreciate your team's assistance - not only in restoring our home, but also in the money you saved us by working with our insurance company.

Here's our story: My husband had candles burning and he needed to go to the store really quick.  As he was leaving he forgot to blow out the candle in our entryway.  Our front door has a tendency to slam, so when it closed, it knocked the lit candle against the wall which then ignited the wall and traveled up it.  Luckily there’s a sprinkler head right above where the candle was, so it was triggered almost immediately.  However, by the time my husband got home and the sprinkler was turned off, the water had flooded our entire living room, dining room and a little bit in one of the bedrooms.  I called Blackmon Mooring and you sent a crew out right away.  Yes, it took a little over a week before everything was dry, but that was because you went by my insurance company’s protocol.  However, we found out later that the vendor that our complex prefers to use would have just pulled the carpet and pad up and started drying without checking my insurance’s policy, so if that had happened my insurance wouldn’t have covered anything.  Thank goodness the Blackmon Mooring guys are knowledgeable about these things, because they saved us a ton of money!!

Thanks again!

Jennifer