What Happens to Your Possessions When They're Taken Off-Site?

Water damage can strike your home fast and can stem from a variety of causes, such as a leaky faucet or a cracked pipe. However, sometimes a professional remediation company, such as SERVPRO, may decide that some of your belongings need to be attended to off-site. Moving your furniture out of your home can happen for a variety of reasons. If the water damage inside is particularly extensive, we may decide to remove some of your furniture while we clean up the water itself. No matter what, at SERVPRO, we always try to avoid the development of further damage once we arrive, such as mold damage. Sometimes, a move out is the easiest way to address a broader variety of items at once.

"This is our contents room." Trisha, an employee of SERVPRO of Porter County, explains as she walks us through the water and fire damage restoration facility. She comments that the room is used for cleaning "anything that comes in from a fire or a water damage [job.]"

Water damage can sometimes cause stains that need to be cleaned from the surfaces of your belongings. In worse-case scenarios, sometimes mold damage can be caused by the water and then would need to be thoroughly cleaned from the surface of your belongings. It only takes seventy-two hours for microbial growth to occur once a dry space has been exposed to excess moisture.

The next space is used for "anything we need to air dry..." Trisha explains as she walks to the next space. Once objects have been cleaned, they often need to go somewhere so they can return to an acceptable level of dryness. Furniture and laundry contents go into a separate room, which is set up with dehumidifiers, air movers, and axial fans. These devices encourage evaporation and draw moisture out of water-damaged objects.

As Trisha walks into the final room, she explains that furniture is moved into a vault outside the facility once it is dry by SERVPRO techs, but "...laundry contents, anything that is soft, gets stored in this room." Once your belongings have been returned to their preloss state, SERVPRO can await moving them back to your home and move them back in.

If water damage suddenly impacts your home, never falter. Reach out to SERVPRO of Porter County by phoning (219) 476-1883. Day or night, we're ready to help.