Most Missourians probably know what to do when they hear tornado sirens, weather alerts, or predictions of floods in the area, but few know how to prepare for an earthquake.
Unlike storms, it is difficult to predict when and where an earthquake will hit next. Many associate the West Coast as the region most prone to Earthquakes in the U.S., but the reality is that most everyone in the country could be at risk.
The New Madrid earthquakes that hit Missouri in 1811 and 1812 are a reminder of the unpredictable and devastating nature of earthquakes. Four earthquakes hit the New Madrid area in southern Missouri, and they were felt as far away as Pennsylvania.
These earthquakes ranged in magnitude from 7.1 to 8.0 in the Richter Magnitude Scale. To put it in context, the earthquake that hit Japan in March 2011 was considered one of the most powerful earthquakes to hit the island nation with a magnitude of 9.0 Richter. The Missouri earthquakes did not cause much loss of life because the area was not very populated, but there are accounts that in some places, the earthquake seemed to have changed the direction of the Mississippi river.
One of our goals at Woodard Catastrophe Response Services, is to help home and business owners to better understand the risks of events such as an earthquake, and help them be better prepared.
To help you prepare, here are a few tips on how you, your family, and business should prepare for an earthquake:
●Have an emergency plan in place and practice it at least twice a year in your home and business.
●Identify safe places where you can quickly cover from falling debris, whether at home, school, or business. A sturdy piece of furniture such as a bed or a desk or table can provide some protection.
●Practice dropping and covering. Cover vital areas of your body such as head, neck and back.
●Should an earthquake occur, stay away from windows or any other glass.
●Do not exit the building until the shaking stops.
●If you are outside, stay clear from trees, power lines or buildings. Cover your head and neck with your arms and stay there until the shaking stops.
●If you are in a car at the time of an earthquake, pull over to a clear area and stop the car. Avoid going under bridges or other structures and avoid going over all overpasses and bridges if possible.
●Find a place to cover properly until the shaking has completely stopped and authorities indicate it is safe again.
●Once the shaking stops, remember powerful aftershocks can be just as devastating.
At Woodard, we can’t stress enough the importance of being prepared. For more information on how to prepare for an earthquake, visit www.redcross.org. If you have any questions on how your business can develop an emergency plan, please give us a call!
Woodard provides emergency storm damage repair services 24/7 because we know you don’t want to wait. Additionally, in many situations, prolonged waiting for restoration services can allow the problem to spread, adding to the cost of the mitigation and repairs. Woodard’s water, fire and smoke mitigation experts are available 24/7 for commercial and residential emergencies.
Woodard’s emergency storm damage repair services have earned a legendary reputation for exceptional customer satisfaction. Timeliness is at the height of Woodard’s emergency response.
Most storm damage repair projects deal with water, fire, or smoke damage, and they should always be dealt with quickly, as delay of work can allow the damage to spread. Our restoration experts have state-of-the-art equipment, vehicles, and training, so they can hit the ground quickly to assist with your emergency. It’s this willingness to serve in disasters that has taken us from coast to coast assisting in all types of emergencies. From the Joplin tornado, to Hurricane Irene in New Jersey, to hurricanes in the gulf coast – Woodard is there helping people in need.
Remember, should an emergency occur, Woodard’s emergency storm damage repair experts are ready to help 24/7. Give us a call (800-466-9308), and we’ll be there fast!
Woodard Addresses All Forms of Rug Repairs and Alterations
Woodard addresses complex rug repairs and alterations everyday in our St. Louis rug cleaning facility. Recently a customer brought us a beautiful Axminster rug that they had purchased at an auction. They loved the rug, but it was too large and it needed to be cut down to fit in their room. Their concern was that the rug had a decorative border stitched around the edges, and they didn’t want to compromise the attractiveness of the border to accomplish their resizing goal. They had heard of our rug repair and alterations abilities, and wanted to see how Woodard could help. We examined the rug and concluded that we could remove the border, resize the rug, and reattach the border – so no one would know that any adjustments had been made.
No problem for our rug repair and alteration experts!
We removed the border and cut the rug to the requested size. The delicate part was repositioning the border on the resized rug to look like no repairs ever took place. Woodard’s rug repair specialists pieced the border in place and hand-stitched it back onto the rug. After the stitching was completed, latex was applied to ensure that everything stayed in place. The customer was thrilled with how the rug looked after the alterations were completed!
Woodard offers free estimates on any rug repair. Just bring your rug in or call our customer service department to have a specialist come to your home. Regardless of the type of repair or alteration needed, Woodard’s rug experts can handle them.
Last night, Woodard was privileged to grant a wish to the Make-A-Wish Foundation! If you’re not familiar with them, they grant wishes to children with life-threatening conditions. Their foundation recently received office cubicles as a gift from a generous company, and we provided a complimentary cleaning.
Providing a complimentary cubicle cleaning at Make-A-Wish Foundation
In this age of technology, many of our most important records and documents are stored electronically, in personal or company computers, servers and external hard drives, making our data vulnerable to water & fire damage. While fire and water often damages these electronics, they can often be cleaned and restored back to their earlier condition, if the restoration efforts are undertaken quickly.
Should your home or office experience damage Woodard’s fire and water damage restoration technicians can restore most items affected by the incident, including electronics. Electronic equipment is taken to our ContentCare Centersm where specialists disassemble, clean, dry and restore each item, using the same strict electronic restoration methods and equipment used by the U.S. Department of Defense.
Here are some steps you can take to help ensure your records and important data are not lost by water and fire damage:
● Store back-ups of your data in multiple locations. Storing backups with the original equipment does no good if that location suffers from smoke, fire and water damage.
● Utilize surge protectors and electricity backup systems on sensitive equipment.
● Be sure to tell the fire & water damage restoration experts which electronics are the most important. Smoke is acidic, and it will continue to damage circuit boards from the time of the fire until it is cleaned from the circuit boards. The longer smoke sits in the electronic equipment, the greater the chance for ruining the equipment, and losing the data.
● Never turn on any electronic equipment that has experienced damage from a water or fire loss. The simple act of powering up a piece of water damaged electronic equipment can ruin the opportunity to clean and restore it.
Most importantly, be sure to have water and fire damage restoration procedures in case your data storage equipment is temporarily damaged. These procedures will help speed-up the recovery process after a loss.
Call Woodard for your fire & water damage restoration needs! Additionally, we’re available to assist you in creating a disaster recovery plan – just give us a call.
Winter can be a beautiful season, but it is also when we experience the highest risk of a house fire. Highly combustible holiday decorations, dry air, more cooking, and active fireplaces make winter a high risk for house fires.
If you experience a house fire, the work doesn’t end when the fire fighters leave. Protecting your home and contents immediately following a house fire is critical for the prompt restoration of your household. In fact, most insurance policies count on you to either address some situations, or to have them addressed quickly.
We recommend for homeowners to call Woodard right after they call the fire department. Woodard’s fire and smoke damage restoration team will be there in minutes. Woodard will secure your home after the fire department leaves, and immediately begin the restoration and rebuilding process.
The restoration industry provides the following tips for homeowners in the hours immediately following a house fire. If these steps are followed, they will help mitigate the damage, and speed the restoration process. Woodard is ready to immediately address these and many other concerns.
●Clean and protect chrome trim on faucets and other bright work by washing with detergent and applying a coating of Vaseline, oil or other corrosion inhibitor.
●Vacuum brush loose smoke particles from upholstery, draperies and carpeting.
●If weather permits, open windows for ventilation.
●Empty refrigerators and freezers if electricity is off, and prop doors open to allow air circulation. It doesn’t take long for food to spoil in a refrigerator when the power is off.
●Pour anti-freeze in toilet bowls, tanks, sink and tub drains to prevent freeze damage if the heat is off in the winter.
●Call a plumber to drain and blow out all water supply lines if heat is off in winter.
●Remove pets to a clean environment if heavy fire residues are present.
●Send a sample group of garments for cleaning and deodorization in order to observe the results before submitting a large quantity.
●Retain a contractor to board up open windows, roofs, or other penetrations in order to prevent additional damage.
●DO NOT wipe or attempt to wash fire residues from walls, ceilings or other absorbent surfaces.
●DO NOT use carpeting or upholstery furniture damaged by heavy smoke residues or debris.
●DO NOT use food items or canned goods exposed to heat.
●DO NOT turn on ANY electrical appliances until they have been cleaned and checked.
While we hope that you never experience a house fire, realize that Woodard addresses hundreds of them every year, so you can rely on our experience to walk you through the process. Woodard is a preferred restoration provider for most major insurance companies.
Fire Restoration Technician Using a Cryo-Blaster To Remove Soot
Structural fires often produce a lot of soot, which travels throughout the structure and clings to many surfaces – the cleaning of which must be addressed by fire restoration experts. Additionally, there are often structural elements of the building that may have received surface charring from a fire, yet the elements remain structurally solid. In each of these cases, fire restoration experts must find ways to eliminate the soot and surface charring, returning the structure the condition it was in prior to the fire.
One of the tools Woodard uses with fire restoration is a dry ice blaster, also known as Cryo-Blasting. This restoration equipment was designed to clean hard surfaces such as brick, block, concrete, metal or wood. Unlike other types of blasting devices, such as sand blasting, soda blasting or water blasting, Cryo-Blasting does not leave secondary waste after use. The Cryo-Blasting machine uses dry-ice pellets that turn into gas and dissipate upon impact, removing the waste without introducing additional blasting materials that would need to be cleaned.
Furthermore, since the dry ice is obtained as by-product of other industrial processes, it does not produce or add CO2 to the atmosphere, thus it does not contribute to the greenhouse effect. Cryo-Blasting is environmentally friendly and meets USDA, FDA and EPA guidelines.
Fire restoration work can be very labor intensive, and thus, costly, yet Cryo-Blasting can provide up to a 50 percent reduction in labor costs versus traditional manual removal methods that involve solvents, abrasive pads or wire brushes.
Cryo-Blasting is just one of the many fire restoration innovations Woodard brings to our customers for more efficiency, reducing the time and cost of the project.
Woodard Cleaning & Restoration is St. Louis’ most trusted rug cleaner, individually cleaning about 15,000 rugs each year. This leadership position is something we take seriously, and as the leader, we feel that it’s our responsibility to continue innovating processes for our customers.
In October, Woodard representatives attended a rug cleaner summit where we explored the latest techniques and equipment in the rug cleaning industry. “Rug Summit IV” was hosted by Centrum Force (a rug washing and cleaning equipment company) in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Justin Woodard, vice president of operations, attended the summit and said topics ranged from marketing strategies to innovations in equipment and solutions used by rug cleaners. “We clean many different types of rugs every day, and many are very special rugs that were woven with techniques that require special care,” Justin said. “We work to learn every possible way to clean a rug, so we can apply the proper techniques to each rug that is entrusted to our care.”
One of the techniques learned, which Woodard will implement, was that of removing discolored stains and dye runs. Justin said the St. Louis-based company will use a cleaning and restoration technique that will return the rug to its original color.
“Rugs have been woven for thousands of years, yet every time we go to these conferences we learn of a new innovative approach,” Justin said. “Every day we are connecting with the best rug cleaners in the industry to learn what they know. Ultimately, our customers benefit by knowing we strive every day to be the best St. Louis rug cleaner – and throughout the Midwest.”
Even small fires can cause big problems with lingering smoke odor. Woodard, the Midwest’s leading smoke, fire and water restoration company, is equipped with state-of-the-art tools to remove stinky smoke odors.
Smoke odors are comprised of different scents, including the off-gassing of charred materials, chemical compounds from the source of combustion, and soot and other residues left behind. Mold smells can also make its way into a structure due to the water left behind by fire departments. All of these ingredients make for a strong stench that is displeasing to the nose, and can create health concerns.
One of the odor elimination tools utilized by Woodard is a thermal fog application. This equipment turns an odor-neutralizing solution into a dense, dry fog that penetrates deeply into cracks, crevices and wall cavities, naturally following the path of the original smoke – cleaning the odor at its source.
The thermal fog machine is similar to those used in insect fogging, or to create thick fogs for movies or theatrical performances.
Our expert technicians take the utmost care when using the fog, making sure the building is secure, and people, pets and plants are evacuated before the application begins. We also advise local fire departments of the project, as they often receive calls from concerned people when they see the smoke-like fog through windows.
Following the treatment, our technicians walk through the building with the owner, ensuring the customer is satisfied with the odor elimination process.
If you’re even faced with an unwanted smell in your home or business, remember that Woodard has a wide variety of tools at our disposal to eliminate those odors.
As fall slowly ends and winter takes over, leaves can block water drains, causing water damage and the need for water restoration assistance. This is a common problem among homeowners and businesses where leaves fell on rooftops and in drains. If these leaves are not removed, they can freeze in gutters and on yard drains, blocking water from its intended path – leading to pooled water, intrusions into buildings, wet carpets, and flooded basements.
Prevent the need for water restoration by making sure to check the exterior of your house and business for all possible drain systems that can be clogged with leaves. Do this frequently, even during the winter months. Many water losses are entirely preventable, and this is one of the most common water damage annoyances in the winter.
Remember also that flooding can occur in the winter, with the EPA saying that Missouri is often affected by winter flood damage. Aside from frozen leaves, several additional factors leading to winter water damage in buildings includes fast snowmelt, ice jams, and heavy rainstorms.
Should you experience water damage and need assistance with a water restoration project, call Woodard at 314-961-9102. Our water restoration experts can assist you 24/7 no matter how big or small the job. We come fully equipped with the best restoration techniques and equipment to restore your home into a clean, warm, safe place during even the coldest days of winter.
Most Missourians probably know what to do when they hear tornado sirens, weather alerts, or predictions of floods in the area, but few know how to prepare for an earthquake. 
