Water Damage From Refrigerators and Ice Makers

Many kitchen floods are caused by broken refrigerators, ice makers, water supply lines or connections. There are several reasons why these appliances cause flooding. The typical plastic water supply lines degrade and crack over time. When moving the refrigerator, the supply line may become kinked if the refrigerator is pushed too close to the wall. Also, if the refrigerator is pulled too far from the wall when cleaning behind it, the connection could break.

Refrigerator water damage doesn’t always happen suddenly. Sometimes, the plastic water line behind the refrigerator will crack or weaken, causing a slow leak. Over time, this leak drips can cause serious damage to the wall and the flooring beneath the fridge. At K-tech Kleening, the best company for water damage restoration in Wausau, we have seen kitchen water damage of all types and sizes. Here is some information that can help you deal with appliance water damage better.

Common Repairs

Water damage repairs will depend highly on the extent of the water damage. If the water has only recently been there, chances are that you can mop it up and air out the surfaces. Once dry, the flooring should return to normal. You’ll want to make sure that the walls are adequately dried as well, as this will prevent mold growth.

If the water damage has been spreading of a longer period of time, you’ll likely need to have the flooring and drywall replaced to preserve the integrity of your home. Because mold is also a serious possibility, we always recommend you to rely on professionals to assess the damage, evaluate for necessary repairs, and follow their guidance. Water damage of this nature should never be attempted on your own and without the proper training, experience, and equipment.

Insurance Coverage

Unfortunately, slow leaks (like ones caused by a toilet, ice maker, freezer, or fridge) are NOT covered by a typical homeowner’s insurance policy. Your insurance will usually cover things like damage caused by a “sudden and accidental” leak or other malfunctions, and not water damages that are determined to be due to negligence.

Prevention Is the Key

A broken water line can send gallons of water onto the floor in just minutes. Or worse, a small leak at a connection can allow a tiny drip to silently degrade your kitchen. Take the risk seriously:

Clear away any dust and debris from behind the unit, then check for hard water buildup in the water line. 

Replace the inexpensive plastic with a copper or stainless steel line that offers better durability.

Turn off your main water supply before  going on an extended vacation.

Periodically check around the fridge and under sinks to look for telltale signs of water damage. Slow leaks can not only cause damage to the flooring; it can be a place that harbors mold growth.

Purchase a battery operated water alarm.  If the sensor comes into contact with water, it will let off an alarm.

Water Damage Restoration in Wausau & Minocqua

Keep your Minocqua home safe from water damage and your family safe from mold by calling K-tech Kleening as soon as you notice water damage. Our team of highly trained and certified technicians provides the best services for water and fire damage cleanup in Stevens Point & Wausau. Whether you are in need of a bio-wash antimicrobial cleaning in one room or an entire remediation of your home or business, our team has the equipment and the staff to put your worries at ease.

We serve customers in Minocqua with multiple offices and 45-plus fleet of vehicles to reach outlying rural and metropolitan locations.

Water Damage Restoration Minocqua

If you are looking for professional help for water damage restoration in Minocqua, Call 715-496-2955 for the immediate response to restore your property in pre-damaged condition.

Keeping Your Bathroom Mold Free

About 60% of your body is water. About 70% of the earth’s surface is water. We also invite a lot of water into our homes; each person uses an estimated 80-100 gallons per day. And there is about a 99% chance that extra moisture in your bathroom is encouraging indoor mold, even in the cleanest of homes.

Bathrooms have the perfect combination of high moisture, low natural light and poor ventilation which can create an optimal opportunity for mold and mildew. For example, after your daily shower, mold spores have ample moisture to start growing. And since you don’t usually open up the shower curtain until the next day, they also have time to continue to grow, undisturbed. With so many mold removal companies available, how do you know if the company you have hired is reputable or not?  It can be a tangled web to weave through if you are unsure. Since mold isn’t always visible and obvious; here are some tips to managing your risk:

Dry It Out

Every bathroom of the house needs an effective ventilation fan. Vents work by sending the moisture-saturated air outside; it’s the first line of defense against moisture and mold. But make sure your fan actually exhausts outside through the roof or a side soffit and not into the attic. Don’t encourage moisture into an unconditioned space, and you might be spreading even more trouble.

The CFM (cubic feet per minute) label on your fan will tell you if it’s large enough for the space it is installed in. No installed exhaust fan? Keep the doors open when not in use and set up any movement of air to help dry out the bathroom. Even a desk fan on the vanity will help. With any style of fan, leave it on for 30 minutes after your shower.

Keep It Out

Identify porous and nonporous materials in the bathroom:

Non Porous, hard, sealed surfaces like tile are great barriers to mold. However, grout (the dried paste in the cracks) is semi-porous and can support mold growth.  If lots of molds have built up on your caulking, it’s probably because it’s spread deep into unseen spaces behind it. If so, re-caulking may solve the problem. (Check behind the toilet and under the sink, as well.

Porous materials must always stay dry and ventilated. Soft materials like fabric, drywall, and wallpaper get damp and stay damp– the perfect breeding ground for mold.

Starve It Out

Mold is alive and spreads by floating, airborne spores.  And it can grow on any surface coated with organic matter: porcelain, plastic, copper, silicone. Mold doesn’t live on your shower walls, it actually lives on the deposited skin cells and soap residues. So you have to physically clean away the food source. 

Soap and water work well, no need to over toxify the space. While bleach and peroxide remove the stain, they don’t kill the mold. As you clean, don’t scrape or brush mold spores with your hand; they will go airborne and find new places to colonize.

Clean It Up

Pare down your bathroom ‘stuff.’ Clutter interrupts airflow and causes condensation to build up. All that moisture creates microclimates that feed mold growth. Only keep the essentials within the bathroom; remove the things you don’t use every day. Push large items away from vents and grilles to keep air circulating. 

The surface of the sink and counters should be kept clean and dry. Inspect the toothbrush area, behind the toilet, and underneath the bathroom sink where cleaning supplies are stored. Ensure that all damp rags, clothes, towels or shoes are dry before storing.

After a bath or a shower, squeegee water off the shower walls to eliminate at least three-fourths of the moisture that supports mold and mildew growth. Open the shower curtain to let it dry. Mop any water spills on the floor and counters. Avoid piling in too many shampoo and body wash bottles. Remove loofahs, sponges and product bottles from the shower when not in use. All these are opportunities for moisture and mold spores to hide.

Mold Removal In Rhinelander

To keep your family’s home safe from mold, K-tech Kleening can help. The team of highly trained and certified technicians can handle any job, big or small. Whether you are in need of a bio-wash antimicrobial cleaning in one room or entire remediation of your home or business, K-tech has the equipment and the staff to put your worries at ease.

K-tech serves customers in Rhinelander with multiple offices and a 45-plus fleet of vehicles to reach outlying rural and metropolitan locations.

Flooding Clean-Up Tips

Floodwater in Wausau may carry silt, raw sewage, oil or chemical wastes that can cause a range of bacterial, viral and/or parasitic diseases. Cleaning and disinfecting surfaces in your home after a flood is a major undertaking to prevent further damage to the property and help prevent illness. You want to make sure that your time is well spent and that the chemicals used don’t cause more water damage to your items (or your health.) The American Cleaning Institute offers tips to help with clean-up efforts:

Wear protective clothing including long-sleeved shirts, long pants, rubber or plastic gloves, and waterproof boots or shoes.

Take anything that was wet for two days or more outside to control the spread of mold.

Bleach should be used to clean floors, stoves, sinks, certain dishes, countertops. Dilute to no more than one cup of bleach per gallon of water; never mix bleach with ammonia or other cleaners.

Laundry

Wet textiles are the perfect breeding ground for mold and mildew. As soon as the floodwaters recede, the next priority is to clean your clothes and other water-soaked fabrics.  Verify 1) that the city water system is clean and 2) that your washer wasn’t contaminated with flood water.

Although your first instinct may be to wash these items in very hot water, high temperatures may set any stains. Prewash first, using cool water and powdered laundry detergent. Then, wash the items using powdered laundry detergent and the hottest water that’s safe for the fabric.

If clothes came in contact with sewage, add a disinfectant to the wash. Use liquid household bleach when fabrics allow. If chlorine bleach is not suitable, use color-safe oxygen bleach, PineSol or Lysol.  Utilize sunshine; kill bacteria while drying clothes in bright sunlight. Or dry in the dryer at the hotspot setting the fabrics can endure to kill the bacteria.

Kitchen Surfaces

Kitchen counters, pantry shelves, refrigerators, stoves, dishes and glassware that have been in contact with water should be thoroughly washed with warm water and soap, rinsed and then disinfected. To disinfect, use a solution of a ¾ cup of liquid chlorine bleach per gallon of water. Keep the surfaces wet for two minutes, then rinse with clean water.

Glass and metal can be sterilized. Contaminated wood and plastic items, including cutting boards, utensils, and food storage containers should be discarded because they may harbor bacteria.

Food Stuff

Throw away any foods that have come in direct contact with the water, including unopened foods in glass containers and canned foods. Food in glass containers may look safe, but the lids could be compromised. Also, dispose of staples stored in canisters or containers with cork-lined or waxed cardboard tops.

Bedding

Bedding should be hung up in fresh air and sunshine as soon as possible; then brush off excess soil and dirt. Pillows, while washable, should be discarded if soaked with contaminated floodwater. Put sheets through two complete washing cycles. Use diluted liquid chlorine bleach to help kill germs; slightly faded colors are better than a germy bed. Wash or dry clean comforters depending on the fiber content of the bedding. Usually, it is best to wash cotton quilts.

Mattresses

As a general rule, inexpensive mattresses are not worth the expense of professional sanitizing and should be discarded. (In some cases, a good mattress may be worth the cost of reconditioning. Get an estimate from commercial facilities.) If the outside of the mattress is only slightly damp, brush off surface soil and wipe with a solution of one cup denatured alcohol and one cup water.

Ask For Professional Help

After any water damage in your home, K-tech Kleening can help. The team of highly trained and certified technicians can handle any job, big or small. Whether you are in need of a bio-wash antimicrobial cleaning in one room or entire remediation of your home or business, K-tech has the equipment and the staff to put your worries at ease.

At K-tech Kleening, we understand how important it is to extract the water as quickly as possible to prevent further damage to your property and your belongings. We will remove it using specialized, high-powered drying equipment. We know that it is important for you to return to normal as soon as possible, so we will provide all the resources necessary.

When water damage in Wausau occurs in your home or business, contact K-tech Kleening at 715-496-2955! We use specialized, high-powered drying equipment to effectively dry your property.

Is Your Mold Remediation Company Reputable?

Mold is a very stressful crisis that causes anyone, no matter how level minded and cool-headed, to start mentally spinning in an attempt to make sense of the situation. How did this happen? Could it have been prevented? What options are available to you in terms of repairing and removing any mold damage that has already occurred?

These are just a handful of questions that people ask themselves once they discover mold inside of their homes. After you discover mold, contact your home insurance company to let them know about your situation. Be sure to contact a local mold remediation company immediately to get the mold removal process started. In Rhinelander, the best mold remediation company around is K-Tech Kleening.

With so many mold removal companies available, how do you know if the company you have hired is reputable or not?  It can be a tangled web to weave through if you are unsure. Just like life in general, there is no magical how-to book when it comes to discovering the perfect mold removal company.  Thankfully, there are a few steps one can take in order to learn how legit the company you have hired truly is.

Employee Certifications

In order for coworkers in a company specializing in mold removal to deal with these situations, they must have legitimate certification that shows they are properly knowledgeable when it comes to the elimination of mold within one’s home.  Do not be afraid to ask your mold remediation company for their proper licenses.

Proper Air Testing

In order to defeat one’s enemy, one must understand them by discovering their origins. The same can be said of mold removal. Before the process of eliminating mold can be performed, the technicians need to test the oxygen to help them narrow down the location of mold and discover what type of mold you are facing within your home.

Mold Testing Variations

When planning to hire a mold restoration company make sure to find out what types of mold testing they do, if they do it at all. There are two types of air tests used to discover the origins and variants of mold: Air-O-Cell Testing & Insta-Scope Testing. With Air-O-Cell testing, the air sample is captured in a cassette that is sent to a lab.  Once that is done, scientists will analyze the evidence in order to determine the type(s) of mold roaming around your home.

Insta-Scope Testing involves the process of reading mold concentration within the air in real time, and using a technician to provide instant results. Because the results are granted in real-time you don’t need to worry about interference or tampering.

Dealing with mold is frustrating and nerve-wracking. No one wants to deal with it, but the fact of the matter is that if it happens you want to hire a respectable and reputable company to deal with your situation the right way. That is why K-Tech in Rhinelander and the surrounding areas ia the go-to company who will do their job in order to remove the mold from your home and make it liveable once again. If environmental concerns such as mold have occurred in your home or business, contact K-tech Kleening for mold removal in Rhinelander. Our certified technicians can put your worries at ease.

What To Do In A Water Damage Situation

It’s something no Stevens Point homeowner wants to discover, but its something that too many eventually come across. The dishwasher is leaking. The sealing on the skylights has weakened and water is dripping down your walls. Excess rain is causing flooding. The result? Water damage. Under the sudden pressure of such a catastrophe, it’s important to act quickly in order to minimize damage and have your home back into working order as soon as possible. Here are some pointers to get through the situation as painlessly as possible

Do what you can to stop the water. If it’s an issue with the plumbing in your home, shut off the water. If it’s a leak, attempt to direct or catch the water. Be cautious, however, because if the water isn’t from a clean source, it could potentially pose a health hazard. If it’s a leak from a clean source, then it’s safe to try and minimize the damage by soaking up water with spare towels while you call a professional water damage company. However, if the damage is because of a contaminated water source, such as a sewage line, be cautious. When in doubt, leave it to the professionals, which brings us to our second tip.

Always go with a professional water company, like K-tech Kleening in Stevens Point. Do not be tempted to attempt to fix the problem yourself. Water damage in Wausau can be dangerous for multiple reasons. It could weaken the structural integrity of your home, and as we’ve already discussed, contaminated water poses a health hazard. Even if the water comes from a clean source, water can quickly become contaminated by being exposed to bacteria. Mold typically has a 24-hour window to grow, which brings its own set of problems to the table. In addition to all of this, insurance companies often don’t ensure DIY solutions, which can mean that you’ll pay more money in the long run for a less reliable job.

The last tip is to call your insurance agency as quickly as possible. The sooner you call and inform them of the damage, the sooner they can begin processing your claims. Depending on the type of damage, the amount they will cover will typically vary. It’s best to understand what your insurance will pay and what it won’t as soon as possible so that you aren’t surprised by financial surprises down the road.

To conclude these pointers, though emergency plumbing situations are more common, than we would like them to be, you can minimize the damage by acting quickly and following these steps. Be safe and cautious when taking the liberty to prevent further damage yourself, and stay wary around potentially contaminated sources. Always hire a responsible emergency water damage company  K-tech Kleening to ensure that the issue is dealt with quickly and permanently, and best of luck in returning your home to its usual state.

Is Your Carpet Making You Sick?

It’s one of the most luxurious surfaces in your home. It’s warm in winter, soft under your feet and creates a quiet oasis from the outside world. And your carpet is much dirtier than you think. On average, carpets can accumulate up to 40 pounds of dirt in a year. Home carpets provide a place for germs, bacteria, and mold to grow. Did you know that the Norovirus, linked to causing stomach flu, can survive on an uncleaned carpet for more than one month? If you want your floors clean, fluffy, bright AND healthy as they can be, read on.

They Don’t Last Forever

Carpets have a lifespan that can be lengthened with a regular cleaning schedule, or shortened by excessive wear and tear. Over time dirt, sand, dander, bacteria, and other chemical residues accumulate to create an environment of disease. When these irritants are inhaled into your lungs, they can cause respiratory issues, skin problems, headaches and the effects of mold growth.

Be thoughtful when it’s time to replace it. When removing the old carpet, homes built before 1978 could have lead dust is under or in the carpeting or padding. After removal, safely sanitize the walls and floor surfaces before adding new carpet. Request the carpet installers to use low-emission adhesives or tack it down; avoid high VOC glues.

Use A Better Vacuum

In general, most experts suggest vacuuming daily at least once per week. Depending on the breed, pet owners might need to clean daily. The National Center for Healthy Housing recommends you pass the vacuum over the carpet multiple times or at least one minute per square yard.

Using an older vacuum can cause more harm than good. Microbiologists have identified air blown from a running vacuum cleaner as one of the five places in the home with the highest number of germs. HEPA vacuums will clean the carpets plus the air. HEPA stands for high- efficiency particulate air: a type of mechanical air filter that forces air through a fine mesh that traps harmful particles such as pollen, pet dander, dust mites, and tobacco smoke.

Supplement with Regular, Professional Cleaning

Along with regular maintenance, carpets should be professionally cleaned every 12 to 18 months. The results of homeowners using rental cleaning equipment are limited, you will have to clean more often and take less time to get a less clean home. A professional cleaning crew with a truck-mounted deep cleaning system can clean much deeper and faster than you can. Professional grade hot water extraction systems are much more capable of removing heavy stains or treating heavily soiled areas. This equipment has much more suction power and much hotter water, thus removing more dirt and stains than even the best consumer-grade cleaners available.

Choose K-tech Kleening

When you choose K-tech Kleening to clean your carpets, you can be confident that you’re hiring highly trained and certified technicians. Certified experts use a hot water extraction system and environmentally-friendly green products, leaving no residue with a faster drying time. By examining each location, the team will recommend the correct products for your home. K-Tech Kleening even specializes in sanitizing drug lab clean up. These makeshift laboratories pose a significant threat; hazardous chemical residues must be removed before it is safe to occupy the space. You can trust K-Tech Kleening for expertise in even the most difficult clean ups.

Headquartered in Weston, Wisconsin, K-tech serves Customers  carpet cleaning in Minocqua and throughout the Northwoods communities. Multiple offices and the 45-plus fleet of vehicles provide an extensive reach to outlying rural and metropolitan locations. Call 715-496-2955 for K-tech Kleening or visit k-techkleening.com